Blowing It

by Judy Astley

Sorrel is about to go off on her Gap Year. She wants a home to come home to. Ilex, her brother, is trying to upgrade his flat and marry his smart girlfriend Manda. He'd like some immediate equity. Clover, the elder sister, has plans that involve a bijou second home in France. And she wants it now. If only their parents would be sensible. If only they would sell their large, rather grand but somewhat dilapidated home and hand over their inheritance. But parents aren't always as sensible as their children. They are planning on blowing the lot.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Judy Astley started writing in 1990 following several years of working as a dressmaker, illustrator, painter and parent. Her sixteen novels, the most recent of which are Laying The Ghost and Other People¹s Husbands, are all published by Transworld/Black Swan. Judy¹s specialist areas, based on many years of hectic personal experience, are domestic disharmony and family chaos with a good mix of love-and-passion and plenty of humour thrown in. Judy has been a regular columnist on magazines and enjoys writing journalism pieces on just about any subject, usually from a fun viewpoint. She lives in London and Cornwall, loves plants, books, hot sunshine and rock music (all at once, preferably) and would happily claim that listening in to other people¹s conversations is both a top hobby and an absolute career-necessity

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ll start by saying I don’t like giving negative reviews, as I know someone has put a lot of time and effort into the creation of this book and of course it is just my opinion and someone else may absolutely love this book! BUT it’s safe to say I won’t be reading this book again anytime soon... or probably ever for that matter. I had to force myself to keep reading page after page (I will never leave a book unread once started). Where was the plot? What even happened during the whole entire book?! It finished where it started with not much happening in between.

I found the characters awful. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters and unless you’re a selfish, self-centred person then I don’t think you will relate to anybody in there either. Isn’t there suppose to be a few characters you really get behind and support throughout their journey? Or even a villain which you really really hate? Certainly not here. I just thought ‘meh’ to every one of them, not really interested what happened to anyone!

The only reason it isn’t a one star is I will only give a one of it deeply offended me. This book didn’t offend me, it just wasn’t worth the time reading it.

[Anne Cotton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute trash, just like the last book of hers I read. I wish my Mum hadn't given me these books. They are really not worth reading. I can't stand the way the author writes, you can tell she's really full of her own importance by the language she uses. I'm afraid she got on my nerves from start to finish!

[Katrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Pretty intolerable characters - none of them had any redeeming qualities to speak of. Lots of exposition and nothing really happened.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only got a couple of chapters into this book. I hoped it would improve, but sadly it didn't.The author obviously had a word count she had to achieve so she filled the pages repetitively with a slurry of words to stretch her flimsy story idea out as far as possible. It's a book where you will read page after page and get nowhere with the story. If I could have given this utter waste of time zero stars, I would have.

[Clair Coult · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nearly gave up on this book so many times. The characters were shallow, selfish and two dimensional. I couldn't identify or sympathise with any of them. The plot was nonexistent and the whole book left me rather disappointed.

If you enjoy reading about spoiled brats squabbling over mummy and daddy's money then maybe you'll like it more than I did.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book up until I found that the edition I owned (printed exclusively for Prime) (UK) was missing pages!

Instead of pages 241-288 it repeated pages 193-240! Be careful when purchasing this book used.

[dennis Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok but not enough for me. A believable story about a grown up family but I feel that the parents were not exploited enough.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow to get going, the text on the page was too small for my aging eyes! I enjoyed it in the end

[Ro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy and quick to read. Enjoyable.

[Amanda Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, easy holiday read.

[Lorraine Shorter · Rating 1 out of 5]

completely unlikeable selfish characters
unable to engage
unfinished

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining, quick read. More about families and for the most part in a positive light, which I always enjoy.

A couple composed of aging music hippies feel like they want a change, but their grown children who are more straight laced then them worry about them. The children worry about their parents for the future because it's obvious that the hippie parents do not. A typical twist, but entertaining none-the-less. The couple also have a late in life daughter who is just finishing high school, but acts like a grown up. And not a hinder to the story at all. All the children have partners, so it's character driven in a simple way. Not an overflow of characters which is always appreciated. The kids are going through their own problems as well as the parents announce they want to sell the house the kids grew up in and travel the world and worry about life when they get back.

Everything ends happy and simply, but entertaining. I love simple stories that are written well. No need to complicate things.

Grade: C+

[Maureen Vincent-Northam · Rating 3 out of 5]

One-time hippies and members of a 60s rock band, Lottie and Mac are planning to sell their large and valuable family house and set off for a world-trip. The fly in the ointment is the trio of grown up children who, for various reasons, are less than happy about their feckless parents spending their inheritance.

Good fun.

[Bex · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amusing read and much better than the last one I read by this author, All Inclusive. However from the cover picture I did actually think the story was going to include some travelling, but it was all about the build up!! Some of the comments reminded me of our own situation, when as 'empty nesters' we decided to sell the family home and come and live abroad.

[Kat Kole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the concept, enjoyed the characters and it flowed easily. Read this one on my Kindle and only "issue" was that it was not well formatted for the medium. Such is life, didn't change the story; just made it a bit of a challenge in places when the setting, or character pov, changed.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read in 2007

[Beth Lloyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short, funny, easy, nice.

[Melinda Hammond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe it's because I am an ageing rocker myself but I really enjoyed this book!
Warm and quietly funny rather4 than laugh out loud

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit boring when you start reading it but it turns out pretty good! Totally worth reading.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audio book and found it perfect. Easy listening. Humorous. Light hearted. I wanted it all to work out predictably. Feel good chick lit.

[Ankita Gour · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny and engaging.

[Amanda Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun light and entertaining! Very easy. Perfect for my hols

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me a while to get into the book, but turned into a easy read.