Family Matters

by Cathy Woodman

When Lisa Baker's wedding anniversary entirely slips her husband's mind, she decides it's time to put the va va voom back into her marriage.

But everything in Lisa's life seems to conspire against romance. Her headstrong teenage daughter, Jade, is increasingly difficult to handle, while her beautiful newborn baby, Chloe, brings the inevitable sleepless nights. Lisa's more likely to be found in baggy T-shirts and comfy trousers than seductive outfits and alluring perfume.

The one thing that is going well is Lisa's cleaning business, Maids 4 U, which she runs with her best friend, Clare. And their curious mixture of clients is a constant source of entertainment. But when an attractive, slender blonde called Jacqui comes literally crashing into Lisa's life, a dented car is the least of her worries...

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

I began my working life as a small-animal vet. Like turning the pages in a book, I was never quite sure what was going to happen at the surgery next. From the sausage dog who swallowed a sewing needle to the telly addict of a rabbit who lost an eye to infection, there was never a dull moment.

I have always loved to read, escaping into all kinds of novels during those long nights on call, but I didn’t have much time to pursue writing until after my children were born and I gave up full-time work to look after them. I joined a creative writing group and entered all the writing competitions I could find.

My break into becoming a published author came in 2002 when I was joint winner of the Harry Bowling First Novel Award. At the award ceremony, I met Laura Longrigg of MBA Literary Agents who signed me up on delivery of a finished manuscript.

In April 2003, Laura rang to say that Headline were offering me a two book deal. I had to dial 1471 to check she really had called me and I wasn’t dreaming.

My first novel, Under The Bonnet, was published in November 2004. My second, Our House, was published in 2005, the third, Family Matters in 2006, and the fourth, The Boy Next Door in 2007.

Since then, I’ve been working on an exciting new project, a series of novels about The Otter House Vets, a fictional practice set in a quiet Devonshire market town. Trust Me, I’m a Vet, which will be published in paperback by Arrow Books in April 2010, closely followed by the second book in September 2010.

Since I last updated my website, my menagerie of animals has grown, much to my family’s delight. We now share our lives with two cats, three mad Border Terriers, two ponies and two pet rats which we found abandoned to starve in a cage in the woods nearby. You should have heard my husband’s sigh of resignation when I told him we were bringing them home!

Reviews

[Roxie Gallinger · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book to be okay..a little weird in places, but also laughable in some as well

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Both H and h have a lot of growing up to do along with their kids. The h is one of those plastic artificial girl (not a woman) who makes a whole lot of noise about some silly incident that it gets blown out of proportion and the whole plot is a whole lot of nothing but smoke without an ounce of substance. The H is a plastic doll character who huffs and puffs and gets right on top of his high horse and takes forever to get down which means the story drags a lot. But I bet this book probably goes on to be a best seller as that's what resonates to couples these days.

[Nicole Normand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought the print edition at a reduced price
Not worth reading, full of lies, swingers (the pineapple ones), infidelity taken lightly, etc. The children are paying the price of their parents' marital problems. Frankly, it was supposed to be humorous. Yeah, nope.

[Pippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

No great surprises here, just the story of ordinary people and their emotional ups and downs complete with the HEA we all want, you like this sort of story or you don't. I do.

[Aileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa Baker is 32 she is married to Tony they have 2 children Chloe (2
months) who is keeping Lisa awake all night and is a permanent resident
in either there room or their bed!! Jade is 13 and being an awkward
teenager. They have been married for 14 years Tony forgets their
Wedding Anniversary, so Lisa decides to put some spice back into their
marriage but is that possible?
Lisa runs a business with Claire called Maids 4 U and it is going well.
She meets Jacqui when she dents her car Jackie is very attractive and
in an unhappy marriage can Lisa keep her Husband away from Jacqui?
After all Tony has been unfaithful in the past.
A good book easy to read and follow, however I do feel that the story
was drawn out a bit, the book has over 400 pages and the ending could
have been done in less than that. However I would recommend.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
Tedious. For chick lit, this took a lot of words and tedious "family matters" to get to the meat of the story. The details about the minutiae of Lisa's life bored me to tears. I listened to this as an audio book & the narrator did the best job possible to bring this to life. However it was boring & predictable.

[Terri Finnie]

Easy read......enjoyable.