Toute Allure: Falling in Love in Rural France

Karen Wheeler memoir #2

by Karen Wheeler

There is so much to look forward to in the months ahead - to lengthening evenings, bike rides past fields of sunflowers or wild meadows of bluebells and poppies (just like the seventies Flake ad) and several months of fetes, vide greniers (car boot sales) and barbecues in friends' gardens. And I cannot wait to get back to see if Andy Lawton has called...After reaching the heights as a successful fashion editor, Karen said goodbye to all that and set about renovating a run-down house in rural Poitou-Charentes, in central western France, and living a simpler life. Her idyll is almost complete when she is blissfully ensconced in her fully plumbed, tiled, floored and 'warm as the hug of a pashmina' Maison Coquelicot - until, that is, a gang of macho Portuguese builders, a procession of Brits behaving badly and the ghosts of boyfriends past begin to arrive on her doorstep. Karen soon finds her (dancing) feet in the small rural community when she discovers the key to acceptance is le danse country. And after a few shuffles and twirls she meets the love of her life - he has dark, shaggy hair, four paws and a wet nose...

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, France, Chick Lit, Memoir, Romance

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2010

Reviews

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

About 1/4 into this book, I thought I probably wouldn't finish it.
I had a couple of objections:
1) what initially felt like far too much name-brand mention (Prada, etc) of shoes, makeup, purses, perfume.
2) I'm not a 'dog person,' so for my liking, there was too much DOG in this book
3) The author, a Brit, lives in rural France but socializes almost exclusively w the expat community.
I kept reading for several reasons:
1) There are stretches of really good writing in the book
2) I ended up objecting to the dog, Biff, far less than I had expected
3) The name brand name-dropping faded just enough about halfway through that I stopped grinding my teeth
4) A few native French people began to play more of a role
5) Eventually I got drawn into the love story
But I think what really kept me reading was the frequent and very well-done insertion of French phrases in the book. I speak a teeny, teeny, teeny bit of French...but now I speak more! I can even say 'It doesn't matter' in French. Wheeler tosses these sentences into the English prose in such a way that, even without her occasional interpretation in parentheses, a reader can infer meaning. Toute Allure is a little like a French phrase book buried in a fluffy romance buried in a travel story.
Pas mal, pas mal! (Not bad!)

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I got this on Kindle when I got the first one, and after finishing the other one I thought the second might be better. It wasn't. Just a book about dog walking and line dancing. There's a nice romantic interlude but it comes right at the end of the book, after you've had to endure pages of how much the author loves her dog, and how she is too cool for line dancing but does it anyway. the narrator isn't even likeable - part of the book is spent obsessing over a man she's barely spoken to despite the fact she has a boyfriend. I don't even know what the point of this book was, or why I bothered to finish it. I guess I felt a dull obligation because I'd read the first one.

[Nigel Kirton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this a little too eagerly, having enjoyed the first book. I’m not sure I like her, but having lived in London and worked in the fashion industry for many years, I felt I could empathise with Karen (despite her egocentricity) and I was fascinated to find out how she would adjust to a lifestyle that was the polar opposite of her previous life. Book one did this very well, but this is an embarrassing saga of her lusting after every available male in the area. Toute Allure evolves into a cheap romantic novel, and not a very good one at that.
I won’t be rushing to read the next three tomes.

[Pierrebleu · Rating 3 out of 5]

undecided

I’m undecided as to whether or not I liked this book.
I like the idea of the adventure but not sure the story or the characters really grabbed me. I think it’s put me off buying a home in France as there are far too many British and they tend to congregate together but come on “line dancing” sounds pretty desperate to me.
I’m also not sure that the author’s personal relationship choices are particularly smart. Jon was a jerk and she should have ditched him long before she did. Luis seemed dim and devoid of real personality but everyone sees things differently in relationships.

I really like Biff the dog though.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Repetitive, not all that well written. At least Karen’s friends are less insufferable than the previous instalment, but frankly she’s kind of dramatic, impractical, and whiny. Her taste in men is bizarre. She seems deeply immature for 40, and has some vague epiphany that “wow buying expensive shoes just because isn’t going to make me happy”. The secondary characters are mostly weirdly flat.

[JennLynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this volume more than its predecessor "Tout Sweet". There were still boyfriend troubles, but the author seemed to be integrating more happily into French life, and also found a love who would always be loyal in rescue dog Biff.

[Mum Taaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A British fashion journalist moves to rural France and experiences French community, a monotonous relationship , a broken heart, a new pet and eventually a Portuguese lover 😂

A kind of feel good book, that makes u relax, makes you laugh, and just puts you in a good mood 😃

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming read, especially if you have a rudimentary grasp on the French language. I liked this one better than the first in this series. The author was less needy and much more fun to be around in this book.

[Lynne Patrica Housman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Warm, funny and Frank book about the author's life in France. The setting, author's thoughts & feelings are described so engaging that she becomes an 'old friend's.

[Audrey Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing account of a 40ish lively Brit journalist finding love with males (both dogs and humans) with insights into life in rural France.

[Anusha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn’t like it. Abandoned the book

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun read. Total fluff but well written and so enjoyable.

[Wendy Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read story and nice to be immersed in rural France. Enjoyable read.

[Radhika · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Gabriella Peloso · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf at 15%. couldn’t stand the book. it was so repetitive and she hated her neighbours who seemed to be lovely people …

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly pleasant bit of quick lightweight holiday reading.

Can't really remember much about it.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book about her life in Poitou-Charentes, France, a life that is very different from the glamour of the London fashion world she has left behind. In Tout Sweet: Hanging Up my High Heels for a New Life in France we left Karen nicely settled into her new community having almost finished the renovations of her village house and we find her hoping to meet someone special to share her life with. She is finally over the Ex and there are a few friendly faces she has bumped into, so she is in an optimistic mood. Karen takes us into the somewhat bizarre world of the expat in France where stress levels rise at the local quiz night and tempers get frayed in the Entente Cordial line-dancing group (oh yes, London fashionista becomes French line dance addict). She certainly knows how to enjoy herself, but the funniest bits for me are the descriptions of the weird and wonderful members of the community that she now finds herself in. The quiet life she was expecting takes a bit of a detour with the arrival of the Portuguese builders into the house next door, who enjoy late night music and street barbecues, behaviour that doesn't endear them to the neighbours. There is another side to Toute Allure, it is also the story of how two soul mates meet and eventually find a way to be together forever. This is a love story with a difference and was so readable it paralysed me for two days.

Living in the same area Karen lives in, I love that some of the places and things she writes about are familiar sounding and since reading her first book I've often thought how nice it would be to meet her for a coffee or a glass of wine. Having now read this, it is Biff (the four legged love of her life) I want to meet! Sorry Karen, but you paint such a beautiful picture of him with your words I want to run and chase deer in the Poitou-Charentes hills with him and our dog Mini.

I can honestly say there was nothing I didn't like about this book, except that it ended. If you love memoirs on life in France and if you haven't read it, it should be on your `to read' list, especially if you are a dog lover as well. I'm now looking forward to reading book three, Tout Soul: The Pursuit of Happiness in Rural France. before Karen finishes book four Sweet Encore: A Road Trip from Paris to Portugal which is due out next year.

[Ashleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this much more that the first instalment as there was a noticeable absence of the author's well thought out 'poetic' metaphor's. I notice that some have said they found the constant talk of her dog to be annoying but I much prefer this - tales of their walks across endless greenery, for example - as I find it to be far more interesting than the trials and tribulations of her love life. Where the first was littered with her constant pining for her ex-boyfriend (boring, at best) and her need to find a replacement, this book is more about her adjusting to life in France and how she integrates herself into rural life by compromise and doing things she would have turned her nose up at elsewhere. Far more inspiring!

[Hazel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I purchased this book after reading good reviews and took it down to the beach with me. After reading it for about twenty minutes I turned to my sister and asked her if I could read her a passage. I could not believe how something so poorly written could have been reviewed so favourably. My sister was equally unimpressed. The writing style is so unsophisticated, it detracted from any enjoyment I could have had from the story. Terrible! This may suit well for an extremely easy bit of light reading, but I couldn't ignore how utterly dire the style was. Sorry, but it's a big thumbs down from me!! Waste of time and money for anyone who enjoys a proper good book!

[Betty C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The themes of this second book in a series were not as attractive to me as the first one's: a dog focus, endless line dancing drama, and a more-than-unlikely romance with a Portuguese construction worker had me wondering, at times, what this British fashion journalist was indeed doing in rural France. But Wheeler's writing and story-telling are still compelling, and I found myself immediately buying the follow-up, Tout Soul, just to see what happens next.

[Cyndi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one but still enjoyable. This one focused a bit too much on her dog, Biff. Curious as to what happens with her relationship with the Lion, though. Doesn't seem like a great boyfriend so far. Have to read the 3rd one now.

[Jen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second instalment of life in France doesn't quite measure up to the first book but I still very much enjoyed it. The story line is looser in this book and there is a lot of focus on Dogs and dancing. I also missed some of the characters from the first book.

[Susan Springer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bon-bon reading candy for us francophiles!

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too much dog talk for me - a bit like children, if they aren't you own, they are not particularly interesting to read about.

[Larra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read! For light reading of course :)

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as Tout Sweet but still an entertaining read. Way, way, way too many references to "la danse country"..."line dancing" for my liking; but I still enjoyed it!

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

light read, and overall enjoyable but her chatty unsophisticated writing style and predictable plot kind of spoilt it.

[Lara Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend this and its prequel Tout Sweet, delightful books!

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as great as her two previous books, but definitely a good read!

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good read, I like dogs:-). Found it a bit repetitive in places.