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Book Reviews Title Beating
About The Bush Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - Buy
Now! Cover
Story Ella Norton has
opted for the simple life. Gone are the power suits
and an executive career, in are the wellies, a
horticulture course and Matt, her immensely sexy
tutor. With two lodgers
- gorgeous, worldly Miranda and unglamorous,
naïve Faith - to help with the D.I.Y, it can't
go wrong. Except that Miranda and Faith hate each
other, Matt has a wife and the D.I.Y lands them in
casualty. But it's when tall, abrasive and engaged
C.I.D man Jaz Singh sets up camp in Ella's bedroom
that life starts to spiral seriously out of her
control. Embracing the
simple life has never been so
complicated… We
Say ...or so
mind-numbingly awful. There are many words I can
think of to describe this kind of popular fiction,
but I'll stay in tune with the theme of the book
and keep it simple. Beating About the Bush is dull,
predictable and feeble. I found myself skim reading
the last third because I just couldn't take any
more. There is not a
single character that stands out as a real person.
"Normal" but needy Ella shares a house with nasty
but beautiful Miranda, and mousy but
secretly-very-pretty-when-she-can-be-bothered Faith
(heaven forbid we should have someone who genuinely
is unattractive in this story). Worst of all is the
Asian policeman, Jaz. He is faced with an arranged
marriage that he is allegedly very happy about. We
are treated to patronising speeches about
race-relations and trying to be part of a new
culture in a way that seems totally out of sync
with the awareness that most people now have.
Maybe it would be
possible to forgive the weak characters if the plot
was gripping. Unfortunately, it's equally pointless
and shockingly uneventful. Until the last quarter
of the book, the main events consist of the girls
going to the pub, Ella alternately arguing and
flirting with Jaz and the real dramatic high point
of the girls trying to put up a shower curtain. By
the time anything does happen you'll have lost all
interest. One character has the good sense get
themselves locked away in prison by the end (and if
you don't see that one coming then you must have
been reading with your eyes shut - hmmm, wish I'd
thought of that). Review by: Rachel
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