There’s an art to choosing men …but Thea’s just discovering it.

Fed up with looking after a houseful of students, Thea Orville throws caution to the winds and takes off to Ireland with Rory, a charming but feckless artist. But Thea’s old life isn’t so easily cut off. The arrival of Molly, her bossy friend, demanding to see Rory’s stunning paintings (and to find out what Thea is up to) is bad enough, but why did she have to bring Petal, Thea’s most annoying lodger, along for the ride?

And worst of all, Petal is accompanied by her uncle, the enigmatic Ben, a man Thea has sworn never to like. The timing is terrible - Rory’s dog is about to have puppies - but even more alarming is that the more Rory pursues Thea, the more maddeningly attractive she finds Ben…

Artistic Licence is one of my favourite Katie Fforde novels. I’ve read it three times and loved it each and every time. It tells the story of Thea, a landlady with a house full of students. After a trip to France with her best friend Molly she decides to go to Ireland with Rory - an artist she met in France - to get away from it all. Trouble is Molly, Petal (one of Thea’s lodgers) and Petal’s Uncle Ben rock up in Ireland demanding to see Rory’s paintings. And that’s just the start of things!

I loved Artistic Licence. I thought it was an easy read and I really enjoyed all of the characters. Reading about Thea trying to set up an art gallery after seeing Rory’s paintings was brilliant, the whole will-he-won’t-he regarding showing with Thea in the provinces or showing in London was an interesting part of the story, too.

Sure, Thea swanning off to Ireland seemed very sudden but the spontaneity of it was great to read. Who doesn’t dream of swanning off somewhere and getting away from it all?! I thought Thea was really well written and I enjoyed the dilemma’s she faced and I couldn’t help hoping she would pull it off.

I also really enjoyed the interaction between Ben and Thea and was rooting for them throughout. From the first meeting in the dustbin to the end, their relationship was a really great part to the novel. The build-up for it was really great and well done by Katie and my favourite aspect of the story.

I enjoyed all the minor characters, Molly, Petal, Rory but my favourite of the minor characters was Ben’s son Toby. He was really enjoyable to read about. Another part of the story I enjoyed was Rory’s dog, Lara, having her puppies and, when Rory went to London, reading how Thea looked after them.

Artistic Licence is written in the third-person as all of Katie’s books are and I love how that’s done. Depending on the author, I alternate between which style I prefer. I’m generally a fan of first-person but I love when third-person is really well written and Katie definitely manages that.

Overall, Artistic Licence is a really great read, and although a lot of people (on Amazon - where some reviews cannot be classified as reviews) say Katie’s writing style is “old-fashioned” I disagree with them, I love how Katie writes her books. It’s well worth a read if you like a good romance!

Rating: 5/5

Tags: katie fforde

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