Laura's Handmade Life by Amanda Addison.

I actually finished this book back on 11th September but I have been a bit behind on the reviews recently so have only just got around to talk about it now.

Plot: Laura Lovegrove is leaving behind her seamless life in London. Architect husband Adi has been relocated to rural Norfolk, a far cry from ultra-urban Ealing. Though Laura knew village life would be different she didn't foresee a pokey cottage, nosey neighbours and even an ex turning up. Chris had been her big love at art college and seeing him again is utterly confusing. Is she really so different from the impulsive student who once trawled charity shops for vintage treasures. When a fire all but destroys Laura's collection of vintage clothes, she's heartbroken. But salvaging what she can, Laura make dos and mends- sewing purses, handbags, even dog leads. Soon she is inundated with orders. But Adi is becoming more distant. Is there something he is not telling her? Can Laura make a stitch in time and pull her family back together again?



This book was an impulse buy when I was purchasing The Help as it was buy one, get one half price in WH Smith. Always a dangerous temptation! This book initially got my attention because of my interest in all things crafty and the fact that I fancied a light hearted chick lit read after some of the more heavier tomes I had been tackling recently. There is a part of me that feels that this book is just an attempt to cash in on the craft, vintage, cake baking craze everyone seems to be going through currently. However the story is substantial enough that it keeps you interested and may even appeal to those not so into the crafty side of things.

I have to admit, I loved this book, despite the fact that the main character Laura might come across as a middle class whinger! On the face of it she seems to have everything but there are times when you do feel like you want to tell her to get over herself! The book however is saved by its humour, the quaint setting of the village, the wide variety of interesting personalities she comes across and the passion with which the writer talks about Laura's creativity.

Despite being a bit moody sometimes Laura does come across as a huge inspiration in the way she takes control of her life once the fire destroys her clothes collection and a big part of the cottage. She throws her self into her greatest passion, crafts, goes out of her way to attend workshops to learn new skills and meet new people and begins to slowly find her feet within the community and start a business.  While reading this book I was bursting with creativity and I kept wanting to run to the craft store, buy fabric and start manically sewing. Unfortunately my laziness kind of got in the way of that plan!

The only thing I found slightly annoying about the book at the beginning was the author's writing style, in that the action does have a tendency to jump all over the place. For example you will be in the middle of one scene where a conversation is taking place and then suddenly within the same paragraph, you are now reading about an event happening hours later in the day. There is no explanation for what happened in between and most of the time I ended up re-reading the paragraph just to make sure that I had not blacked out for a few seconds and missed the key plot points!

Apart from this I would really recommend this book and will definitely be re-reading this one again.