By Sophie Kinsella

Original review: March, 2017.
Right up to Sophie Kinsella’s best work. As usual, Kinsella is a master at showing the characters and personalities of her players, not just telling you. It was very refreshing that she didn’t follow the usual “country good, city bad” cliche. I liked the message and it’s a welcome reminder, when, with social media, one thinks one knows a person and their life. Maybe you really don’t. **4 stars**

**Additional thoughts upon re-reading on Audible. 10/03/2023**
I am bumping this one up to 5 stars. First of all, the narration by Fiona Hardingham was funny and touching. I loved her Somerset accent and hearing it really highlighted the divide between country people and city people and the accompanying assumptions that are made. She made Katie so lovable, and her boss, Demeter, so layered. She was contemptible and admirable at the same time. What a character!

Katie is a farm girl raised by a single father who has made her way to London. To be a “Londoner” has been her dream. She works in an advertising agency, and though she is the low man on the totem pole, she is a tryer, and she has talent. To make a long story of her personal and professional struggles short, she gets laid off and is forced to return to the farm in disgrace. Not wanting to disappoint her loving Dad, she tells him and his second wife Biddy that she is on sabbatical. Her Dad and Biddy have decided to turn their farm into a “Glamping” site, and thanks solely to Katie’s guidance and marketing talent, it is a fabulous success.

Katie’s old London boss, Demeter, is a piece of work. Katie was a great admirer and thought that Demeter had the perfect life. Demeter is brilliant and creative (almost a legend in her field) but is totally disorganized, has no self-awareness, is a braggart, does not play well with others, and many other things. When she fires Katie in the most insensitive manner possible, Katie joins her former officemates in hating her guts. Then Demeter shows up at her family’s glamping site for a family vacation. And Katie starts to hilariously and cleverly wreak her revenge.

How she goes from being Demeter’s mortal enemy to her comrade in arms is as funny and entertaining as can be. Together, as an unlikely team, they turn each other’s trouble-filled and imperfect lives into darn near-perfect ones. I think Demeter is one of Sophie Kinsella’s most wonderful creations. And Katie’s journey is heartwarming and exhilarating. Of course, there is a romance for Katie, and, as usual, her love interest is appealing and a bit unusual with issues of his own.
This book is romantic comedy at its best. And a witty satire to boot.