Out Of Practice by Penny Parkes

This is my second time reading this book and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around as I did the first.  I figured that seeing as 2 more books have already been released in the series and a fourth one is on the way that it may make sense to refresh my memory on the one that started it all before jumping in on the others.  I am glad that I did.

There is a lot to enjoy here, a wonderful rural setting in Larkford Village (that seems to have as many residents as a small town), a place that has a wonderful sense of community and is very accepting of outsiders settling there.  Local characters that really live up to that description.  Then you have the trials and tribulations of Holly Graham - Doctor and mum of twins who moves to Larkford to try and repair her marriage to the ghastly Milo, reconnect with her best friend Lizzie and basically "have it all".

There is a good dollop of real life in the book, without the author bashing the drum about how hard working mother's have it.  Let's face it, it would have been all too easy to make Holly either a martyr or a superwoman.  Instead she has the same rather bewildered attitude that many of us have to life and somehow just blunders on through it all, making mistakes along the way but just about holding it all together.  She is not always entirely likeable, even if other people seem to regard with a strange sort of adoration, but her internal monologues and crises of confidence are well written and feel "real".

Despite giving this a 5 Star review there are things that bother me about the book.  Milo is a classic narcissist and his role in the book is limited to that one dimension - there is no redeeming quality to the man and it made my blood boil that Holly stuck with him; from what we learn about Holly you really do doubt this relationship from the outset.  The other character that is more of a caricature is Holly's friend Lizzie, another toxic person you couldn't really imagine Holly keeping around her.

There is such warmth in this book and a good dollop of humour (at times a tad black).  The plot moves along at a nice, gentle pace and although it holds no surprises for the reader it is a lovely read for those cold winter evenings.  To be honest you know from the early chapters more or less how things are going to end up but it is fun getting there!