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    Not Quite Nice
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    Not Quite Nice
    Unavailable
    Not Quite Nice
    Ebook316 pages6 hours

    Not Quite Nice

    By Celia Imrie

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Theresa is desperate for a change. Forced into early retirement, fed up with babysitting her bossy daughter's obnoxious children, she sells her Highgate house and moves to the picture-perfect town of Bellevue-sur-Mer, just outside Nice.

    With its beautiful villas, its bustling cafes and shimmering cerulean sea, the village sparkles like a diamond on the French Mediterranean coast. Once the hideaway of artists and writers, it is now home to the odd rock icon and Hollywood movie star, and, as Theresa soon discovers, a close-knit set of expats. There's Carol, the infinitely glamorous American and her doting husband David; the erstwhile British TV star Sally; the ferocious Sian and her wayward Australian poet husband; the sharply witty Zoe with her strangely youthful face and penchant for white wine – and the suave Brian who catches Theresa's eye.

    As Theresa settles to the gentle rhythm of seaside life she embraces her new-found friendships and freedom. However, life is never quite as simple as it seems and as skeletons start to fall out of several closets, Theresa begins to wonder if life on the French Riviera is quite as nice as it first appeared.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury USA
    Release dateMar 17, 2015
    ISBN9781632860330
    Unavailable
    Not Quite Nice
    Author

    Celia Imrie

    Celia Imrie is an Olivier Award-winning and Screen Actors Guild-nominated actress. She is known for her film roles in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Calendar Girls, Nanny McPhee, Bridget Jones, Absolutely Fabulous, Finding Your Feet, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Good Grief. She is currently filming in the Netflix series The Diplomat. Celia Imrie is also the author of her autobiography, The Happy Hoofer, and the top ten Sunday Times bestselling novels in the Nice Trilogy – Not Quite Nice, Nice Work (If You Can Get It) and A Nice Cup of Tea - Sail Away and Orphans of the Storm. www.celiaimrie.info @CeliaImrie

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    Reviews for Not Quite Nice

    3/5

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    • 2/5
      A very s-l-o-w start as the main character moves to the south of France and becomes a member of the ‘gang’ of retired middle-class ex-pats. My heart drooped as recipes were included. An ensemble cast, including a pantomime villain of a daughter. Ended up gathering pace and a plot, but not enough for me to want to delve into the future goings-on of the aged ‘gang’.
    • 3/5
      I like to people watch and reading this was like an indulgent afternoon doing just that! Celia Imrie's first novel and being a successful British actress, it read like the script for a Saturday afternoon movie. You don't have to think too deeply or concentrate too hard on the plot. It rolls along easily and at times a little predictably but there are a few surprises along the way and it's easy to pick which character Celia would play!! A good book to take to the park or the beach or on a plane.....or to read while in lockdown.
    • 3/5
      This feels like Best Exotic Marigold Hotel meets Agatha Christie. That's not a bad thing.
    • 3/5
      Theresa has lost her job and on impulse decides to "retire" to Southern France. She finds a lovely flat with a view of the harbor in Bellevue-Sur-Mer, a small village near Nice, where she meets a group of ex-pats, mostly British, who befriend her. But not all is perfect in paradise. A series of burglaries and a couple of vicious muggings have people on edge. Not to mention the family difficulties each of them has - cheating spouses, ungrateful children, dwindling funds, alcoholism, etc. In her debut novel, Imrie has given us a sort of “coming of old age” story. I loved Theresa, though I wanted to shake her a few times when she put up with bad treatment by her ungrateful, selfish daughter and her bratty grandchildren. Still, this is a woman who has always done her best and who is slowly but surely realizing that she deserves some pleasure in life. The cast of supporting characters was marvelous as well: the smooth and attentive Brian; Sally a former British TV star; Americans Carol and David; “dragon lady” Sian and her philandering Aussie husband Ted; the witty, seemingly never aging octogenarian Zoe; compliant Faith and her pushy son Alfie who insists she needs a mansion rather than the small flat she’d prefer; and gay couple Benjamin and William. I thought it was an enjoyable, fast novel. Perfect for a vacation read. The bad guys get what’s coming to them, and everyone learns a lesson or two. It’s not exactly a happily-ever-after ending, but it gives me hope for the future of these characters. There are two more books in the series (thus far), and I look forward to reading them.