Books : The Gatecrasher

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Author name: Madeleine Wickham

: The Gatecrasher
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780312381073
ISBN number: 0312381077
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: May 27, 2008
Publishing house: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 28094
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin



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Product Description:


The Secret Is Out!
Madeleine Wickham is Sophie Kinsella, and The Gatecrasher is just as delicious as her internationally bestselling Shopaholic series.  

Everything’s coming up roses for Fleur Daxeny, as she goes through more rich men than she does designer hats.  Beautiful and utterly irresistible, her sucess at crashing funerals to find wealthy men is remarkable. Fleur wastes no time in seducing her latest conquest, the handsome and rich widower Richard Favour. His children are caught up in a whirlwind as their father’s new girlfriend descends on the family estate. Fleur is not one to wear her heart on her Chanel sleeves, but she soon finds herself embracing Richard and his family. But just as Fleur contemplates jumping off the gold-digger train for good, a long-buried secret from her past threatens to destroy her new family.

Take a wild and marvelous ride with The Gatecrasher, whose clever, chic, and sassy style will leave you desperately wanting more wonderful Wickham!





Customer Reviews
User popularity level: out of 5 stars

Rated by buyers 2 out of 5 stars - What a disappointing ending!
I am a big fan of the books written by this author's pen name Sophie Kinsella. I really enjoy the humour in her books! I've also come to enjoy reading books by Madeleine Wickham, although their topics tend to be a bit more 'serious'.

The book starts out with Fleur, a single mom, trying on a bunch of hats and only wanting to order them in black. It turns out she's a gatecrasher-but not of the wedding kind. She crashes funerals and memorial services, but only for those whom she believes will pro...more I am a big fan of the books written by this author's pen name Sophie Kinsella. I really enjoy the humour in her books! I've also come to enjoy reading books by Madeleine Wickham, although their topics tend to be a bit more 'serious'.

The book starts out with Fleur, a single mom, trying on a bunch of hats and only wanting to order them in black. It turns out she's a gatecrasher-but not of the wedding kind. She crashes funerals and memorial services, but only for those whom she believes will provide her with a wealthy widower.

She attends the memorial service for Emily Favour and meets Richard. She quickly gets to work and the subsequent thing she knows she's been invited to lunch with him. Soon they are almost inseparable, and Fleur cannot really deny enjoying it. Richard is quickly in love and enjoys the newness in Fleur. They go to his second home in the country (in a gated community, of course) and she quickly befriends Emily's sister, as well as the children of Richard and Emily.

Trouble brews when Zara, Fleur's daughter, shows up. She could possibly bring Fleur's happiness to an end by unveiling Fleur's secret. Will the happiness end and Fleur have to find another widower to "fall in love" with??

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. It read quickly, as the other books by Wickham/Kinsella have. I did, however, have a problem with the ending. I felt as though Madeleine was suddenly rushed to get the book to press and just quickly ended the story. There seemed to be so many strings left loose, and nothing there to tie them up nicely. Because of the final chapter, my entire opinion of the book changed.

Overall, the book was fine, and I would recommend it to others, with the warning that the ending is a bit disappointing. I'd hate for others to be just as disappointed as I was


Rated by buyers 2 out of 5 stars - Unsatisfying ending
It is the one of the few novels in which I do not see the growth and maturity of the main character. This woman is deceitful, a bad mother, and yet everyone falls in love with her. The author tries to convince the reader that Fleur is charming. This is a 40 year old woman that takes no responsibility for her actions and cares about noone but herself! The only good quality that she shows is that she is beautiful. If that is considered a quality than that is the only quality she posesses. I did not laugh or have a lot of fun reading this book. It made me feel really bad for every single one of these characters and even worse that they never got to see through the gold-digger that Fleur is. As far as they are concerned, at the end she is still wonderful. While the truth is... she never was and she never will be.


Rated by buyers 3 out of 5 stars - Bad Ending
I really enjoyed this book I thought it was very entertaining. The only problem I had with this book was the ending. The ending was a bit upsetting, and I thought it could have been much different. I still enjoyed the book, and I'm looking into ordering another one of Madeline Wickham/ Sophie Kinsella books.


Rated by buyers 3 out of 5 stars - tangled web of deceipt
What truths and what lies can be found in any relationship? Of course, one built on truth will likely survive and ones established in a lie will likely reach their demise that much sooner. Nonetheless, I found myself rooting for the relationship between Fleur and Richard, the two main characters of the novel, to succeed in spite of their shaky start.

Fleur is an excellent con-artist and Richard is looking to be loved. When Fleur shows him affection after years of a loveless marriage, he can't help but be sucked into Fleur's web. The characters are written in such a way to make them realistic in their emotional voids; Fleur has a bravado to hide her true feelings and Richard's stoicism slowly dissolves.

Unlike flightier books by her pen name, Sophie Kinsella, The Gatecrashers has a darker side. Some of the character development is weak, with the side members of the family rather predictable in action and words. A decent read for those who like chick-lit with an edge.


Rated by buyers 4 out of 5 stars - Neither Devil Nor Angel
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed all the Sophie Kinsella novels, I decided to try the Madeleine Wickhams. So far I've read Cocktails for Three and The Gatecrasher. Although they are not as light in tone, they are enertaining and are quite fast reads. Her older books are harder to find in stores and online at the moment.

I must admit to having mixed feelings about Fleur. I can understand why she is so obsessed with money, given her background, and I can sympathize to an extent. Some of the men she had been associated with must have been difficult to live with, so she had no scruples about taking what she could. But I cannot understand why she isn't willing to embrace a live of love and simple pleasures with a good man and his family, all of whom truly appreciate her. She doesn't have to wear plaid trousers or learn to play golf.

On the positive side, Fleur is stylish, chic, sympathetic (to a point), and has a joie de vivre that she conveys to Richard Favour (a very aptly named character) and the rest of his family. The "sainted" Emily, it turns out, was a mean-spirited tyrant who denied her sister the trip of a lifetime, trod on her daughter's ego and forced her to marry a man who was truly unworthy (but whom Emily must have seen as a kindred spirit to herself), and hated her son's strawberry birthmark so much that she wanted him to wear an eyepatch to cover it. Richard never knew any of this; he would have been appalled if he had.

Negatively, Fleur is a user. She sympathizes with Phillipa but then ignores her when she is in real need of a friend. Her treatment of her daughter is abominable. The child is anorexic and a pot smoker. If Fleur had called her poppet one more time, I would have reached inside the book and slapped her. She is a young girl, not a doll. To think that Fleur cared so little that she had nowhere for Zara (named after Princess Margaret's daughter, I'm sure!) to go after her term ended!

But, like Fleur or not, she changed Richard and his family for the better. Zara, however, gets the credit for the change in young Anthony; I believe he changed her as well. It's amazing that she turned out as well as she did!

The ending was not what I had hoped, but, given Fleur's character, it rang true. I'd have liked an epilogue set a few years later, but it wasn't to be. However, I'm glad I enjoyed the book, and I do recommend it for a pleasant way to pass a quiet evening or two.

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