Meeting Coty Book Review

Many thanks again to the next reviewer - I am spacing them out in the order I've receive them, so they are coming! And thank you all for the lovely, positive things you say.

Meeting Coty Book Review
by
Hannah Dixon

Meeting Coty is a beautiful book. I love the front cover. The writing on the back summing up the book is like poetry. The novel lives up to both of these. It is so beautifully written evoking the time it is set and all the sights and scents of perfume which feature strongly in the story. The story follows Tessa from being a young girl to when she is an adult as she dreams of working for Francois Coty who is a famous perfumer. She seems connected to him and there are scenes which couldn't possibly happen when she imagines she is with him, but this fantastical side runs through the book and it works.
There is definitely a spanish element to the book in this and in the way the author describes love, jealousy and loss. It is very powerful, imaginative and visual. The writer gives the reader space to see all the scenes she describes which I liked because she made it easy to visualise all the characters and what was going on as if you were watching the film. And I loved the love scene in the graveyard!
This book is like a work of art.

Juba do Leao - Not Part of Festival

After a fantastic review of the Juba do Leao performance last Saturday, 11th of July, in Manchester's International Festival's Fringe, Not Part of Festival, the band are attending the City Life Magazine Awards Ceremony on Monday, 20th of July 2009.

Every drum playing finger and dancing toe crossed!

Book Review - Meeting Coty

"Meeting Coty Review"
by Heather Cross

Meeting Coty is about a girl called Tessa Garcia who wants to work for the perfume maker Francois Coty. It is set from about 1910 to 1920 something. Tessa lives with her spanish family in London and the book is about all the people in the family and how they all want different things and don't want what they have and how they fall out and how some get on and some don't. I really liked all this as it seemed very real. The unusual thing was that all the pictures and things they were doing. The way the writer puts things seems to belong to the time it was set which I thought was very clever. It made me think that I was in a different world which I liked. It also seemed as if the people would be exactly the same now and they would have the same fall outs and problems. Tessa is very keen to go to work, but everything seems to stop her. Her dad doesn't want her to work, even her sister doesn't. And she doesn't need to work either, which her dad tells her. He says jobs should go to people who need it. I hadn't thought about that before, so that was interesting. And then Tessa meets Sandes and she falls in love and that takes up all her time. But then the other characters in the book make her think of what life is going to be like in the future and the rest of the book is about what she is going to do. I couldn't guess, so I kept reading. I couldn't put the book down. And lots of people die, but I won't tell you who but it's really sad and it surprised me.
I'm looking forward to the next book so I can see what happens next. I want to know more about all the characters as I feel I really like them. It's only a short book and you can't put it down so it doesn't take long. I never read books more than once but I'm going to read this again until the other one comes out.

Meeting Coty - perfume and review

Hooray! Thank you again to everyone who has read the Meeting Coty book they requested and for sending in their reviews. Again, I've cut the parts giving away plot. Here are two more:

"Meeting Coty Review"
by Jules Walsh

"This book is about people and family dynamics. It is also about responsibility and love and choosing your future. What really fascinated me was the different characters and how they related to each other. I really liked the eldest sister, Maraquita and I'd like to know more about her. She is very strong, physically and emotionally, but she's also very fragile. I think she just wants to be loved and she tries really hard to get her mother to notice her, but her mother never does except to tell her off! I think she hates her.
Tessa is the main character in the book. She is the perfect heroine. She is pretty and everyone loves her. This could make her annoying, but she always gets into trouble. And we can related to how she is feeling. I remember finishing with a boyfriend and I really didn't like him, but I didn't want him to get over me and go out with anyone else. Tessa is the same and I laughed because I could related to that.
I didn't like Mrs Garcia. I thought she was mean to her children but the writer made me understand her too. She was really mean to Maraquite because she made her carry some flowers when she knew she had hayfever. I thought the writer was really inventive with things like this. I was quite shocked at times.
I would recommend this book to anyone really. It's romantic without being slushy and it's unusual in the way it shows us things. The writer told me that the next book is longer and goes into more detail about Francois Coty and the perfume industry and I also want to know if Tessa has made the right choice.

Book Reviews

Meeting Coty Book Review!

Many thanks as the reviews are coming in from the ten people who received copies of the book from the website.

"Meeting Coty" Review
by Sally Craven


The theme of Meeting coty seems to be about the choice between love and family and a career. As a career woman myself, I am not convinced that there has to be a choice. I think nowadays a woman can have both. I supposed in the 1920's when this novel was set, it was more difficult. It probably was until the 1960's. The mother figure who hates her children is what would make me have to know for sure that I wanted children before having them though. I always wanted children and I still do, but I wouldn't automatically do it, I'd have to be absolutely certain and I always thought I was definite before. This book has made me think more seriously about it. Maybe the mother shouldn't have had children, but then there'd be no story. I'd like to know what kind of a working mother Tessa would make. I asked my mum about having to choose between love and a career and she said it depends on whether you have children or not. Even today.
What I like about the book is that it makes you think about things like this. I'd assumed there was nothing to debate, but talking to people, the reality still seems to be a problem for all sorts of reasons. I like the way different characters take different views on this theme. A bit like 'Sex and the City' you can pick which character you think you are most like.
The images that are used in the book as well are really unusual. I love the way she describes love and jealousy and that we make a choice and then aren't sure. It's very true. It kept me guessing too. You think there's not a lot going on and really there is loads going on. It made me think differently about perfume as well. I won't buy any of that celebrity stuff any more. Perfume is too important for that.
I am looking forward to the next book, Leaving Coty as that is about how things shape up for Tessa and there is more about Coty and perfume which I'm interested in knowing more about. I like the fact that I can learn things about perfume and Coty through a story and not have to read a factual book about him.
I'd definitely recommend the book.

Book Review - Meeting Coty

The third review of Meeting Coty. Again, apologies for the plot details I have taken out of the review.

"Meeting Coty Review"
by Helen Brookes

"I felt this would make a great film. You can see it in front of you as you're reading it. I could imagine Tessa and her family in the house getting ready in the mornings and how chaotic and noisy the house was. And I liked the fact that people didn't think normally or went about things normally. It took me by surprise loads of times. It was very original in that and in the way it was written as well. Very clever. I did wonder what was going on sometimes as things happened very quickly without a big explanation and I thought I'd missed something, but then I liked that as it wasn't talking down to me and it made me feel that I was actually quite bright! Some books ram things down your throat and treat you as if you're thick. This book didn't do that. Some films do that too and I really hate that.
The story isn't as soppy as I thought it was going to be. It's not just a love story, in fact it's an odd love story. It's more about growing up, really, which I found has helped me see that things we think are good can be but they aren't always good for us, if you know what I mean.I would definitely recommend it."

Book Review

Book Review:
Agin, apologies for cutting sections that gave away the plot!

MEETING COTY
Review by Sue Goodwin:

"I just kept thinking thank God they're not my family, they're all so weird. One of them thinks she's the Virgin Mary, one of them shags someone in a church in one of those boxes and all the men are mean or useless or scarey. I'm not sure about Coty. He's scarey but there's some sort of mystery about him and I'd like to know more about that.
The main character drove me nuts at times! I wanted to scream at her, no don't do that, or turn around and go back, but I did like her and I could relate to her mood swings.
I just wanted to know more about everyone really, so I'm glad there's another book coming out. I could easily read this one again as I probably missed some things."

Book Reviews

Disastrous day yesterday as lost three hours work, then spent the rest of the day trying unsuccessfully to retrieve it. Ahhhhh!!! Now have to rewrite. ughhh...

But, I have a couple of reviews of Meeting Coty through so many thanks to the readers and writers of these. My apologies for cutting bits out of the reviews that gave away the plot!!

MEETING COTY

Review by Jules Hartley:

"I thought this book was really good. I don't think I've read anything like it before. It was very individual and unique. I think I'd have liked certain things, like the deaths in the story described more. Maybe a bit too subtle.
I really liked the ups and downs of the relationship between Sandes and Tessa. That really worked.
I liked the bits of Tessa's jealousy and the twists in their relationship. Not all sweet and fine which was good.
I want a sequel to find out what happens next.
Want to read the second book now!"