I heard your chat on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour earlier today (March 3rd) and was moved to seek out your blog and your book. A comment has been added to the Amazon UK review you describe as “pure hateful sarcasm from start to finish”. It reads:

“I don’t have much confidence in the opinions of someone who doesn’t understand the difference between baited and bated. This reviewer shows the worst characteristics of the critic: bile and spite disguised as wit, not very successfully.”

And yes, it was I who added the comment. Anyone reading the reviews can leave a comment and/or say whether they found the review helpful.

Good luck with the book, and NLTBGYD.

Good luck with the book and your forthcoming wedding – I much enjoyed your interview on Woman’s Hour today.

I have to say I can’t put your book down. I bought it when I was in London last week (I’m Dutch but I study English and I don’t like to read things in translation) and I started reading right away. I love your writing style, and it keeps you wanting to read on. Some of the things you describe in the book are really recognisable and it’s wonderful to read how you manage to analyse situations and put them into words in a way that I would never manage myself.

You’ve put something out there you can be proud of. :)

I’m in the States in Chicago and I ordered the Hardcover UK version from amazon.co.uk just because I couldn’t imagine reading Tadpole call you “Mommy”. As we say when butchering even our version of english: “That just ain’t right!”
So, I ordered, and I recieved but quick! The minute I got it I sat down and started reading.

Lovely! Just Lovely! After so much time lurking about your blog though, it is a little like being a Peeping Tom to read about your life from the beginning of la “Petite Anglaise”. Oh and yes, “Petite Americaine” has that same double meaning, mignonne et (disons) assez facile.

Finalement, tres bien fait Petite! Felicitations!

So I congratulate you, and all writers, for doing the hard word and exposing yourself – in a manner of speaking – for the rest of us to see. It takes heart and I offer you some so you may ignore the small and small-minded reviewers.

Bonne chance!

I’m obviously going to have to get used to reading many differing opinions of my book (and in this case, people’s opinions of me as a person) as I’ve put myself squarely in the firing line.

I don’t shy away in the book from portraying myself in an unfavourable light and I think some readers will miss the point that I did this on purpose – to show human weakness, to be honest about my own failings – and simply brand me selfish, shallow, self-centred.

My only issue however was with someone writing a bogus review about a book I was almost certain she hadn’t read. There is another which is pure hateful sarcasm from start to finish and makes no reference to the book at all. I wonder a little at the motivation behind something like that.

You will see in my comments box that a good friend of mine has written a less than glowing review, which I responded to with good grace because it is constructive, well argued and makes sense to me.

The upshot of all this is that I’ve decided not to react publicly to this subject any further, even if this is my blog and I should be able to do precisely as I please. It’s a case of whatever I say, I can’t win. So best to keep stumm.