Rivals - Jilly Cooper

Advantages: Hello Rupert
Disadvantages:

Lets forget about formalities shall we? You know why you’re here……!!! ***HOW COMES I’VE GOT IT?*** The obvious answer to that question would be flippant and somewhat rude I imagine? But I’m sure that you don’t actually want to know HOW I came to have got it, but rather why and how I came to read it, yes? Well, the answer to that is easy, and once already explained in my opening statement. Well, in a way. After ...
...just somehow managed to get a copy, natural progression really. You like an author, you hunt out that authors work, normal I guess?? ***SPECS & STUFF*** First published in 1988 by Bantam Press, and then reprinted since by Corgi this book is currently retailing at approx. £5.99. Like most Cooper novels, it is still retaining value and I haven’t seen it cheaper anywhere else. (Except the BookPeople On line that is, at the time of writing they ... Read review

Advantages: You won't want to put it down
Disadvantages: The housework won't get done!

OK so you’ve just finished reading Riders. Great wasn’t it? So now you want to know what Rupert Campbell Black is going to do next. I have the answer to your dilemma read the next book in the series – Rivals. By now Rupert is an MP, divorced from Helen, who went on to marry Malise Gordon, the showjumping team coach. Rupert and Helen had two children, Tabitha who is a wild child and a female version of her father and Marcus, who ...
...Rupert still owns a string of racehorses and regularly travels the world looking for further purchases. Tabitha shares his passion for riding, but Marcus is terrified of horses, yet another reason for his father to dislike him. Declan O’Hara, a media star has moved from the BBC to Cotswold Television and he and his family move to Cotchester just across the valley from Rupert. Declan and his wife have a son and two very attractive daughters. ... Read review

Advantages: Rupert Campbell- Black!
Disadvantages: none

...what to expect. I found Rivals absolutely unputdownable then, and when I have re-read it (many times now), I have been in the same situation and everything else I'm supposed to be doing gets forgotten!!! This is a much more romantic book than Riders, with less sex scenes and the further development of the caddish, wonderful Rupert Campbell Black. There are other brilliant characters such as Declan O'Hara, Freddie & Valerie Jones, James & Lizzie ...
...funny, with Jilly's usual fabulous one-liners and riotous goings on, but it is also so touching and romantic in parts, that I was in floods. There are also some really exciting events, especially at the end, that you feel totally involved and wrung out once you've finished reading it! I love this book and cannot recommend it highly enough. ... Read review