Nice Girls Do

by Sarah Duncan

It's the ultimate question for Anna Carmichael, whose work as a garden historian makes her as happy as her love life makes her miserable. And the men she's meeting these days do nothing to simplify the Oliver Davenport, the magnetic, stylish grandson of a rich client, sweeps Anna off her feet with high-octane dates and a jet-setting schedule, while Will Sutton, dead-sexy gardener at the client's country estate, pursues Anna with more primal pleasures.

With all the charm and heat of a modern Lady Chatterley's Lover , Nice Girls Do is sexy and satisfying fiction.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

There is more than one author with this name.

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than a lot of other reviews indicated. I thought it was more than chick Lit, somewhat less than literary excellence but I enjoyed the ups and downs plus the bit of gardening/Gods and despite what I may say at times, I do kind of like a "Happy Ending" !

[Valeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the story was in Bath 😍 Made me happy. Sometimes you just need happy.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Library book sale. . . what can I say? Fifty cents towards the Friends of the Library's good programming efforts resulted in a modestly acceptable example of Brit chick lit with some garden info thrown in for good measure. A hand-written note by the former owner said "this book had more meaning in it than I'd expected," but I found it pretty trite and predictable, with character development of the "Suddenly, she realized. . . " variety and an overall sense of the author trying too hard. Katie Fforde does these speciality romances with panache and good humor, and I never get the sense that she thinks she's Creating Great Art, but Duncan seemed to strain a bit as she told this story of a woman who has to choose between the dark, glamourous Oliver and the warm but mysterious Will, wending her way through drugs, accidents, and self-doubt to discover true happiness. . . Sound familiar? It is, a little.

[Juliana Es · Rating 1 out of 5]

The one I read has a tag line that says this: SEX, LIES & GARDENING The story is about a garden-history expert, who has a new assignment of evaluating a ruin. While on the job, she sort of falls in love with the property owner's only grandchild - a handsome, suave young man (whom later she had sex with). This man, however, has a mystery surrounding him. It seems like he's plotting something and tries so hard to conceal it from his grandmother. Bla, bla, bla, in the end, instead of choosing him as her soulmate, she chooses someone else - the gardener of the property.

Not my type of brain candy. To be honest, I couldn't continue reading it diligently after about 3/4 of the book, so I skipped pages and went straight to the ending :-p

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book years ago, and honestly at the time, I had to force myself to finish reading it. The main character was very lame and the whole love triangle is just very trite.

But it amazes me how often I think about this book years after the fact. Not about the story or the plot, but about the gardens. In particular the garden she is working on restoring really stuck with me. I still love the concept of a theme garden and almost want to go over to visit Britain just to see landscape gardens and look at the themes.

So while I wouldn't really recommend the book in terms of the story, the descriptions and gardens in the book are awesome, and in that sense it is worth reading.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Standard issue Brit chick lit: woman who is unlucky in romance and also kind of a loser (demonstrated here by the fact that she does not own a TV and therefore does not know anything about pop culture) meets first a down-at-heels Nice Guy then a wealthy playboy, falls for playboy and is then tremendously unhappy (and, in an incredibly unlikely turn of events, develops a coke addiction that is magically fixed later through the power of love). You can probably figure out the rest.

Predictable in a bad way, not terribly imaginative, a little hokey.

[Karina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute chick lit that started off really well, but halfway through seemed to loose steam: the heroine was stuck in a rut--a relationship that looked great and glamorous on paper but was really slowly ruining her life--and it almost seemed that the book and momentum got stuck there a bit too. I did care enough to keep skimming the rest, and the book did seem to pick up after she lost this loser, so I would still recommend this to chick-lit lovers.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. It was ok. A love story with the typical love triangle which I usually enjoy. The one guy I hated from the beginning. The language was a little ...um... harsh at times and at others seemed a little bit more like a romance novel than suits my tastes.

I did like learning a little bit about gardens and their histories. The end was definitely better than I thought it'd be and not quite as predictable as I imagined.

[Bailey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the book is about the main character making mistakes and dealing with past mistakes.

She is with the wrong guy most of the book, which is unromantic and disappointing.

She does drugs and almost becomes a full-fledged addict which makes me unable to relate. I do not know why the book carried that part of the plot for so long.

I liked her in the beginning. I liked who she ended up with, but I didn't like some of the 150 pages in between.

[Savi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay now I'm usually very lenient when it comes to books particularly romance. But I started reading this book years ago when I got it on sale and couldn't get pass the 2nd chapter. About another year after I picked it up trying to give it another chance but couldn't stand to finish it. I couldn't relate to the main character at all, in fact she was quite bitchy and not in a funny or relatable way. Apparently, the author is an actress too. I don't about her acting, but her writing is HORRIBLE!

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great beach read. You know when you pick it up what will happen in the end, but the plot is lovely and twisty-turny. And the characters are fun. It's like a cupcake, this book--you know exactly what you're getting, and it's sweet and yummy, but too many of them would make you sick to your stomach.

Still, we aren't on spring break every week, are we.

[Stefani · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Very interesting though somewhat predictable. I thought I'd be bored by the gardening stuff but it was interesting as history played an important role and things didn't end there. and it wasn't all romance either. Author has done a pretty good job at balancing the romance with everything else that's going on. I applaud her for that :D

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dof great British landscape gardens, including two I have visited, Rousham and Stowe - raises this romance about a garden historian a bit above the ordinary. I was pleased that the author did not take the easy way of having a brush with TV turn the heroine into an overnight success.

[Meadow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice fresh summer read. Nothing to write home about but still good to finish.

[Penelope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good solid chick-lit.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow starter, I really didn't get into the book til about half way through or later, but enjoyed it overall.

[Preet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recreation drug use, or any sort of drug abuse is a huge turn off for me. This book was good otherwise, but I just could not handle the drug abuse.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish

[Kym · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book, not the way I expected the story to go - in a good way.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

British, gardener renovates garden on old british estate; rich man and gardener. Pleasant enough.