What do you think?
Rate this book
Ex-appeal
Quinze ans. Quinze ans que Gina rêve de Matt. Fougueux, idéaliste, écolo... Leur amourette adolescente a laissé à la jeune femme un goût d'idéal et de paradis perdu. Aussi lorsque Matt réapparaît dans la vie de cette charmante cuisinière alternative - elle ne jure que par le bio, et tient une ferme -, Gina sent-elle renaître de ses braises les flammes de la passion. Mais l'homme de sa vie, l'amant parfait, le mâle par excellence lui revient sous le costume-cravate du trentenaire divorcé, père de deux monstres en bas âge et... comptable ! Elle qui rêvait, hier encore en faisant la vaisselle, d'aller sauver en couple les requins pèlerins du Japon... Il en faut plus que ça pour dégonfler un soufflé et Gina, en bon cordon-bleu, ne compte pas rendre de sitôt son tablier...
409 pages, Broché
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Zoë Barnes
41 books14 followersDid you know ...?
Zoë was born near Liverpool, but is a real mixed bag! Her mum is Manx and her dad is from Yorkshire. She now lives in Cheltenham, where her novels are set.
She is also a French translator, and translates novels by Christian Jacq (author of the Ramses series) under the pen-name of Sue Dyson.
She was named 'Secretary of the Year' in 1987, although she wasn't actually working as a secretary at the time!
When not writing or translating, she works as a singer.
At the moment she has three cats: Domino, Pizza and Jupiter. Unfortunately, Jupiter's favourite foods are Sellotape and glue, and he enjoys chewing the corners off library books.
The only animals she really doesn't like are cockroaches. And it's not their fault they're creepy.
She loves chocolate, but it makes her ill. Sadly, green vegetables are perfectly safe. There is no justice.
There is no such thing as a Javanese Yellow Skunk. But there ought to be.
Zoë died on October 30th 2009 after taking an overdose.
Zoë was born near Liverpool, but is a real mixed bag! Her mum is Manx and her dad is from Yorkshire. She now lives in Cheltenham, where her novels are set.
She is also a French translator, and translates novels by Christian Jacq (author of the Ramses series) under the pen-name of Sue Dyson.
She was named 'Secretary of the Year' in 1987, although she wasn't actually working as a secretary at the time!
When not writing or translating, she works as a singer.
At the moment she has three cats: Domino, Pizza and Jupiter. Unfortunately, Jupiter's favourite foods are Sellotape and glue, and he enjoys chewing the corners off library books.
The only animals she really doesn't like are cockroaches. And it's not their fault they're creepy.
She loves chocolate, but it makes her ill. Sadly, green vegetables are perfectly safe. There is no justice.
There is no such thing as a Javanese Yellow Skunk. But there ought to be.
Zoë died on October 30th 2009 after taking an overdose.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 14, 2018
An sich war die Idee gut aber Gina ging mir so dermaßen auf die Nerven. Ja, es war die große Liebe aber du kannst dir doch wenigstens andere Typen ansehen und ausgehen. Man man man.
October 11, 2016
J'ai longtemps attendu avant de lire ce roman, mais je pense que c'était mieux ainsi, parce que j'ai pu l'apprécier davantage que lorsque je l'avais acheté il y a quelques années. En effet, certaines allusions sont adressées à un public plus adulte et je ne les aurais sûrement pas autant appréciées lorsque j'étais adolescente. C'est un roman très drôle, pas prise de tête, à dévorer quand on veut se faire une lecture plaisir et légère. Il est très agréable et rapide à lire !
July 13, 2018
Bof, l'histoire était prometteuse mais j'ai eu du mal à le finir... ce qui m'arrive rarement. J'ai trouvé l'histoire trop longue et l'héroïne m'a agacée plus d'une fois. Deuxième livre de cet auteur que je lis et décidément je n'accroche pas.
May 15, 2011
I really wanted to like this book, but it's possibly one of the worst I've ever read. Nothing in this book is appealing, nothing.
Read
November 28, 2024DNF. Boring.
June 18, 2024
Ik vond dit boek ik een minibieb. Ik las de achterkant. Ik dacht leuk. Het was NIET leuk. Ik ben bedrogen.
October 15, 2025
Olalala j’en avais marrrrre c’était ennuyeux.
Je ne comprenais rien du tout 🤣🤣. Parfois il y avait l’intervention d’un personnage et je ne savais même plus qui c’était 😅.
Je ne comprenais rien du tout 🤣🤣. Parfois il y avait l’intervention d’un personnage et je ne savais même plus qui c’était 😅.
December 6, 2023
i found it fun & light, even if it wasn’t the typical book i would usually pick up. nevertheless, some parts were weird and their “forbidden love” wasn’t that much present. for a synopsis that is entirely about the love story, it definitely felt like a background part more than the important one. i wasn’t bother by it anyway and i even think that the book was better like this.
February 28, 2013
Hmmm.
When I opened this book, it had me from the get-go. I loved the preface and I was expecting more of it through the rest of the story. Unfortunately, I didn't get it. Ex-Appeal lost its appeal to me about a third of the way in, and from there on, I simply found it ... negative. Once I reached the end I was still waiting for the story to begin. I didn't feel that anything actually happened, and it didn't get anywhere.
Yes, there were a few bits that saved it, giving me hope that it would perk up - the Walker kids, the animal antics - but they turned out to be just rays with no sunshine. I liked the whole 'save the world' angle, but being a vegan and having an animal rights and fair-trade outlook myself, I couldn't stop muttering "what on earth". I don't feel that the revelant information was very well researched and the characters were the farthest thing from what they were trying to be passed off as. It all just came accross as a gimmick to me, something to stick in there in an attempt to give the characters some depth.
When I opened this book, it had me from the get-go. I loved the preface and I was expecting more of it through the rest of the story. Unfortunately, I didn't get it. Ex-Appeal lost its appeal to me about a third of the way in, and from there on, I simply found it ... negative. Once I reached the end I was still waiting for the story to begin. I didn't feel that anything actually happened, and it didn't get anywhere.
Yes, there were a few bits that saved it, giving me hope that it would perk up - the Walker kids, the animal antics - but they turned out to be just rays with no sunshine. I liked the whole 'save the world' angle, but being a vegan and having an animal rights and fair-trade outlook myself, I couldn't stop muttering "what on earth". I don't feel that the revelant information was very well researched and the characters were the farthest thing from what they were trying to be passed off as. It all just came accross as a gimmick to me, something to stick in there in an attempt to give the characters some depth.
June 1, 2012
I've read this book during my summer holidays, and it's a good read for that. Usual chick-lit, nothing spectacular but readable.
June 13, 2012
I agree with Audrey. I love Zoe Barnes but this one us plain awful.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews