Book Review - The Vintage Cinema Club by Jane Linfoot - #HIReadathon

Amazon UK

Title: The Vintage Cinema Club

Author: Jane Linfoot

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Purchased

Publisher: Harper Impulse

Publication Date: 30th July 2015

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Meet The Vintage Cinema Club….

Izzy is a wow at making unwanted things pretty, but with three brothers and her shabby chic furniture business to run she doesn’t have time to date. Could a fabulous French proposal change her mind?

Single mum Luce’s vintage bridal dresses are exquisite, but there’s no way she’s ever going to wear one or walk down the aisle for that matter. She’s a strictly no romance, one night kind of woman – or so she thinks…

Dida seems to have it all – a chocolate and banana cake recipe to die for, lovely kids (most of the time!) and a great lifestyle. But what good is a fabulous home, when your marriage has more cracks than a pavlova and your husband is having it off with half of Lithuania?

Three retro fabulous friends, in love with all things vintage, run their dream business from the faded grandeur of a rescued cinema. When that dream comes under threat, they’ll do whatever it takes to save it.

Sometimes I will admit I buy books based on either the title, or my knowledge of the author, and possibly even the cover, with barely looking at the blurb, and this is one such book. Despite even seeing the pictures on twitter from the launch party of this book, I was somehow expecting a book about a group of ladies discussing old films.  

I couldn't have been more wrong if I had tried. This is a fabulous story about three friends trying to save their business. They sell vintage clothes and furniture from an unused, cinema, which Dida's troublesome husband owns. They have been running Vintage at the Cinema for three years and are just celebrating that, when a for sale sign is put up outside. 

Dida, Luce and Izzy need to do whatever they can to try and raise the funds to buy the place themselves, or at the very least appear a viable business in the hope the new owners will let them stay.  There are many fabulous descriptions of vintage items, and there are also some real laugh out loud moments. 

Within the book there are two blossoming romances, one between Izzy and a certain handsome customer, and one between Luce and a man she let get away. It is Izzy's story that takes up the majority of the book, and I loved her trip to France, it sounded idyllic and  a great way to spend days.

Once Izzy and Xander give into temptation the atmosphere sizzles, and the intimate scenes are really enjoyable. 

At the start of each chapter we get date, time of day, location, and I think its a scene name, as well as which characters, like you would possibly get at the start of a scene in a play. I found it worked well, and since you were reading about three main characters perspectives, always made it easier to know which thread we were continuing with next. There are also occasionally emails and text message exchanges between chapters which are a simple way of moving some of the story forward.  

I really enjoyed reading The Vintage Cinema Club, and watching how the friendships strengthen as they create new initiatives to keep the business running.