When I started reading Terror From Beyond Middle England, I was expecting something. Don’t ask me what, I still can’t name it. But as I continued to read and I read others reviews, I started to realize that Terror from Beyond is meant to be a ride. No matter how bad my day was, sitting down and following the roller coaster that is Zara’s adventure helped me escape. She escaped to Linchfield and falls into the arms of Alan, a young and mysterious scientist. The adventures and ups and downs continue and Terror makes for a great escape book for this very reason. I found I loved some characters and dislike others, but that I just needed to let go of the expectations I had. If you find that your live is hectic and you just need to escape to some distant world, read Terror From Beyond Middle England. You won’t be disappointed. ( )

This book too long to get the point, and by the time it did, the book was over.

Something about genetic engineering, being both good and bad, or something.

I was hoping that all ENC books would be as enjoyable as the first one I read (The Alphabet Challenge). Sadly no. This one suffered from unbelievable dialogue (do people in the UK really say such obvious rod-and-don things to each other?), a tortoise-slow pace, and an overarching lack of purpose/focus. This could have been a good book, but it really fell flat.

It felt like a shaggy dog story, only not remotely funny. ( )

Terror From Beyond Middle England, by Sarah Crabtree, was another recent--and rather enjoyable--read.

Escaping from her ho-hum life as a secretary, Zara (our heroine) finds herself in Lichfield, England, and decides to do something she's never done before: crash a party. Feeling very proud of herself for slipping in unnoticed, she immediately bumps into Alan, one of the party's hosts. (Oops.) Moving in with Alan (20 minutes later), Zara and Alan find themselves in a rather serious relationship after only 24 hours. (They've slept in the same bed, eaten out, and Alan has been introduced to Zara's cousin Julia, recently separated from her husband, Carl. Apparently, meeting the family is stage three. Who knew?)

Falling madly, deeply, truly in love, (although Zara is rather worried about the physical aspect of their relationship) each of the lovers also has a secret that they've been keeping from everyone: Zara's is that she slept with her cousin's husband, while Alan's secret...well, he's really not allowed to talk about it. (Hint: think snow globes Chernobyl.)

Tearing around Middle England, they meet a host of other characters, including Zara's neglectful family, her cousin Julia, Carl, her cousin's estranged husband, Gary, one of the groomsmen at Julia and Carl's wedding, Gary's ex, Linda, lesbian activists who are protesting against GM foods, ghosts, intruders & thieves, missing manuscripts, and ants. You cannot forget about the ants. (Seriously. Their role is epic.)

I really enjoyed the humor in this book and I especially liked the character of Zara. She's zany and fun, serious and sober, and she keeps going left when I expect her to go right. Terror From Beyond Middle England is a twisty, entreating ride of a story, with morals and qualms and the reminder that family and friends are always there (whether you want them to be or not), and that while it's important to know our past, we have to know when to move past it. Or the past becomes your future, and we all know where that leads... ( )

Adorably English, dark twist on a chick novel. Sarah Crabtree takes the chick novel formula and stands it on its head. Hilarious only in the way Douglas Adams could be - if he were a ditzy, scatterbrained Englishwoman. Can't stop smiling. ( )

Meandering, and a trifle too pleased with itself, but there is something to like here. Zara is wandering aimlessly (meandering, now that I think of it, and . . . yes, a trifle too pleased with herself) away from the charmless-man stereotypes of southern England, a basket-case mother, philandering dad, peer group that cheat on each other and call each other "cow", etc. She reaches her spiritual home in Lichfield and in a flower bush she meets her man, a twee sciencey type named Alan who is nevertheless enough of a northern soul to slap her bottom twice a chapter (really, England? I seem to be asking "really" a lot lately, but . . . really?). Their eyes meet as the Pet Shop Boys play and she moves into his country house, but their parklife is quickly interrupted by a succession of quirky characters, unusual events, teenagery groping on all accounts after the type of life that will make everybody feel good about their respective selves, and a weird sci-fi plot that simmers irrelevantly and then busts out at the end by surprise, yet halfheartedly too. There are some good jokes and cute moments and bits where you're like "yeah, we're a self-pitying lot and sometimes squalid, but we're the only us we've got, humans". But this is just so, I dunno, awkward. Awkwardly English. "Do a pooh"? Rrrrreally? ( )