I have fallen in love with a new author... JILLY COOPER. She's amazing. I love her tone, characters, sense of romance, and wild bloody fun. He work is just fabulous. I find her refreshing and just plain fun. This work circles around the two stories of Emily and Bella. Each tales weaves a wild and fun room of love and charm. Her work is so full of humor and truth. She has been called teh "Jane Austen" of our time.. now, I think that is impossible, as Jane is the ultimate best, but's she pretty darm close. Get all of Jilly's books... she very talented.

Octavia is one of the best romantic novels I have ever read. It's witty, funny and original. It's perfect.

Note that this book was published in the UK under the name "Rivals." I loved it. It was as much fun as "Riders" and Rupert Campbell Black the businessman was more attractive than ever.

Players continues on where Riders left off. Rupert Cambell Black is back and is trying to buy a t.v. station. Fun to read to find out what happened to that group after Riders. Does not have Fen, Jake. or Tory in it. Even if you just read Riders for the horses, you will probably like Players.

I would like to give this book a 6th star. It is outstanding!

"Animals In War" will reach your every emotion. As your read these accounts of the various species and breeds that have served valiantly in wars around the world, you will laugh, cry, and feel anger. You would have to be an iceberg to not get emotional over this book. The photographs alone are enough to touch your heart and soul.

While some of the information is standard knowledge, such as the role the Trakehners played in war and how their breed was almost exterminated, there is much information that is not commonly known. You will learn about the "parapup unit," a special unit that air dropped carrier dogs into battle. You will meet the leading paratrooper dogs and learn about their service, including the stories of their jumps.

Some animals and their types of service include: elephants towed aircraft in India, dogs served as guards all around the world, pigeons carried messages, camels have been considered major transport animals for centuries, canaries served as early gas and chemical warning devices, cats kept ships free of mice, cattle pulled artillery and transport wagons, and reindeer were used for transport. Unit mascots have ranged the extreme of the species known to mankind. Any animal that managed to snag the heart of a troop might be taken in and cared for by the unit. These have included roosters and goats, with roosters serving double duty as forward guards.

When we think of animals in war, we automatically picture the horses and mules that have been slaughtered by the thousands. But dogs have played an equally important role and have served in much more diverse positions. Dogs have pulled carts loaded with artillery and supplies, carried messages, hauled grenades and ammo, stretched out communication wire, searched for wounded, sniffed for mines, stood guard duty, and fought in hand-to-hand combat alongside their beloved troops.

This book is packed with black and white photographs from around the world and across time. These photographs range from happy moments, such as troops giving tea to the wounded donkey that was found along the road and rescued, to the horrors of the exhausted, wounded, and dead.

There is an animal war hero hall of fame section, which tells about the animals, their service, and the medals and awards they have received. There is a section on the efforts to rescue the animal war victims and to provide them with the retirement befitting any other veteran.

This is a book for every animal lover or person with an interest in history or war. The author has an easy-to-understand style and presents the information in a way to fully engage all of your emotions. She will reach your senses with her words and photographs.

Written by Alicia Karen Elkins, Columnist, Reviewer, Editor
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I am a true Jilly Cooper fan and this is one of her best! Rupert Campbell Black is back and teams up with other high flyers to try to win the franchise for a TV station. While a lot of the characters are new, it is brilliant and set in the same part of England as Riders. The story is full of scandal, sex and humour and quite frankly I never wanted it to end! .

My Mom bought me this book on a trip to England back in the mid-1980's when it was published. All she knew was that it was "horsey", and I was a horse-crazy teen. I have thanked her ever since for bringing Jilly Cooper into my life! Perhaps because it was the first, "Riders" is still my favorite, although I love her subsequent tales as well -- even the non-"horsey" ones. The characters are so well-developed, that there are so many people to love and hate -- and hate to love! Rupert should not be a sympathetic character, yet who doesn't root for him in the final Olympic test of his heart and strength? Jake is moody, broody, and takes Tory for granted -- yet OF COURSE you want things to wind up well for him. And even though Fen takes a detour into bratty self-obsession, you have to hope that she and Dino will get it together in the end. I go back and re-read this book every year or two, and EVERY TIME I hate to put it down, and I'm depressed when I reach the end. I hope Jilly Cooper continues writing about the antics of these fabulous characters. I'd hate to think "Score" was her last tale about this group! There are so many stories left to tell. Read this book!

Jilly Cooper's fiction is breezy, bitchy and great fun. While the characters in Riders appear in much of her fiction, it can certainly be read as a stand-alone novel. Her characters are wonderful, frequently shooting themselves in the foot with their all-too human foibles. It is a glorious celebration of people who drink too much, screw too much (usually the wrong people), and no matter what their position in life, are chronically short of money. You will be instantly drawn in to the fast-paced and competitive world of international show jumping.

NOTE: If I remember correctly, Andrew Parker-Bowles, Camilla's ex, is one of the sources credited in the front of the book.

'Riders' is a fantastic read no matter if you've read it one or one hundred times. With every turn of a page you'll fall deeper into this wickedly funny world of showjumping horses and heroes, whether you're a horse enthusiast or not. Vengeful loathing, intense competition, unbridaled passion, and a marvelous opportunity to laugh out loud...Jilly Cooper has corraled some of the best ingredients to create a fabulous must read book!

This is probably my favourite Jilly Cooper book, and I don't think that she has ever come close again. The story is great, the characters are even better and the book is un-put-downable. I read this whole book in one evening straight. All of the characters are beautifully developed. I don't know which ones I love the most - Declan, the brooding Irishman who resents the fact that he has sold himself out; Maud, his wife, who lives her life as if she were in a Greek tradegy, Cameron, the hard career woman who had a hard life or Tony, the hard as nails businessman who is afraid of his wife. What I really loved about this book was that in Riders, Rupert Campbell Black was a selfish uncaring man who made it his life's work to have whatever woman he wanted. Yet in this book, he is absolutely amazed to find himself falling desperately in love with Taggie, the sweet, innocent daughter of his best friend. By the end of the book, Rupert is completely smitten and you totally believe that they will make it. A truly credible end to a wonderful book.

Another great book with Rupert Campbell-Black and the gang. If you haven't already read RIDERS, do so at once. That goes for POLO as well. I liked the various characters in this book-a little more interesting perhaps than those that revolve more around show jumping...Declan and Maude O'Hara are wonderful characters, and that goes for the kids as well. I would like to have seen more of Rupert's kids also...but maybe that's the next book. Jilly's books have taken me across the pond and back again. I wish they were readily available in the US!

The continuation of the saga of Rupert Campbell-Black and co. in the Cotswolds. He's given up show jumping and is now Minister for Sport in the British Thatcher Government - he's divorced and as irreverent and unapologetic as ever.

Cooper takes us well away from the world of show-jumping into Campbell-Black's home territory, the Village of Penscombe which is home to the local television station run by loathed Tony Baddingham. It doesn't sound all that promising a plot - how Rupert bid for the contract to run the Television station, but it is told with the usual cast of wonderful Cooper-esque characters who brighten up the pages with their wit and verve.

It is full of scheming, double crossing, clipped upper class accents, vulgar upwardly mobile shrews and romance in buckets. Rupert also finally finds out what despair in love is all about when their are no guarantees you will succeed.

You can certainly read Rivals without reading the first book - Riders - it is a stand alone novel and many new characters are introduced. Still old favourites turn up like Billy and Janey.

This very amusing and thorough look at the British class system (up to the late 70s when it was written) is so accurate it can make you laugh one minute and cringe the next. To a large extent, much of it still applies today but in some areas things have lightened up a little I think (hope!). Jilly Cooper has a wicked sense of humour and a very easy style which made this book a very enjoyable read. Bravo! Pip, pip.

Jilly Cooper is a popular English journalist/novelist who turned her attention to the subtleties of the English caste system back in the seventies. Coming from a privileged background and being blessed with an acerbic wit, in addition to being a self-described coprophile, she was ideally situated to take on the task; the lady clearly knows her subject.

Although the accompanying illustrations are somewhat dated (bell bottoms, anyone?), the observations are timeless, and for the most part are as applicable to the American class system as the English. The one exception is the aristocracy, which one is born into in England, inheriting both property and title as a matter of right. As a result, English aristocrats have that wonderful "Up yours!" attitude that the American upper class can only aspire to. Readers interested in the antics of the Young Royals (they of the single-digit IQs and hands with six fingers) will find this book especially interesting

This book invites comparison to "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System" by Paul Fussell, which it closely resembles, both in sharpness of observation and uproarious humor. The Fussell book assumes more of a sociological perspective, however, while Ms. Cooper's style is that of the gossip columnist/confidante.

I found this to be a screamingly funny view of the levels of society in England in the 60's and 70's.It's a bit dated now but I'll swear that all of us can accurately place people we know in one of these categories--the top layer-more concerned with their animals and blithely unaware of any other layer---the upper middles --not quite so unaware and all the others, some of whom are desperately trying to keep up appearances . The lowest social layer of all are, strangely enough, most like the topmost layer in that they are totally confident in their milieu and don't give a damn about anyone else!! I kept recognising people that I knew and slotted them into what I thought was their layer but quite probably, a lot of them would consider themselves to be at least one layer above that which they really belong.It's a real hoot!!

The third in the series of Jilly Cooper's wonderfully hilarious Campbell-Black books - although this is the one in which things really depart quite markedly from Rupert Campbell-Black's life and he becomes a bit player in everyone elses story.

Like all other books in the series the plot is set around one theme - in this case Polo. The main characters are Ricky France-Lynch, fabulous but moody English Polo-Playing star, and Perdita Macleod- the stroppy young English school-girl who longs for Ricky almost as much as she longs to play polo. Their stories and those of dozens of other hugely likeable and wildly flawed characters interweave in wonderfully satisfying and hilarious story. No one in is perfect in Jilly Cooper world - which makes for great reading.

You don't really have to have read the first two books in the series to know what is going on here. Most of the characters are new and this is a whole new plot so you really won't have missed out on much. The few characters that to turn up again are explained briefly anyway. However, if you haven't already read Riders or Rivals, the first two books in this series, then get thee to a library.

Jilly Cooper writes a book in the one-time bestseller style readers in America ate up with a spoon--chock full of fascinating characters, real human dilemmas, and glamorous action. You can virtually never find them now from American publishers. The characters are delightfully riveting, some good, some bad, but always totally alive, and I especially liked the character of Daisy, the mother, though Perdita was largely a pill apart from her love of animals, and had to learn to be a better human being in the course of the book. Luke was the man every woman wants for her very own.

Jilly Cooper is a supreme spinner of tales!

"Riders" was my first introduction to Jilly Cooper as a horse-crazed teenager, but since then I've enjoyed most of her books, not just the horsey ones. That said, "Riders" and "Polo" are my favorites! Coming from the show-jumping world myself, where "Riders" centers, I didn't know (or care) much about the upper-crust world of polo. That all changed once I entered the world of Perdita, Luke, and Ricky! Sure, Perdita's often an extremely unsympathetic character -- but aren't we all? Her all-too-human tendencies are what make her such an engrossing character, and even though she doesn't seem to deserve a saint like Luke -- isn't that what we all hope for? A person who can look past our failings. While another reader calls her characters one-dimensional, I strongly disagree. Jilly has created characters that readers such as myself absolutely PRAY will show up again in future books -- it's that hard to put them away at the end. You don't create that kind of interest in one-dimensional characters. Please, Jilly, keep writing about these people we love! And while you're at it, write another horsey book!

A romance should be sweet and neat, but not unbeliveable and outdated. These stories are wonderful romances for young girls, but lack enough steam and substance for anyone over the age of 21.

Jilly Cooper's books are fastly becoming my favorite past-time. I keep one in my desk drawer on a daily basis. I find myself sneaking quick peaks in between meetings. These wonderful short stories are just what you need for a mid-day pick me up of romance. Imogen and Prudence is another winner in my book. Her charcaters are so funny, warm and full or mischief. I just love them... I think that the British charm that I have come to love and adore in fiction, hits the mark with these wonderful little gems. This one if full of all the wonderful things that a Jilly Cooper book promises. Pick them all up.. QUICK!

Its so lovely to see these books re-released! Cooper is such a hilarious author that I could only wish she had written more than 6 of these short novels.

Prudence, written in the first person, is the story of a girl who is singularly misnamed. She falls for the wrong man but refuses to admit it. He takes her home for a long weekend with his family in the Lake district and here we meet a gorgeous ensemble cast of irresponsible mother, brooding older brother, precocious children, annoying vegetarians and a host of others.

In Imogen a shy, plump librarian is whisked away by international tennis star, Nicky, whose sole purpose is to seduce her. Her disastorous trip is peppered with the requisite numbers of haughty models, arrogant athletes and one sleepy eyed Irish Journalist.

Cooper writes with such enjoyment it is hard not to enjoy her books too.

This was a simply written and quite charming novel. Whilst it did give an insight into the lives of a moderately wealthy English family in 1931, it lacked plot and real structure and for this reason I am unlikely to read more by this author at this stage - especially when there are simply too many other great books out there to read. A gentle, easy read but a little disappointing.

I reread this every year or two, and love it each time. Admittedly,a product of its time and place, capturing life among the genteely-poor gentry in an English village between the wars(WW's I & II). The diary format makes the provincial lady's narration of and commentary on the events around her doubly funny, as she struggles to run her household and not be driven crazy by nice but dull husband, snobbish wife of husband's boss,disputes among servants,quandaries about children, etc.--and to find time to keep a sense of herself as a professional writer. Not deep, but funny and often touching.

Delafield's Diary of a Provencial Lady is a classic that shares company with the likes of Eudora Welty, Kate Chopin and even Twain. Unlike Welty, Delafield is chatty. But don't let the airy prose fool you. She captures all the wit and humor of a woman's provencial life in England. Where Chopin's Awakening is tragic and dream-like, Delafield's world briskly bumbles along. Her use of present tense almost makes you breathless. Delafield immediately sets a quick pace and you want to read on and on to to keep up with all the "goings on" in the book. The piece is masterfully written and is a must for those looking to expand their literary boundaries.