Review & Fun Facts: 'The Vintage Cinema Club' by Jane Linfoot (2015)

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.
One of the book releases of the past couple of months which I had been really looking forward to picking up has to be Jane Linfoot’s ‘The Vintage Cinema Club’! Not only does the book have a stunning cover which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it, but the blurb also promises a great story with three fascinating leading ladies whose stories I couldn’t wait to check out. The novel was released on the 24th of May by Harper Impulse and I was incredibly lucky to receive a review copy from Jane Linfoot herself. I got the chance to read and review Jane’s two other novels ‘The Right Side of Mr. Wrong’ (click here to read my review) and ‘High Heels and Bicycle Wheels’ (click here to read my review) earlier and definitely had high hopes for ‘The Vintage Cinema Club’ as well!
Izzy, Luce and Dida are three women who all have their own issues in life to deal with, but also one pretty special something that brings them together every single day: The Vintage Cinema Club, their business, which is focused on everything vintage, set in an old cinema building in the town of Matlock. Izzy is completely focused on her work and doesn’t want to even think about romance or men, until the handsome Xander appears on the scene. Single mother Luce only cares about raising her daughter, and doesn’t need the complication of men (besides a one-night-stand every now and again)... Or does she? And last but certainly not least, Dida, who seems to have everything to the outside world, but is driven crazy by her horrible husband’s antics. Luckily, all three women have the Vintage Cinema Club... Until they hear their building is suddenly for sale without them having been informed of this. Next to their personal lives, Izzy, Luce and Dida all know what they need to do: save the Vintage Cinema Club, no matter what it takes.
I have only got love love love for this book; what a wonderful treat from Jane Linfoot! It seems like Jane’s writing is only getting better and better, and I have to say I absolutely loved almost everything about ‘The Vintage Cinema Club’; what a great read! I personally loved the fact that the book has three leading ladies in the form of Luce, Izzy and Dida. Each of them had their own story to share with the reader, and all three stories were a real joy to get stuck into. I enjoyed the diversity; the characters and their stories are all really different. They come from different backgrounds and have different things to deal with in their lives. The storyline revolving around The Vintage Cinema Club brings all of them together, since they are about to lose the building they all love so much. There was more than enough to hold my interest, and I couldn’t get enough of the book and especially the characters (any hope for a sequel, Jane...?).
The book has a great and comfortable pace and the relatively short chapters made it easy to just pick up the book whenever, wherever, and squeeze in a few pages. I liked the changing between perspectives; providing the reader with the opportunity to get to know each of the characters a bit better and on a more personal level. Each character in the novel is unique and really has their own voice; the author did a great job on this and really paid attention to working out the different storylines and characters’ backgrounds. This novel is a great mix of romance and chick lit, and I am sure any fan of those genres will enjoy this from start to finish. Overall, ‘The Vintage Cinema Club’ is a simply stunning and thoroughly enjoyable read which I devoured in just a few hours; a read that comes highly recommended!

Rating:9,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Fun Facts from Jane Linfoot!

The inspiration for Vintage at the Cinema, the shared vintage shop in the old cinema, which is the central star of the book, first came from a visit to The Lanes in Brighton.
Izzy, one of the three friends at the centre of the book, meets moody film producer, Xander, when he catches her raiding a skip on his building site. I love hauling treasures out of skips too, but I haven’t ever got stuck in one.
Luce is another of the friends featured. Her love of vintage textiles expanded to include wedding dresses after I visited The Curious Bride, a fab vintage bridal shop in Manchester. 
Like Luce, I’ve always loved rescuing vintage clothes. I got my beautiful fifties lace wedding dress from a jumble sale.
I chose the name Xander because I love names which begin with the letter X. My son’s middle name is Xavier.
The wonderful cakes Dida bakes in the book are all based on my fave recipes, and are as mouth wateringly delicious in real life as they sound.
Xander and Izzy end up in the south of France, visiting Brocante markets, which is something I love to do on my summer holidays. We are all hooked on old wire baskets.
Izzy and I aren’t alike, but she dives in the skip to pull out a cherub, and I do have a few cherubs around my house too. 
Thanks so much, Jane!