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Claiming Victory: A Romantic Comedy (The Dartmouth Diaries Book 1) by [Beverley Watts]

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Beverley Watts

Claiming Victory: A Romantic Comedy (The Dartmouth Diaries Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Beverley Watts (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

925 ratings

Book 1 of 5: The Dartmouth Diaries

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At thirty two, Victory Shackleford is arguably overweight, undeniably frumpish and the love of her life is a dog. She still lives at home with her father - an eccentric retired Admiral who she considers reckless, irresponsible, and totally incapable of looking after himself. Her father on the other hand thinks Victory is a boring nagging harpy with no imagination or sense of adventure and what’s more, he’s determined to get her married off.
Unfortunately there’s no one in the picturesque yachting town of Dartmouth that Tory is remotely interested in, despite her father’s best efforts. But all that is about to change when she discovers that her madcap father has rented out their house as a location shoot for the biggest Hollywood blockbuster of the year. As cast and crew descend, Tory’s humdrum orderly existence is turned completely upside down, especially as the lead actor has just been voted the sexiest man on the planet…

Full of romantic humour, Claiming Victory is a must for fans of funny love stories.

Print length

200 pages
Language

English
Publication date

9 Dec. 2014
File size

1022 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00QUAB6KW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ BaR Publishing (9 Dec. 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1022 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 200 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 432 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 24 in General Humourous Fiction
- 32 in Humour
- 47 in Humorous Fiction

Customer reviews:
925 ratings

About the author

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Beverley Watts

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Beverley and her husband live in an apartment overlooking the sea on the beautiful English Riviera.

Between them they have 3 adult children and two gorgeous grandchildren plus a menagerie of animals including 4 dogs -2 Romanian rescues of indeterminate breed called Florence and Trixie, a neurotic 'Chorkie' named Pepé and a ‘Chichon’ named Dotty who was the inspiration for Dotty in The Dartmouth Diaries.

Beverley spent 8 years teaching English as a Foreign Language to International Military Students in Britannia Royal Naval College which is the premier officer training establishment for the Royal Navy in the UK. She says that in the whole 8 years there was never a dull moment and many of her wonderful experiences at the College were not only memorable but were most definitely 'the stuff of fiction'

An avid reader and writer since childhood, she always determined that on leaving she would write a book. Her debut novel An Officer And A Gentleman Wanted is very loosely based on her adventures at the College.

Beverley has written a series of romantic comedies entitled The Dartmouth Diaries. Claiming Victory - Book One, Sweet Victory - Book Two, All For Victory - Book Three and Chasing Victory Book Four, are available on Amazon. Book Five - A Late Victory is coming soon.

The first three books of her Admiral Shackleford Cozy Mystery series - A Murderous Valentine, a Murderous Marriage and A Murderous Season - are also available on Amazon. Book Four - A Murderous Paradise is coming soon.

Beverley has now embarked on a new series of Regency Romantic Comedies entitled The Shackleford Sisters. Book One - Grace, Book Two - Temperance, Book Three - Faith and Book Four - Hope are available on Amazon and Book Five - Patience is available for pre-order...

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Customer reviews

5 star		59%
4 star		25%
3 star		11%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Michelle McLaughlin

A hilarious light hearted romantic read, full of British humour.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 September 2020

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Witty, upper crust antics from a retired Admiral trying to marry off his only daughter. It is quite simply hilarious. I think I have laughed out loud in every chapter. I loved Tory and her attitude to life, particularly her father. This is all set within a wonderful local community in Dartmouth, which for me brings the story to life as I love real locations. Throw in a film crew camped out in Tory's home, a budding romance, three best friends, an enthusiastic dog called Dottie, the Admiral and his side kick and I could not put this down. Highly recommended and I will definitely be reading the rest in the series.

One person found this helpful

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Mrs Me

Funny.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2022

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Really enjoyed it, but the end seemed a bit anticlimactic, the author had built the story, then all of a sudden that was it.
Enjoyed the way you got a hint of what he was thinking in his emails to his sister.
At one point they close the gallery at 5, walk home, and then it's 4.30, this sort of thing really bugs me, but a 'normal' person probably wouldn't even notice it.

Helpful

Quirky British comedy romance

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 December 2014

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This is a delightful quirky British comedy romance which will have you hooked after the first couple of pages, I was and I ended up reading it in one sitting, partly because I just couldn't put it down and partly because I knew I had to finish it before bed since my husband would never sleep with me trying hard not to laugh beside him.
It's funny, hilariously so at times I was laughing out loud with tears rolling down my face.
The Admiral has decided that his bossy daughter Victory Brittannia Shackleford needs a man, after all she's nearly thirty three and even though 'She might have an arse the size of an aircraft hanger' she's not all bad and the Admiral is still a man in his 'prime' with a girlfriend, so the scene is set and not one to do things half measure he sets his sights on the worlds most famous actor.

'So , let me get this straight Sir. Your plan is to somehow get Noah Westbrook, the most famous actor on the entire planet to fall in love with your daughter Victory, who we both love dearly, but - and please don't take offence Sir - who you yourself admit is built generously across the aft, and whose face is unlikely to launch the Dartmouth ferry, let alone a thousand ships.'

'Well admittedly, I've not worked out the finer details, but that's about the sum of it.'

If you like humour with your romance then it's really worth giving this a go.

## My dad is an 85 year old Yorkshire man very set in his ways, a few years ago I gave him my old kindle and I now put crime thrillers and westerns on for him, he loves it especially being able to change the print size anyway I put this book on for him I did warn him, repeatedly that it was primarily a romance since that's not his genre at all but I thought he might like the Admiral, I didn't expect him to read the whole book just the first part but he surprised me not only did he read it all, first romance ever apparently but he loved it, thought it was hilarious...so there you go.

3 people found this helpful

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ManicScribbler

Fun read, if predictable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 April 2015

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I give this book four stars because it was an easy, light and fun read, which held my interest, even though the plot was as predictable as could be. What I liked most was the way the author's love of Dartmouth shone through every page. I know that part of the country is beautiful and the descriptions had me visualising the place clearly and longing to go and visit. I also thought the two dogs made great characters, if a little too good (literally - as in too well-behaved) to be true.

As for the heroine, Victory (32 going on 16) is a bit too gauche for my liking and constantly finds herself in embarrassing predicaments to which she reacts like a teenager would. I quite like the fact that she is a little overweight (though of course she lost weight in the end - doesn't love do that to everyone?) - but would have liked her to be more mature and self-confident. "You'd think that at thirty two years old, she'd have more sense," Victory tells her dog. Well yes, I certainly would. She, of course, has her two stereotypically ideal BFFs - Kate, unattached despite being allegedly gorgeous, and so devoted that she literally shuts up shop at a moment's notice to chauffeur Victory up to London; and the obligatory gay male friend who takes an interest in styling her - oh you know the sort, we've all watched Bridget Jones, surely?

It seems this author has certainly heard of it as one real howler proves. When Noah (Hollywood A-lister who naturally falls for our plump 'plain Jane') dons his Regency costume for his role in the film, being shot at the Admiralty, Victory tells him he looks like Mark Darcy! Now would that be the Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones (not a Regency costume in sight), or Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice? The same actor played both, so maybe it's Colin Firth he looks like? Not that our hero knows the difference either. There are a few other issues screaming out for careful proof-reading, which the author really should take the time to do to add that final polish it deserves ('admiral aplomb', 'Greenwich meantime' etc).

It took me a while to warm to the three different narrative viewpoints; I'm not sure how much they add to the story, but at least they offer a little variety to the first person (largely present tense) narrative from the self-deprecating heroine. However I didn't find Noah's emails to his sister very convincing and would have liked to know him better as he is quite intriguing.

Negatives aside, however, Claiming Victory is a cosy and enjoyable romp and I'm always glad to find new British authors to champion. I only wish this author had had the confidence to stick to British words and spellings throughout this charming and very British romantic comedy. I hope she will do so in her next book, which I look forward to reading.

3 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Fair play, it lived up to the hype

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 November 2021

Verified Purchase

Chortled all the way through this although it was the intro to the second book that had me laughing out loud to the point of clutching my sides! Safe to say, the author paints a wonderfully descriptive picture throughout the story and has created a marvellous cast of characters. I urge you to give it a go.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 August 2020

Verified Purchase

For once a romantic comedy that is just what it says on the tin. I loved that it is set in Dartmouth, Devon so I had a reasonable time identifying the locations from a brief visit there.
I loved the Bridget Jones feel to the heroine, and the relationship she has with her dog.
The story made me laugh out loud and it had a happy ending, but it is book one of a series should you want to continue.

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Claiming Victory: A Romantic Comedy (The Dartmouth Diaries Book 1) Kindle Edition

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Beverley Watts

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