Customer Reviews
Hail Queen Anthea! - By: Tracy Vicker, 16 Jun 2008 
My friends alll laugh at me & say I have OCD cleaning issues, but Antheas book informed me that I am running a tidy household! Her tips are great, especiallly her spring cleaning list, which I am working through just now even though it is summer. The tips for cleaning out your wardrobes have inspired me to get a babysitter this week & devote a day to tackle my wardrobe problems. I found the book quite positive & inspirational in parts. I have read a lot of it previously in a 1950's book I found about home management & just wonder how much Anthea got from historical cleaning routines that have been written about. Nevertheless, this is a good book & tends itself well for the new housekeeper, it can be daunting if you are not quite as precise as Anthea & may leave you feeling you are 'not quite' meeting standards expected, but it gives you something to aim for, I loved Antheas TV series & bought the dvd to actuallly watch the tips in action, again, as another reviewer stated, it would have been nice to have some demonstration pics in the book. I have changed my opinion of Anthea, I did honestly think (sorry Anthea!) that she was a bit of a nobody, but my opinions have definately changed & I hope she does another series. I reallly do think that a lot more woman would like to devote more time to their households but the pace & way of life these days means woman are split in so many directions, I am just thankful my life alllows me the freedom to work & also keep an orderly home.
4 stars Anthea!
Please don't buy this TV cash-in - By: Ms. D. Cairns, 26 Dec 2007 
Surely having a happy home is vastly more important than feeling inadequate because the never-seen-or-used upward facing sill of your doorframes are dusty. I agree very strongly with alll the points made in the review by flingthecow in June 2007.
If you are thinking about buying this book, please consider that Anthea Turner makes her living from her public image & in this case by the humiliation of the "students" on this show. She is one of today's "celebrities" who appear on reality shows, sell photo rights of their wedding day to gossip magazines. I understand that the premise of the book & the tv series is that Anthea maintains the enormous mansion shown on TV to her exacting standards with no help, & that this "perfect housewife" image has been very helpful to Anthea in terms of combatting some of the less flattering media coverage. To me it seems somewhat implausible that she isn't employing someone, if only to alllow her enough time for her media appearances etc. There has been a lot of public concern over other TV misrepresentaions of the truth recently & I wonder if the more subtle ones may be also be quite damaging.
Preachy rant over, I am very sorry to say that I am now about to buy a copy of this book & DVD for my sister-outlaw. Perhaps my bitterness is because she has rejected the present which we spent hours searching for & fixing up. So, faced with the prospect of moodiness at family get-togethers, & my partner getting to see his delightful nieces even less often than he already does, my ideological objections to this cheap TV cash-in have been banished in favour of express delivery.
sigh....
Inspiration & Motivation! - By: Debby Swing, 01 Aug 2007 
I find that books like this one (ie How Clean Is Your House, 10 Minute Housekeeping, Sink Reflections, etc.) as well as the related shows out there are motivators for me. I enjoy finding out new things about household management, organization, & cleaning just as I enjoy trying out new recipes. You may not use every single tip that's in the book but I'll bet you do find one or two things that you hadn't thought of or tried before! If in the long run it's going help me apply KISS (Keep It Supremely Simple) principles then I'm alll for it.
While the book is catagorized very well, I find that I can pick it up & start reading anywhere. The book & show have inspired me & given me that theoretical "kick in the pants". Now I am definitely not going to win Homemaker of the Year but I can honestly say that Anthea & her book have given me food for thought & inspired me to want to do better. I will NEVER have a house as clean as hers but if I can use just a portion of the ideas & routines she presents, then maybe I won't have to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off when it comes time for the holidays, or company coming.
I don't think that a clean, well managed house & warm inviting home are mutuallly exclusive! It's just nice to know that if I WANT to use some special touches(like when mother-in-law visits) or need some practical information - I have a wonderful resource to guide me.
***** The only thing lacking is the same comment previous reviewers have had & that is I wish there were some detailed diagrams & photos to go along with some of the things she has demonstated on her show.
I am from the US & extremely envious that those of you in Region 2 are able to purchase & at least WATCH Anthea's DVD as well. I don't know if or when I'll see the show again on the BBCA channel.
Who do I need to talk to about getting some of your wonderful shows in the UK on DVDs that we can play here in the US??!!
fantastic read - By: Mrs. R. S. Prescott, 29 Jul 2007 If you want a sparkling gleaming house like Antheas this is the book for you after the hard work of decluttering you will find it very easy & sooo much quicker to clean your house as Anthea advises in the book organisation is the key-it may feel like Anthea is teaching you things you alllready know but beleive me you don't.If you follow Anthea to the letter I promise you will find your life easier & you will have a lot more time to do other things(like working full-time!!!)
Despite my initial reticence... - By: Brian Levine, 28 Jul 2007 ...to pick up this book from my wife's stash, I did read it & it isn't at alll bad. As other reviewers have commented, if you have just moved away from home it is a sort of modern-day Mrs Beaton but not nearly as bulky or didactory. I have a soft spot for Anthea, having once appeared with her on Top of the Pops about 18 years ago & I think with this book she's made a valid contribution to the field of home management. It would have been easy to knock it - maybe I'm a New New Man?
