‘Happiness begins when you stop chasing Mr Perfect and start choosing yourself’
– Love, Lies & Sticky Toffee Pudding
[ About Love, Lies & Sticky Toffee Pudding ]
Successful lawyer, Charlotte Bloom, has been dumped for the 100th time. She invites her ex-boyfriend on an all-expenses-paid holiday to Barbados, to help her understand why. She knows they’re perfect together, and is certain of a Caribbean rekindling.
Former ‘Business-Woman-Of-The-Year’, Sarah-Jane Richardson, moved her family to Cornwall in search of a better life. Struggling to fit into the eclectic community, she turns to sticky toffee pudding for help. With her husband still working in London, their new life is not quite what they’d imagined.
Afraid of rejection after a family tragedy, Jasmine Rafferty is a serial mistress and commitment-phobe, and determined to stay that way. She definitely isn’t one of those stereotypical mistresses who leaves an earring in the car, in the hope the wife will find it. Or so she thinks.
The three friends have their lives all planned, but life eats plans for pudding, as they are about to find out …
When these three friends’ perfectly planned lives collide with reality, they’ll discover that happiness doesn’t always come in the package you expect. Sometimes, life’s sweetest moments come when you stop chasing Mr Perfect and start choosing yourself.
[ My Review ]
Love, Lies & Sticky Toffee Pudding by Karin Walker published August 5th with Poolbeg Press and is described as ‘a delicious debut about friendship, midlife messiness, and second chances‘.
Karin Walker is normally found behind the scenes on the sets of some of Britain’s best-loved productions as a child actor chaperone. Having a long-held ambition to write Karin has now fulfilled her dream with the release of this charming novel that explores the importance of self-worth and female friendship.
Charlotte, Sarah-Jane and Jasmine are, in theory, very successful women but, underneath the polish and veneer, all three are in crisis. Charlotte is a notable lawyer with a reputation for being sharp and incisive but in her love-life, things could not be more different. Charlotte has had multiple relationships but all end with her being dumped. Now after the 100th failed attempt at finding love, Charlotte is frustrated. Aware that she has some control issues she makes a radical decision. She invites her most recent ex on an all-expenses paid trip to Barbados in the hope of reigniting his passion for her, while also discovering why this keeps happening to her.
Sarah-Jane recently uprooted, with her young family, from London to Cornwall and is finding that life there is not as she had hoped. Her husband works in the city during the week, leaving her alone with her boys, one who is acting up on a daily basis, adding to her stresses. Sarah-Jane has always been a go-getter, one who strives for success and succeeds. Now completely out of her comfort zone and feeling a failure on a daily basis, she discovers her passion for baking, which leads her down the most unexpected path.
Jasmine is a troubled soul. From a young age she has carried a great weight on her shoulders, in the form of a tragic incident that has permeated her whole life. She has struggled in forming fully-formed adult relationships and has shrugged off commitment at every turn. Love them and leave them is her motto. With no strings attached she is a free woman. But, when on her own, Jasmine cannot hide from her thoughts no matter how hard she tries to push them away. When circumstances change for Jasmine she has to rethink her life plans, forcing her to face some home truths.
These three friends have all reached a midlife turning point where choices have to made. In this tale of self-discovery they each learn about their own self-worth and how easy it is to lose oneself in the push-and-pull of life. Dramatic change require dramatic decisions and Charlotte, Sarah-Jane and Jasmine know, that in order to thrive and be the best version of themselves, they need to make these changes now.
Love, Lies & Sticky Toffee Pudding is a novel about forgiving oneself and new beginnings, featuring three complicated protagonists who have lost their sparkle. Charlotte, Sarah-Jane and Jasmine are all in a transition phase in their lives. Their obstacle-laden path to self-love is portrayed with warmth and humour, with a wonderful array of characters accompanying them on their journey. A very endearing debut!
[ Thank you to Poolbeg Press for a copy of Love, Lies & Sticky Toffee Pudding in exchange for my honest review ]
[ Bio ]
Karin Walker was born and raised in Northamptonshire, with a wanderlust burning inside her. With a law degree and a brief career in sales under her belt, she upped sticks and hoofed around the globe for a couple of years, before returning to work in London.
Two children later, came a move to Cornwall, which is where she began to write, the one thing that competes with her top three loves – her boys, travel, and bacon sandwiches – on white, real butter, naturally.
She now lives on the North Cornwall coast, the perfect home for a pluviophile (rain lover) like her, where she writes, walks, bakes and embarks on adventures of any kind. Anything to stave off the empty nest syndrome snapping at her muddy walking boots. She likes barbeques on the beach, skydiving (she’s done it twice, but it sounds good), and she makes the best chocolate brownies in the world (according to her children).
Karin writes feel-good tales of romance and friendship and how that can change everything. She touches upon sensitive issues, such as grief, ageing, mental health, heartache, marriage and motherhood, sprinkled with secrets, lies, infidelity, and hope, and explores the healing power of love and kindness. Her books whisk you away to naturally beautiful settings, with lots of laughter along the way.
The book title got me at sticky toffee pudding – yum!
My daughter immediately made it when she saw me reading it!!