Just Add Spice / Carol E Wyer

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Chick Lit

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: YES  Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

A regular contributor to The Huffington Post and Indies Unlimited, UK author Carol E Wyer is the author of three other books, the novels Surfing in Stilettos and Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines as well as the non-fiction humor (with a bit of relationship counseling and self-help thrown in) guide for older wives, How Not to Murder Your Grumpy.

Find out more from Carol’s blog.

Description:

“Dawn Ellis needs to escape from her painfully dull existence. Her unemployed husband spends all day complaining about life, moping around, or fixing lawnmowers on her kitchen table. The local writing class proves to be an adequate distraction with its eccentric collection of wannabe authors and, of course, the enigmatic Jason, who soon shows a romantic interest in her.”

Appraisal:

Reading fiction can be a way to put yourself in the life of someone unlike you as way of understanding others better. If a fictional character has similarities to you and you’re prone to introspection, it might help you understand yourself better. Just Add Spice goes one layer deeper. A fictional character who creates another fictional character, and it helps working through her own issues. It’s not as convoluted as I make it sound.

Our protagonist Dawn is bored with life and, if we’re completely honest, a touch boring herself. But aspiring author Dawn’s work-in-progress has a kick ass heroine, Cinnamon. As Dawn’s novel progresses the line between the two layers of fiction slowly blurs. Not just a clever idea, but a fun and entertaining read.

FYI:

Author is from the UK. Spelling conventions and vocabulary reflect this.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on a pre-release copy of the book so I can’t comment on this area.

Rating: ***** Five stars