Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Reprise Review: Just Add Spice by @CarolEWyer #Kindle


Genre: Chick Lit

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.”

Author:
A regular contributor to The Huffington Post, UK author Carol E. Wyer is the author of three other books: Surfing in Stilettos, 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. *Ms. Wyer has published several new books since the time of this review.

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.

Buy now from:   Kindle US    Kindle UK     Paperback

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

Added for Reprise Review: Just Add Spice was a nominee in the Chick Lit/Women's Fiction category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran August 2, 2013.

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

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words


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