Review: Semi-Sweet by Roisin Meaney
Author: Roisin Meaney
Book: SEMI-SWEET
Release: April 25, 2011
Series: A Novel of Love and Cupcakes
Reviewer: Mona Leigh
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: – Book DepositoryHannah Robinson is just about to open the doors to her new shop Cupcakes on the Corner when out of the blue her boyfriend Patrick announces that he’s leaving her for another woman. Faced with starting a business on her own, Hannah begins to wonder if her life-long dream has just turned into a nightmare. So her best friend Adam sets his birthday as a deadline – seven months to make her shop a success, or walk away from it all. And as Hannah immerses herself in her new business, she soon discovers that she’s too busy to think about Patrick and his now pregnant girlfriend …or to notice an increasingly regular customer who has recently developed a sweet tooth for all things cupcake. But while Hannah is slowly piecing her life back together, family friend Alice’s is falling apart. Her husband Tom’s drinking is getting out of control and things are about to get a whole lot worse. As the seven-month milestone approaches, Hannah must decide her future. And while she’s figuring out what’s really important, it becomes clear to everyone that happiness in life, and in love, is all in the making.
I downloaded this book in March, but with so much going on, I hadn’t had time to read it. I finally decided it was time and sat down one evening to start reading. Oh. My. God. This book is wonderful. If you’ve ever been cheated on or if you’ve ever been the “other woman” then this story will strike a chord.
Hannah was all set to go to a party to celebrate the opening of her new cupcake shop when her cheating, womanizing, live-in boyfriend Patrick tells her he’s leaving. She puts on a brave front to make it through the party, but once she gets home everything crashes in on her. She had no idea Patrick was cheating on her.
Months earlier, Hannah had bought him a gift certificate for a massage after he’d spent the day working in the garden. The masseuse, Leah, quickly became the other woman. She decided she wanted him to herself and quit using birth control. When she became pregnant, she blamed it on the failure of the pill.
We follow Hannah as she wrestles with the torment of self-doubt, loneliness, and the urge to call Patrick and beg him back. Thankfully, the horribly long hours required by the new business keep her occupied and her best friend Adam helps alleviate the loneliness. She manages to stay strong and resist the urge to beg Patrick back.
Adam’s twin sister Nora arrives from the U.S. fresh off a new divorce. Adam decides to let her use his flat so he can move in with Hannah and help her with expenses. Around this time, Hannah learns of Leah’s pregnancy and is devastated. What she doesn’t know is Nora has set her sights on Patrick and sets out to seduce him just to see if she can.
This story is told from various character perspectives and, just as in real life, there’s so much going on that you almost want to stop and catch your breath. I liked the setting of Ireland even though some of the speech patterns were a bit odd, and I really enjoyed all the different characters that played a part in helping Hannah get over Patrick and moved her along to find true love. Roisin Meaney took us step-by-step through Hannah’s heartache describing things we’ve all done or felt when faced with the same situation. By the end of the book, Hannah is ready to tell Patrick to kiss off and I was silently cheering her on.
There were times when the POV changed and the new POV character wasn’t immediately clear, but other than that, it’s an incredible story that’ll have you reading as fast as you can.
Also Reviewed By: – –
I didn’t touch on Alice’s problems mainly because there was just so much packed into the book that I could have written fifty paragraphs and still not covered it all.
So you really just need to read it for yourself. ;)