Review & Giveaway - A Little Sugar, A Lot Of Love by Linn B. Halton
A LITTLE SUGAR, A LOT OF LOVE
BY LINN B. HALTON
Good morning! If you're bracing yourself for a chilly winter, this could be the book for you. Today I'm reviewing this sweet read by author Linn B. Halton. Check out my review and don't forget to enter Linn's giveaway!
Genre: Chick Lit
Release Date: Kindle: 15 January 2016 / Paperback 14 October 2016
Publisher: Choc Lit
Celebrating the Paperback release of Linn B Halton’s wonderful book
A Little Sugar, A Lot of Love
Life isn’t all love and cupcakes …
Katie has had her fair share of bad luck, but when she finally realises her dream of opening a bakery it seems things can only get better.
But the reality of running a business hits Katie hard and whilst her partner, Steve, tries to help she begins to sense that the situation is driving them further apart. Could Katie be set to lose her relationship and her dream job?
Then, one winter’s day, a man walks into her shop – and, in the space of that moment, the course of Katie’s life is changed.
But nobody finds happiness in the blink of an eye. Sometimes it takes two Christmases, three birthdays and a whole lot of cake to get there …
Previously released as Sweet Occasions by the author. Revised and edited by Choc Lit December 2015.
EXTRACT
Grandma Grace peers at me with interest over the top of her glasses, taking the box from my hands and placing it on the side. She wraps her arms around as much of me as she can reach, being at least a foot shorter, and gives me a fierce hug.
‘Thank you, my dear, but the only present I wanted was to see you standing here in one piece. It’s such a long journey and the weather! That rain is relentless, so many places are flooded. To think of you at the side of the road worried me to death and I will admit to saying a few little prayers as one hour turned into two, then three …’
She raises her eyebrow sternly, but it’s a brief moment before those twinkly blue eyes are full of love and laughter again.
‘My boy is here and that’s all that counts.’
‘Grandma, I haven’t been a boy for many years,’ I retort, softly, as she releases me with a tender pat on my back. She might be in her twilight years but her spirit is strong and her mind as sharp as ever. We all thought she’d fade away when Pop died, but the truth is he’s the one who would have faded if she had gone first.
‘You will always be a boy to me. Now, tell me more about this guardian angel of yours.’
While the tea is brewing and the cake is sliced, I hang around the kitchen as I did when I was growing up. Grandma Grace was always easy to talk to; she seemed to understand even when the words wouldn’t come. Her instincts filled in the gaps at times when even I couldn’t make sense of what was going on inside my head. After this failed relationship I began to despair of ever finding someone special.
‘You can’t hurry love,’ she’d told me. ‘It takes time to find your soulmate and in the process you change and grow. That’s why young love often withers, as Pop would have said. Two people either change and grow together, or they grow apart. Love is about sustaining what comes after that first hormonal rush.’
‘But that wasn’t the case for the two of you,’ I remember pointing out.
‘There has to be an exception to every rule,’ she’d replied, with a wicked smile. ‘We were lucky. Fate was kind to us. But with hindsight, we were too young and naive to understand that until much later in life. Don’t fret, Adam, there’s a wonderful young woman out there for you when the time is right.’
Sadly, when I reached that point it too turned out to be yet another huge failure. This time the consequences had been more painful than I could ever have imagined. Kelly was everything I thought I wanted in a woman and, after adjusting to the shock of an unplanned pregnancy, she was a fantastic mother. With hindsight I can see now that parenthood came too early in our relationship, we hardly knew each other. Suddenly I was a family man and yet, surprisingly, the role seemed to come naturally to me. I loved Sunday mornings the best. When a little head would appear on the pillow next to me at some unearthly hour and a warm little hand would wind its way around my neck.
Lily Grace is my sanity, my raison d’être.
BUY LINKS
My Review
Well the beginning of this book certainly snagged my attention. Think of the tune from that well known soft drink ad and you'll get what I mean! Adam's entrance definitely captures bakery owner, Katie's attention too.
Adam is visiting his Grandma when a series of events inadvertently lead him into Katie's gorgeous bakery. After a failed marriage, Adam's focus is on his young daughter, yet he seems drawn to Katie. Katie is already in a relationship, albeit it an unhappy one, so romance is impossible. Yet both enjoy the occasions when Adam is drawn back into the bakery.
Katie seems to be neglecting her own needs for those of her partner Steve. After all that they've been through guilt is the only glue holding them together and Katie ignores the fact that Steve is taking over what was her dream. When she finally comes to her senses, Adam is now unavailable, having taken the first step into moving on.
The relationship between Adam and Katie is a slow burning one. One of those where you'd wished you could have banged their heads together to make them see what is flashing ahead at them in neon love heart lighting. But where's the fun in that? The will they, won't they draws the conflict out nicely.
This is a story of moving forward. A sweet romance that at times packs an emotional punch too. This is one of those books to curl up with on a chilly weekend and simply lose yourself for a while.
4.5 Butterfly rating!
ABOUT LINN B. HALTON
“I’m a hopeless romantic, self-confessed chocaholic, and lover of coffee. For me, life is about family, friends, and writing. Oh, and the occasional glass of White Grenache…”
An Amazon UK Top 100 best-selling author with A Cottage in the Country in November 2015, Linn’s novels have been short-listed in the UK’s Festival of Romance and the eFestival of Words Book Awards. Linn won the 2013 UK Festival of Romance: Innovation in Romantic Fiction award. Linn writes chick lit, women’s contemporary fiction and psychic romance for Choc Lit, Harper Impulse and Endeavour Press.
Website/blog: http://linnbhalton.co.uk/ Twitter: @LinnBHalton FB: Linn B Halton Author Amazon: http://smarturl.it/LittleSugarLotOfLove
Contest Open Internationally – No Purchase necessary
Good luck with the giveaway!
~ Tracey
