Book: Caramel Hearts
Author: E. R. Murray
Pages: 300
Publisher: Alma Books
Published: May 26th, 2016
Official Synopsis:
Liv Bloom’s life is even more complicated than that of your average fourteen-year-old: her father walked out on the family when she was young, her mother is in a recovery centre for alcoholics, and her older sister is struggling to step into Mum’s shoes. The only person she can turn to is her best friend Sarah, who gets out of scrapes at school and is a constant source of advice and companionship. One day Liv discovers a book of recipes written in her mum’s handwriting, which sets her off on a journey towards self-discovery and reconciliation – but a theft, a love rivalry and a school bully are just some of the many obstacles on the way.
My review:
I found this book at the bookstore and I hadn’t heard of it before but I saw the title and when I thumbed through and saw the recipes I just HAD to buy it. I love baking and all the recipes sounded so good and they were so beautifully and happily written. I can’t wait to try every single one of them.
And the cover is so cute and pretty! so lovely!
And now to the book. It is a wonderful coming of age-novel with wonderfully complex characters, each of them having different facettes and different roles depending on which group they are with. Throughout the plot are more and more problems the main character, Liv, has to solve. Her life isn’t easy but she tries her best and she tries to cope with everything with baking, which I can relate to very much. The story is very realistically told, and remembering my teenage years only too well, I know that teenagers really behave like portrayed in this book. Liv faces so many problems, family, friends, no money but she tries so hard. And so does every other character too! all of them have problems and they all cope in different ways, which only shows how different human beings actually are.
I also loved the writing style, it kept me hooked from the first until the last page and it was so sweet, describing everyone indivually and giving every person their own voice. I was able to picture all the characters in my head and the whole story played out in front of me.
It was also one of those books where you’re sure it will have a happy end but you also can’t be sure because it’s so realistic and not everything in real life ends well. I loved the end though, but I have so many questions about what happens after. All in all, this was an amazing read, a roller coaster, heartbreaking and painful, but also so sweet and beautiful. And I can’t say it often enough… THE RECIPES OH MY, I NEED TO TRY EVERY SINGLE ONE.
Rating:
★★★★★/5
