"The power of love brings people together as they finally come to recognize and embrace it."

By: Sarah Strohmeyer

Genres: Women's Fiction

Posted: June 16, 2008

Experiencing a severe crush on Michael Slayton since childhood, Julie Mueller moved on in life when he did not respond to her advances. Julie, now the divorced mother of a teenage daughter, is working as a TV reporter. Julie's passion is food even though she doesn't cook, much to the disappointment of her mother, Elizabeth.

Believing that Julie is unhappy with an unfulfilled life, Elizabeth presents Julie with cooking lessons with a famous chef knowing that Michael will also be attending. A seven- year misunderstanding stands between Julie and Michael as they try to rekindle their old friendship.

When Elizabeth has a stroke and is hospitalized, Julie has a new understanding of the depth of her feelings for her mother and the importance of family. Julie and Michael must strive to overcome their differences as they try to share their lives.

Sarah Strohmeyer has created a story of incredibly sharp insights into the power of love between a mother and a daughter, which is not always recognized until it's too late. There's much written on the description of preparing desserts, which I found a little too detailed and less interesting. Once I reached the heart of the storyline, I found it fun to read with a delightful mixture of humor.

Book Summary

An irresistibly delicious novel about the power of love… and dessert.

Like other well-meaning mothers, Julie Mueller’s believed she did the right thing when she secretly ended her teenage daughter’s crush on Michael Slayton, a wild older neighborhood heartthrob with a penchant for Shakespeare and the pedigree of trailer trash.

Twenty years later, Betty Mueller has come to realize that was a big mistake. Her daughter Julie – divorced and raising a teenage daughter alone – is a workaholic obsessed with her career. And Michael, the one man who could make her happy, is the one man to whom she won’t speak.

Now dying and determined to make amends, Betty stages her last great feat of motherhood by reuniting the couple in a dessert class where she hopes the sweetness of a chocolate almond Torta Caprese will erase the bitterness of a wretched misunderstanding.

“Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said thy edge should blunter be than appetite,” Shakespeare once pleaded—though it will require more than poetry and passion fruit for Julie and Michael to renew their love.

It will, in fact, require the sweetest sacrifice of all.

Sweet Love by Sarah Strohmeyer

Sweet Love

by: Sarah Strohmeyer

Dutton
June 1, 2008
On Sale: June 19, 2008
Featuring:
320 pages
ISBN: 0525950648
EAN: 9780525950646
Hardcover

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