Tout Sweet by Karen Wheeler Review and Giveaway

Tout Sweet

Sourcebooks; ISBN: 978-1-4022-6118-3; TP $14.99

August 2011

In her mid-thirties, fashion editor Karen has it all: a handsome boyfriend, a fab flat in west London, and an array of gorgeus shoes. But when her boyfriend, Eric, leaves she makes an unexpected decision: to hang up her Manolos and wave good-bye to her glamorous city lifestyle to go it alone in a run-down house in rural Poitou-Charentes, central western France.
Tout Sweet is the perfect read for anyone who dreams of chucking away their BlackBerry in favor of real blackberrying and downshifting to a romantic, alluring locale where new friendships–and new loves–are just some of the treasures to be found amongst life's simple pleasures.

About the Author:

Karen Wheeler is a former fashion editor for the Mail on Sunday and currently writes for the Financial Times How to Spend It magazine and London’s Daily Mail. Her work has appeared in the Evening Standard and You magazines, Sunday Times Style, and numerous international publications.  A three-time winner of the prestigious Jasmine Literary Award for writing about perfume, she specializes in fashion, beauty and luxury goods trends. Karen also has a great blog at www.toutsweet.net and Twitters @mimipompom1.

Praise for Tout Sweet:

“[A] buoyant read [and…] a charming chronicle of transforming her unloved and neglected maison into a real home and repairing her broken heart in the process.”

— Publishers Weekly

“I gulped it down in one day...snorting with laughter and with agreement, as she nailed the experience.”

— LibertyLondonGirl.blogspot.com

“Very entertaining...touches on a range of themes from renovation to travel and romance to fashion...considerable élan and bon mots.”

— The Traveller in France

“Karen's book stands out by its inherent humor, quality of writing and engaging tone that leaves one wishing for more.”

— The Ballymena and Anrtrim Times

“I'm loving former fashion editor Karen Wheeler's new book... If she can do it, I keep thinking, then so can I.”

— Emma Lee Potter, freelance journalist

My Thoughts:

 I am not a Francophile as I prefer to read or visit Ireland, but I found Tout Sweet by Karen Wheeler to be a very enjoyable read. I was not sure what to expect when I started the book. A lot of authors that write memoirs tend to get a bit wordy in their descriptions of their subject matter. Not this one, a very readable story, if I didn't know better I would have thought I was reading a novel. Tout Sweet tells Karen Wheeler's story as she quits her highly paid and successful job as a fashion reporter. She has had enough of the London scene and fell in love with France when she went their with a former boyfriend. While on a visit she makes some friends and decides to buy a house to renovate. While doing this renovation, she is able to sort out her feelings of her previous relationship while creating new ones. Karen meets a very eclectic group of people in the small town that she has moved to and with their help she comes to realize that to be happy, you need to find the happiness within and the rest will all work out. I loved this story, made me jealous a bit because I have always wanted to just pack up and move to a small cottage by the sea in Ireland. This book will appeal to anyone who has always wanted to chase a dream and anyone else interested in memoirs. You do not have to have a passion for France to read this book. I highly recommend.

I received a copy of this book from Sourcebooks and was not monetarily compensated for my review.

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Note: This giveaway is an ARC (uncorrected) as always ARC's , it is illegal to see them.