Just Add Spice in Ask Carol E. Wyer

Aug 03, 2013 JG rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, comedy, chick-lit, women-s-fiction, arc-netgalley

Enjoyed reading Just Add Spice by Carol E. Wyer. Presented in a humor filled often matter a fact way, Dawn Ellis' life reads like any other normal middle age woman does. Feeling the empty nest syndrome with a grumpy husband who lost his job and isn't any help to be around with has made Dawn reach for something she hasn't done before. She joined a writing class. Here she starts enjoying herself and she starts making friends outside of home and motherhood. Dawn also discovers her talent for writin ...more

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Apr 29, 2014 Nikki Bywater rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Take two leading ladies, Dawn Ellis who finds escape from her dreary life by attending a creative writing class, and working on her first novel, and Cinnamon Knight, now here is where it gets interesting. Cinnamon is the leading character in Dawn’s book; she is Dawn’s alter ego. She is all that Dawn wishes to be. Cinnamon is strong and bold and is a cross between an avenging superhero and a scorned woman and she is out for revenge.

Can Cinnamon help Dawn Spice up her Life?

It’s another cracker of ...more

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Jul 27, 2013 Karen rated it really liked it

I hadn’t read anything by this author before and didn’t know what to expect. I’m pleased to say it was a very enjoyable, witty and entertaining read. This was partly a book within a book as bored housewife Dawn begins writing a novel and thus creates Cinnamon Knight – a gutsy and ball-breaking character, who fed up with men treating her, and indeed her fellow women badly, decides to fight back.

As Dawn creates more escapades for Cinnamon, the lives of both herself and her creation become blurred ...more

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Jul 25, 2013 Katey Lovell rated it really liked it

Just Add Spice is a witty and entertaining summer read that will resonate with everyone out there who feels their life comprises purely of the mundane.

Dawn is a housewife. That had always been enough for her, especially when her son was fully reliant on her. However, now that he has flown the nest Dawn can't help but feel that her marriage to Jim, suffering from stresses following his redundancy, is going stale. In an attempt to regain a sense of purpose, Dawn joins a creative writing group. He ...more

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Oct 26, 2013 Melissa Bowersock rated it it was amazing

At the outset, Just Add Spice is funny and camp and loads of good fun. Cinnamon, Dawn's literary alter-ego, is kind of a cross between Oprah and Wonder Woman, helping downtrodden women and punishing the men who prey on them. It's easy to cheer on Cinnamon--and Dawn--as they both forge ahead in what they thought were well-ordered lives. But then everything takes a surprising, more serious turn and suddenly the road is not so clear. What started out as comic-book fun becomes so much more as both w ...more

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Jul 18, 2013 William Sutton rated it it was amazing

I first want to say that I am the editor for this book, so I am very likely a bit biased.

Synopsis: Dawn Ellis needs to escape from her painfully dull existence. Her unemployed husband spends all day complaining about life, moping around, or fixing lawnmowers on her kitchen table. The local writing class proves to be an adequate distraction with its eccentric collection of wannabe authors and, of course, the enigmatic Jason, who soon shows a romantic interest in her.

Dawn pours her inner frustrati ...more

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Jul 18, 2013 Sheryl Browne rated it it was amazing

Just Add Spice When I first got the gist of the plot, the lines between reality and fiction blurring, the leading lady’s heroine in a novel becoming so real she takes on a persona of her own, so much so, we read the story also from her POV, I wondered, whether the author could pull it off. She did. Oh, how she did. I was totally convinced, drawn straight in and eager to follow ‘both’ leading ladies stories. When you find yourself thinking, well, if Dawn can do it, I can, you have empathised, com ...more

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Jul 19, 2013 Carol W rated it it was amazing

Dawn Ellis and her husband are not adjusting to life after unemployment. After more than 20 years of marriage life has become a habit and the habit is hard to break. Empty nest syndrome and retirement on the horizon brings home the reality that the spark has gone out of their marriage.

Dawn decides to take up new hobbies in the shape of a writing group and keep fit classes to keep her mind and body active.

The writing group are a supportive bunch and Dawn begins to spend time with the hunk of the ...more

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Jul 20, 2013 Melanie rated it really liked it

Dawn Ellis had previously been a content housewife. With her Husband away at work all day and her daily routine of looking after her house and Family, bringing up her Son and visiting her Father, she hadn’t wanted for anything more.

Then her Husband lost his job and became a permanent fixture at home, complaining about her routine, finding fault with the household tasks she’s been mastering for decades and littering her kitchen table with garden tools. In a bid to escape what is quickly becoming Dawn Ellis had previously been a content housewife. With her Husband away at work all day and her daily routine of looking after her house and Family, bringing up her Son and visiting her Father, she hadn’t wanted for anything more.

Then her Husband lost his job and became a permanent fixture at home, complaining about her routine, finding fault with the household tasks she’s been mastering for decades and littering her kitchen table with garden tools. In a bid to escape what is quickly becoming a mundane home regime, Dawn joins a local writing class and begins to write her first novel.

The female protagonist of said novel is Cinnamon Knight, a Woman scorned whose previous life had been similar to Dawn’s and who will now stop at nothing to get what she wants and teach much needed lessons to those that have crossed her. Starting with her Husband and the Woman he left her for …

Faced with writing a story that includes car theft, murder plots, sexy lingerie and some serious ass-kicking, Dawn partakes in some hands on research to enable her to write her novel in as much detail as possible. This leads to some very funny scenes involving her Son’s car, her local lingerie department and many hilarious conversations with the new local Postwoman, Viv.

So begins a Fight Club-esque story, with Dawn slowly evolving into the Woman she wants to be and Cinnamon separating herself from the pages of Dawn’s story and becoming more alive by the Chapter. Is Cinnamon just a figment of Dawn’s imagination or has she been here all along?

Just Add Spice is the first of Carol E Wyer’s books that I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. It is often funny, particularly where Postwoman, Viv is concerned and the additional characters provided via Dawn’s Writing Group and her keep fit sessions (including Jason, who is on a mission to become her very own Dustin Hoffman) are each unique and entertaining.

There was only one real surprise for me in this story, which I’m not going to spoil for you – all I will say one particular element didn’t end the way I thought it would! However, the ending was great and very fitting to our leading Lady, Dawn. Personally, I enjoyed reading Dawn’s story more than that of Cinnamon. I particularly liked her transformation from “sugary” housewife to “spicy” independent Woman and loved her conversations with both Viv and her Father.

My Rating – 4/5 – A funny, enjoyable novel about trying new things and discovering your inner self. The regular crossover between Dawn and Cinnamon’s stories is well told and easy to follow, avoiding any confusion as these two ladies slowly become one. If you’re looking for a book that is very entertaining and a tad romantic, Just Add Spice is worth every penny!

REVIEW: Just Add Spice - Carol E Wyer (Me, Bookshelf and I) ...more

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Jul 18, 2013 Chris James rated it it was amazing

Racy, funny, poignant

With Just Add Spice, Carol Wyer has taken her storytelling to a new, deeper, level. The jokes are there aplenty - the kind of smart, sassy retorts and situation set-ups/payoffs which litter her earlier books. But this story has a touching poignancy which will make the characters stay with you long after you finish reading.
There is a confident, balanced structure which brings the characters fully to life without sacrificing pace in the plot. The story moves along at a nice cl ...more

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Jul 20, 2013 Lisa rated it really liked it

As soon as I read the opening passage to Carol E. Wyer's new novel I was hooked, even more so when I realised I wasn't reading the latest erotica but a very humorous and touching account of a middle aged woman's dawning realisation that there is more to life than being a wife and mother.

Dawn has had her share of heartache but for more than twenty years she has had a safe and secure marriage and a son which have been the centre of her life, it may not have been an exciting life but she's been hap ...more

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Jul 20, 2013 Diane Croad rated it it was amazing

Having read all of Ms Wyer's previous novels, I was really looking forward to reading her latest one, "Just Add Spice". To me, this is, by far, her best book to date (and I really enjoyed all the others). Her writing has been taken onto another level entirely, and I am even more of a fan than I was before. I almost read it at one sitting, finishing is just after midnight, so that should tell you something! Just Add Spice was different from anything I have read before, and, really, very very cle ...more

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Oct 13, 2013 Kathleen Varn rated it it was amazing

This is my first book I read by Carol E. Wyer. I'd seen her activity through Goodreads and had the pleasure to email back and forth with my own questions regarding novels. I found Just Add Spice an easy read that poked fun but made deeper reflections on life experiences. I loved the dialogues between her main character, Dawn, and her vixen-alter ego, Cinnamon. Dawn's struggle to embrace her passion of writing transcended through the excellently spun web of supporting characters. As an American, ...more

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