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Sweet Love in time for Valentine’s Day

Sweet Love by Sarah Strohmeyer features a giant cupcate on the front of the book, complete with three pink icing roses. Obviously, this is a love story about desserts. It's also the story of Julie Mueller, a divorced television news reporter raising a teenager daughter and watching out for her own aging parents. Her mother, Bettie, is known for being meddling, so when she gives Julie a gift certificate for cooking classes with a local chef, Julie is suspicious. At the classes, over the sumptuous desserts that everyone is creating, Julie encounters a man from her past, a man of whom her mother strongly disapproved.

Michael Slayton was raised almost as an extra sibling in the Mueller household, after his own mother proved neglectful. Ever since Julie made a pass at him when she was a teenager, Michael has kept his distance. Of course, when Julie broke a news story about a sleezy sex scandal in the campaign Michael worked on, that didn't help their relationship. As Julie and Michael are forced to spend time together each week over desserts, old issues including attraction and jealousy bubble to the surface. Julie is juggling home, work, health, family and romance when all she really wants is another bite of dessert!

I've known I shared Sarah Strohmeyer's sense of humor from her very early days as a writer. I have a copy of her first book - Barbie Unbound - a photo book of Barbie dolls in unexpected and silly situations. To add to the pleasure, Sweet Love also incorporates quotes from Shakespearean poetry throughout. This latest novel does not disappoint, with a story that is humorous, honest and affirming. If you are looking for light-hearted women's romantic fiction, this story will tickle your taste-buds and leave you wanting more.