Sunday, May 29, 2022

The Sweet Life

About the Book

CBook: The Sweet Life

Author: Suzanne Woods Fisher

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release date: May 3, 2022

The Sweet Life Cover Jilted by her fiancé, Dawn Dixon escapes to beautiful Cape Cod on a groomless honeymoon–with her mother. But she didn’t expect her mom to risk everything, on a whim, to move there permanently or buy a rundown ice cream shop in need of repair. In order to make their new life work, they’ll also need her ex’s help.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

With over 1.5 million copies sold, Suzanne Woods Fisher is a bestselling author of over 30 books, ranging from novels to children’s books to non-fiction. She is a Christy Award finalist, a winner of Carol and Selah awards, and a two-time finalist for ECPA Book of the Year. She writes stories that take you to places you’ve never visited—one with characters that seem like old friends. But most of all, her books give you something to think about long after you’ve finished reading it. Suzanne lives with her very big family in northern California.

More from Suzanne

The Sweet Life is a story about a mom and a daughter who, both in need of a little respite from life’s bumps and bruises, start an ice cream shop on Cape Cod…thinking it will be easy. After all, who doesn’t love ice cream?

Well, sure. That’s true. Everybody loves ice cream. But ice cream can be tricky. This I can say with authority. My husband is a serious hobby ice cream maker. He even attended Penn State’s Ice Cream School. While Steve was working on his vanilla recipe, he experimented fifty-nine times before he was finally satisfied. 59 times! Other flavors, like chocolate, can mask mistakes. Not vanilla. Too pure.

Here’s a few other things you probably didn’t know about ice cream:

The very first mention of a frozen dessert dates back to Persia in 550 BC, though it might have been sorbet-like. It’s said that Emperor Nero had ice brought down from the Apennine Mountains to produce a sorbet of honey and wine. And then there are those who insist that ice cream came out of China, and were introduced to Italy with the help of Marco Polo. Regardless of its origins, a love of ice cream has been around for a very, very long time.

Quaker colonists introduced ice cream to early America, having brought their recipes with them from England. Some argue that the French brought ice cream to America. Regardless, during the colonial era, ice cream was sold in shops in New York.

George Washington loved ice cream. So much so that he even brought ice cream making equipment to Mount Vernon! There are many accounts of “ice creem” (as it was then called) served during his administration.

First Lady Dolley Madison, wife of U.S. President James Madison, served ice cream at her husband’s Inaugural Ball in 1813. Common colonial flavors were soft fruits, like peaches or strawberries, added to a vanilla custard. Dolley had a curious favorite flavor: oyster. (Ugh.)

In September of 1846, a Philadelphia house wife named Nancy Johnson filed patent #3254 for a simple hand cranked ice cream churn. Prior to this point, ice cream belonged to the wealthy. Her hand cranked ice cream churn made it affordable for everyone. Nancy Johnson’s design is still used today.

During the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, an ice cream vendor ran out of cardboard dishes. The vendor next door offered to make cones by rolling up his waffles. Voila! The birth of the ice cream cone.

The majority of American ice cream companies have been in business for more than 50 years. Many of them are still owned by single families.

For the last 128 years, Penn State University has held Ice Cream School for professionals and serious hobbyists during January (for obvious reasons). All the greats have attended: Baskin & Robbins, Ben & Jerry, Dreyer’s, Nestle’s, Blue Bell Creamery, Dairy Queen, and…my husband.

The most popular flavor in the world? Vanilla. Of course.

MY REVIEW

This book has been such a joy to read and I really wanted to be friends with the two main characters. I loved the detailed knowledge that the author gave us in the story about ice cream. I would love to know how to make the perfect peppermint ice cream. When I was younger I remember visiting my Aunt Ida in Washington state. She had this beautiful little farm house and books that I loved reading. One day she told everyone she was going to make homemade ice cream. To my surprise was peppermint flavor. Oh how I loved it and kept going back for more. To this day my favorite ice cream is peppermint.

Let’s all grab a bowl or cone filled with your favorite ice cream and find out what Dawn and her mother Marnie get themselves into. Dawn is not a happy person when she is dumped before her wedding. I know for certain if I was dumped I would never take my mother with me on my suppose to be honeymoon. But there they are together at Cape Cod. Dawn’s attitude is a bit snappy at times and I really wanted her to find a little grace. Finding out her mother had just been through breast cancer doesn’t sit well with her and this causes some disagreements between the two. I really liked seeing mother and daughter work through issues and try to understand each other better.

Marnie is someone I know I would get along with. She thinks of others and has this impulsive attitude at times. I find myself doing impulsive things when I get really excited about it. Marnie is just so over the moon about opening up own ice cream shop that she jumps at the chance to buy a building while on the pretend honeymoon. I’m not i was suppose to laugh but I did because she was so thrilled to see her dream come true. I couldn’t wait to see what Dawn would think of the idea and the shop that her mother just purchased.

Lincoln is one of those men who just oozes with intelligence, compassion and a deep need to help others. After what he has been through he finally got a wake up call from God. He found himself realizing that life had passed him by and he wanted to change that. I liked how he and Marnie hit it off right away. With his help you can see Marnie become more confident. He is a welcome addition to helping them open their shop. There are times that Marnie and Lincoln let their guard down and really start to open up to each other. It was refreshing to see these two mature adults become excited about life again.

Watching Dawn begin to change in subtle ways was so encouraging . She has always wanted to be in control and letting her mother try new things worried her. I loved how Dawn looked at her mom in a different way. She saw her mom happy and full of life. Dawn also sees a change in a special person who she thought she had lost. This part of the story really opens up a discussion on how Dawn never wanted to take chances. She was afraid of losing control and failing. I loved the emotional time Dawn takes to ask God to help her.

I loved the mother/daughter story and found it to be inspirational. We all have had a time when we didn’t get along with one of our parents and this illustrated how we need to communicate our feelings in a fair and honest way. The story is filled with a great message for all of us. We should never give up on our dream, recognize when it is time to let go of the past and most of all trust God.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.