Review: Campari For Breakfast by Sara Crowe

Campari For Breakfast is the first novel for actress and author, Sara Crowe.

Sue is mourning the loss of her mother and is not happy that her father seems to be moving on so soon after her mother’s death. Estranged a little from him, she goes to live with her Aunt at Green Place in a home that is pretty much falling down around them. Sue begins to try and rebuild her life as she tries to find the truth about her mother. In the process, she discovers a lot about herself and the people closest to her. This book is told from the point of view of Sue in 1987 and of her Aunt Coral, in the form of journal entries starting from when she was a girl.

I have to admit, I didn’t know what to expect from this book when I read the blurb but from the first few pages, I was hooked and could not put it down. Sue is a wonderfully original voice who is trying to discover who she is. She wants to be a writer and her short story, snippets of which are featured occasionally through the book are very witty.

Sue is very innocent and naive at the beginning of her story but I found that she’d come into her own a bit by the end.

The supporting characters were a cross between wonderful and awful. Coral was a brilliant, eccentric character. She is just trying to find her happy ending and proving that you’re never too old to try. Coral, along with the other lodgers of Green Place felt like a family and I really want to go to a session of their writing group although I probably would have ended up slapping Loudelle (this is the character I found to be awful.)

Also, I really want to give Joe a hug.

There were some laugh out loud moments mixed in with some emotional, poignant ones and there were some good plot twists too. Coral’s backstory was neatly integrated with Sue’s current situation and I found that I wasn’t looking forward to reading one plot element over another. I found both Sue and Coral’s stories intriguing.

Overall, this was a lovely, warm, original novel and I was sad when it ended as I didn’t want to leave the characters. It’s all about finding out who you are and finding the will to start again and I loved it.

I can’t recommend it enough and I am looking forward to seeing more novels from Sara.

(Campari For Breakfast is due for release in paperback by Transworld on 29th January 2014. It will be available from most major bookshops. Click here to view on Amazon. Review orginally published on 20th May 2014.)

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.