Amazon UK
Title: The Girl I Was Before
Author: Izzy Bayliss
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Purchased
Publisher: 21st August 2016
Publication Date: Blue Gate Publishing
Rating: 3.5 Stars
 |
| Amazon UK |
When Lily McDermott walks in to find Marc, her husband of just three months in bed with actress Nadia, life as she knows it is over. Lily thinks things can't get any worse when she sees photos of her husband and his new lover splashed across the glossy magazine pages, but when she loses her job too, she is at her lowest ebb and turns to baking to soothe her soul. Wounded and broken she has to try and pick herself up again with the help of her best friend Frankie and with her encouragement, Lily decides to turn her hobby into a business and sets up Baked With Love. However whatever Lily does, it seems disaster soon ensues and when handsome stranger Sam comes to her rescue, Lily isn't quite ready to turn her back on her marriage.
Can Lily risk opening her heart again or is she destined to allow Marc to shadow her life forever?
I really liked The Girl I Was Before, it is reasonably light hearted, features some good cakes, and Lily's sister was hilarious, even though she clearly wasn't trying to be.
However Lily herself drove me slightly mad during the story, she spent half the book wanting her husband of 3 months back, after he walked out, being caught with his pants down, and then the other half she finally is moving on with her life, but walks straight into a relationship with another man, who she isn't entirely honest with.
Her initial job before she lost it, was one I have never thought about in my life before, and certainly never seen used in fiction before, she works as a call centre operative for pregnancy tests, and also has to deal with the returns of used ones - queue some interesting descriptions of smells!
I also really liked her new business as it involved baking celebration cakes, and it was from that she met a handsome stranger, as well as had some comic moments with her nephews. Some of the cakes sounded divine.
Lily's sister Clara as I have said was quite funny, in a I can't believe she keeps saying it way, if I didn't laugh at her I would end up far too annoyed with her attitude towards Lily, and the rest of her family. She does have Lily's best interests at heart but I found her hard to like but loved her kids.
The Girl I Was Before is easy to read, and I liked the writing style, even if I wasn't too keen on all aspects of the characters (I haven't even mentioned what a nasty piece of work Lily's husband is!), and I would definitely be tempted to read more books by Izzy Bayliss.
Thanks to everyone that voted last week. It was a tie between this and Home For Christmas by Cally Taylor. It was a tough decision but I went for this purely as Amazon reckons it will be the first in a series, so at least I'm organised when the next one is out!
Rachel Reads Randomly - is now on hiatus until the start of January, as I just don't have time to run this feature until then. Hope you will all join me on 2nd January for a new vote!
However Lily herself drove me slightly mad during the story, she spent half the book wanting her husband of 3 months back, after he walked out, being caught with his pants down, and then the other half she finally is moving on with her life, but walks straight into a relationship with another man, who she isn't entirely honest with.
Her initial job before she lost it, was one I have never thought about in my life before, and certainly never seen used in fiction before, she works as a call centre operative for pregnancy tests, and also has to deal with the returns of used ones - queue some interesting descriptions of smells!
I also really liked her new business as it involved baking celebration cakes, and it was from that she met a handsome stranger, as well as had some comic moments with her nephews. Some of the cakes sounded divine.
Lily's sister Clara as I have said was quite funny, in a I can't believe she keeps saying it way, if I didn't laugh at her I would end up far too annoyed with her attitude towards Lily, and the rest of her family. She does have Lily's best interests at heart but I found her hard to like but loved her kids.
The Girl I Was Before is easy to read, and I liked the writing style, even if I wasn't too keen on all aspects of the characters (I haven't even mentioned what a nasty piece of work Lily's husband is!), and I would definitely be tempted to read more books by Izzy Bayliss.
Thanks to everyone that voted last week. It was a tie between this and Home For Christmas by Cally Taylor. It was a tough decision but I went for this purely as Amazon reckons it will be the first in a series, so at least I'm organised when the next one is out!
Rachel Reads Randomly - is now on hiatus until the start of January, as I just don't have time to run this feature until then. Hope you will all join me on 2nd January for a new vote!
