Book review: Pop psychology, testing friendships, and plenty of commercial tropes

Author Karin Walker is based in Cornwall. She has a three-book deal, and is currently editing her second novel.

• Love, Lies & Sticky Toffee Pudding 
• Karin Walker 
• Poolbeg, €16.99 

Featuring three best friends in their late 30s, navigating romance, family life, and the role of serial mistress, this is commercial women’s fiction, complete with familiar tropes.

One such trope is that of Sarah, the new-to-the-neighbourhood mom who is finding it hard to make friends at the school gate where she drops off her son Rudy, accompanied by little Finn. 

The bitching from one of the mothers, Theresa, is foul. She tells Sarah that Rudy is bullying her son. But Sarah, admittedly biased, doesn’t believe that Rudy is a bully. He has problems, possibly ADHD. 

And the lack of support from her commuter husband, Grant, is contributing to Sarah’s alienation from her marriage. Wired for success, Sarah has put her career on hold and is desperate to make her sons perfect.

Set between Cornwall (where Sarah and family have relocated for quality-of-life purposes), Barbados, and London, this is a page-turner with some of the narration conveyed via emails and texts from the friends.

Charlotte, a lawyer, is a list maker, à la Bridget Jones — “do pelvic floor exercises on train” — who has often been dumped by boyfriends past. 

When the reader meets her, she has just been let down by Jamie. What exactly is Charlotte doing wrong?

Aware she has problems, she invites Jamie on a holiday to Barbados where, in return for all expenses being paid, he must give her lessons in love. 

Jamie consults a psychologist friend and tells him all about Charlotte’s behaviour. She is diagnosed as having morbid jealousy. 

That plays out in Barbados, where Charlotte still holds a torch for Jamie. But when he is seen with the hotel beautician, Charlotte goes ape, creating an ugly scene.

It’s easy to dismiss Charlotte as a bunny boiler, but she has likeable traits too, and is appreciated by two men she meets on the holiday. One of them, a former public school boy with “toffee brown eyes” cares a lot about Charlotte.

London-based Jasmine is very much a “scarlet woman”, romancing married men whom she believes are neglected by their wives. This gal is not exactly a proponent of feminism. 

And readers shouldn’t be surprised when she casts her entrapping net over Sarah’s husband. She has the morals of an alley cat until she is forced to look at herself.

Jasmine is not the only brazen one in this tale. It looks like Sarah is going to commit adultery when she makes email contact with a former lover. 

The pair make plans for a clandestine tryst in London, enticed by the memories of them travelling together 10 years ago.

This novel is full of psychological insights. There’s a lot more going on with Jasmine than just getting involved with men who should know better. 

We are informed that at the age of eight, she witnessed her father hanging when he killed himself. Feeling that she wasn’t enough for her dad, Jasmine’s self-esteem is on the floor, hence her behaviour and commitment phobia.

As for the sticky toffee pudding in the title, the dessert is Sarah’s pièce de résistance and a source of jealousy on the part of Theresa. 

She used to be the queen of tarts on the baking front, supplying the Big House owner in her locale with amazing cakes. But, rather unconvincingly, Theresa undergoes a dramatic transformation and asks to be Sarah’s friend.

Friendship is tested in this book, particularly between Sarah and Jasmine. Is there any going back when your husband’s ex-mistress is supposed to be your friend?

At times predictable, this novel has all the ingredients of emotional chick lit, with dollops of pop psychology thrown in.