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The Sweet Life 1: An E-Serial
The Sweet Life 1: An E-Serial
Oct 11, 2024 4:28 PM

Author:Francine Pascal

The Sweet Life 1: An E-Serial

For Jessica and Elizabeth, the sweet life begins at 30…

The Sweet Life begins three years after the events of Sweet Valley Confidential; Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are back in Sweet Valley and inseparable once more. Things are looking up for both twins: Elizabeth is a star reporter at the LA Tribune with a popular blog, and Jessica’s PR career is on the fast-track. But while the professional lives of the Wakefield sisters are secure, their personal lives may be in jeopardy. Jessica, now a mother, finds that managing parenthood, marriage, and a job is harder than she expected, while Elizabeth and Bruce must face a scandal that could strengthen their bond…or tear them apart for ever.

Meanwhile, life goes on in Sweet Valley. Families are made, hearts are broken, and…Lila Fowler is a reality TV star? Some things never change.

The Sweet Life takes Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield through a new chapter in their well-chronicled and beloved fictional lives. This dramatic first installment and cliff-hanger ending will leave readers breathless for the next episode.

Reviews

Warren senses what readers desire in their fantasies and gives it to them tenfold.

—— Romantic Times

How does Murakami manage to make poetry while writing of contemporary life and emotions? I am weak-kneed with admiration

—— Independent on Sunday

A beautiful novel, as light as a feather, and yet enduringly sad... a captivating book from one of the world's most interesting authors

—— Sunday Herald

Murakami has been compared to everyone from Raymond Carver to Raymond Chandler - which should tell you only one thing: he's unique

—— Independent

Confirms Murakami as a master of his craft... Out of this world

—— Time Out

Grabs you from its opening lines. . . . [Murakami's] never written anything more openly emotional.

—— Los Angeles Magazine

Murakami is a genius.

—— Chicago Tribune

Murakami has an unmatched gift for turning psychological metaphors into uncanny narratives. -

—— The New York Times Book Review

An agonizing, sweet story about the power and the pain of love. . . . Immensely deepened by perfect little images that leave much to be filled in by the reader's heart or eye.

—— The Baltimore Sun

[Murakami belongs] in the topmost rank of writers of international stature.

—— Newsday

Murakami's true achievement lies in the humor and vision he brings to even the most despairing moments.

—— The New Yorker

Perhaps better than any contemporary writer, [Murakami] captures and lays bare the raw human emotion of longing.

—— BookPage

Murakami . . . has a deep interest in the alienation of self, which lifts [Sputnik Sweetheart] into both fantasy and philosophy.

—— San Francisco Chronicle

Not just a great Japanese writer but a great writer, period.

—— Los Angeles Times Book Review

A hell of a good book

—— Stephen King

A tense, page-turning story

—— Mail on Sunday

Full of ideas

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

Dazzling

—— Essentials

Fans of Ian McEwan should rejoice with this arrival of this novel, because Sweet Tooth is McEwan's finest work since 2001's Atonement

—— Kevin Power , Sunday Business Post

Given McEwan’s ability to make riveting fiction out of English politics (not easy), it would be hard to imagine anyone better equipped to write such a story... Delicious... Gripping

—— James Lasdun , Guardian

His assumption of a female persona is pitch-perfect

—— Michael Arditti , Daily Mail

No contemporary novelist is more enthralled by what goes on inside the human skull than Ian McEwan... Doubling back and forth across genre boundaries, Sweet Tooth takes risks...this acute, witty novel is a winningly cunning addition to McEwan’s fictional surveys of intelligence.

—— Peter Kemp , Sunday Times

Playful, comic... This is a great big Russian doll of a novel, and in its construction – deft, tight, exhilaratingly immaculate – is a huge part of its pleasure.

—— Julie Myerson , Observer

A thoroughly clever novel...a sublime novel about novels, about writing them and reading them and the spying that goes on in doing both...very impressive...rich and enjoyable.

—— Lucy Kellaway , Financial Times

Gave us another of his delightful posh-totty narrators, young Serena Frome, who is recruited into the intelligence services in the 1970s.

—— Kate Saunders , The Times

What you see is not what you get, and the twist at the end reminds us of how many of this author’s works confound readers imaginations... A well-crafted pleasure to read, its smooth prose and slippery intelligence sliding down like cream.

—— Amanda Craig , Independent

Simultaneously a tongue-in-cheek riff on his own early stories, a typically assured spy novel with a sting in the tail, and a meditation on the relationship between reader and writer.

—— Justine Jordan , Guardian

The true subject of this smart and tricky novel, set inside a cold war espionage operation, is the border between make-believe and reality.

—— New York Times

A wisecracking thriller hightailing between love and betrayal, with serious counter-espionage credentials thrown in... This is ultimately a book about writing, wordplay and knowingness.

—— Catherine Taylor , Sunday Telegraph

A triumphant shedding of genre limitations.

—— Adam Mars-Jones , London Review of Books

For most of its length, this account of a young woman's adventures in the British secret service of the 1970s reads like Le Carre-lite, but with McEwan nothing is ever quite as it seems and towards the end the reader is asked to re-examine what's gone before. Real-life friends and acquaintances of the author have walk-on parts, which you may find fascinating.

—— Irish Independent

Given McEwan’s ability to make riveting fiction out of English politics (not easy), it would be hard to imagine anyone better equipped to write such a story... Delicious... Gripping.

—— James Lasdun , Guardian

Parallels and contrasts between the mind-sets and mind games of espionage agents and writers of fiction are deftly teased out... acute, witty, cunningly crafted and full of fascinating autobiographical insights.

—— Peter Kemp , Sunday Times

Gloriously readable and, at times, wickedly funny.

—— Arminta Wallace , Irish Times

Had McEwan, through Serena’s benefit of hindsight in narrating her life, planted the clues? Let every reader have the pleasure of finding out.

—— Ion Trewin , Sunday Express

A curious piece of autobiographical fiction.

—— David Sexton , Evening Standard

McEwan’s prose is controlled, his observation forensic as ever... McEwan carries us with irresistible momentum to a surprise ending.

—— Maggie Ferguson , Intelligent Life

Highly entertaining.

—— John Lanchester , Guardian

The great thing about McEwan is that, despite his success, he continues to work hard, producing ever more accessible and entertaining stories.

—— Henry Sutton , Daily Mirror

An artful game of distortion... Clever handling.

—— Anthony Quinn , Mail on Sunday

Carefully researched.

—— John Scarlett , Daily Telegraph

I loved it. It reminded me of his most successful novel, Atonement.

—— Harpers Bazaar Online

Adroitly done...highly diverting.

—— D.J. Taylor , Literary Review

McEwan’s mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft and witty story of betrayal and intrigue, love, and the invented self.

—— GQ

Fans of Ian McEwan should rejoice with this arrival of this novel, because Sweet Tooth is McEwan's finest work since 2001's Atonement.

—— Kevin Power , Sunday Business Post

His assumption of a female persona is pitch-perfect.

—— Michael Arditti , Daily Mail

Must read... Intrigue, love and mutual betrayal by a master of the art.

—— The Lady

Gripping.

—— Evening Standard ES Magazine

Full of ideas.

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

Cleverly metafictional.

—— Sam Leith , Prospect

One of the most hotly anticipated novels of the year...it’s brilliant.

—— Sunday Business Post

McEwan, as always, presents an engaging narrator... The plot is fantastic... McEwan plays with the readers expectations, and surpasses them all with a fabulous ending that makes me itch to re-read this superb novel all over again. Sweet Tooth marks another triumph for a brilliant British author.

—— Bookgeeks.co.uk

A pleasing, tricksy beast with a subsumed sense of metatextuality likely to be pleasing to his fans.

—— Bookmunch

This most cunning of authors entertains and manipulates his readers. Sweet Tooth is a masterclass in the art of fiction.

—— Paul Sidey , Book Oxygen

Ian McEwan proves he’s still the master penman with his twelfth novel.

—— Grazia

Dazzling.

—— Essentials
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