Heaping Spoonful

By Shauna Glenn

Book Overview

Heaping Spoonful Will Make You Believe in the Power of Starting Over When Claire Hamilton lost her husband to cancer, her self-image shattered overnight. Once a happily married and financially secure... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1434384535
• ISBN13: 9781434384539
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Perfect summer read

Glenn enthralled me from the first page. I found myself drawn to Claire as if she were one of my best girfriends with whom I can switch from tears to laughter in the blink of an eye. She had me rooting for her to experience the happiness that she had been denied. Glenn's characters rang true, especially her zany sister. I felt as if I'd been transported to the bakery & was actually eating those delectible goodies. I'll definitely buy her next offering!

The first of many greats by Shauna Glenn

Main character, Claire, is such a strong and insightful person you can't help but be hopeful throughout the book that all will work out well! Even though your heart breaks sometimes for what she is experiencing, you get the feeling that she is and will be stronger than she thinks she is. It is a fantastic read and wonderfully funny too!

Want a girlfriend?

Claire is facing challenges that lots of today's women face. But get ready for some unexpected twists that make you glad you're not Claire! Once Henry showed up I was glued to the book and never put it down again. Reading 'Heaping Spoonful' was like sitting with a funny and very honest girlfriend and listening to her life story.

Simply Fabulous!

What a wonderful, uplifting story! I couldn't put it down. Shauna Glenn has a way with words that makes the reader feel personally involved with each character. I found myself wishing for more pages. A truly GREAT story and fabulous read!

Heaping Spoonful will touch your heart and your funny bone

Heaping Spoonful, a first novel by magazine columnist and blog queen Shauna Glenn, is surprisingly funny despite its dark premise. The story opens with the main character, Claire Hamilton, who has lost her husband to cancer, struggling emotionally in her role as a 30-something widow with two kids and a small business. Her rage erupts in the first scene as she flings a rock into the window of a car that came too close while she jogged. The humor catches up when the driver of the car turns out too be her little sister's new boyfriend and Claire's ex-high-school principal father makes her pay for the window. Glenn does an amazing job of putting the reader into Claire's roller coaster emotions. The reader feels the boiling anger that keeps Claire from being able to move on in her life emotionally, but is also able to enjoy the often darkly humorous as well as the lovely moments along with Claire. When Claire is scolded by her well-meaning father, the reader suddenly feels like a truant teenager right along with Claire. When Claire's son sleeps in his father's closet on a pile of sweatshirts, the reader's heart aches with Claire. Claire's mother, an only occasionally lucid woman with Alzheimer's, is touchingly depicted. Her old-fashioned Southern charm comes through during her lucid moments, and her role in helping Claire on her emotional recovery are seamless. Glenn's characters are very strong, fairly flawed and therefore, incredibly lovable. In particular, Claire's sister, Lucy, is a gem. Glenn's portrayal of the irreverent and irresponsible man-crazy but loving Lucy is wonderful. The unshakable bond of sisters who support and yet still exasperate each other shines through their interactions. Even less central characters leave a big impact. Case in point, Mrs. Sugarman, the well-meaning elderly socialite who anonymously helps put Claire's bakery on the map and then plays cupid as well. Similarly, Claire's restaurant manager, Ben, manages to creep stealthily into the reader's heart as his quiet strength and business skill joins with Lucy's enthusiasm to take Claire's neighborhood bakery to the next level. As a mother, Claire's interactions with her young children as they too attempt to cope with the reality of their altered existence and their Mother's unhappiness makes the story all the more appealing to parents. The reality of being left entirely alone in what one expected to be the partnership of parenting and having to start all over again is a hidden fear in many of us parents. Glenn manages to avoid the cliché of a moral and asexual widow and instead gives us a very real, desperately hurt and yet still sexual being who is trying to find her way. Claire's attempts to break back into dating and sex are comically bungled, and leave her even more confused and emotionally troubled. From torrid ill-planned sex with a completely inappropriate man to the perfectly planned but badly executed relationship with a near perfect