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Recipe for Scandal
Living with her partner, Tony, his parents and their precocious teenage son, Alberta Granger considers she belongs to the perfect modern extended family. With her catering business booming and her daughter embarking on a glittering career in London, Bertie reckons she can cope with the mild irritants of her difficult stepson's visits and her father's ongoing disapproval of Tony.
But some truly shocking news is about to rock Bertie's world to its foundations. As a torrent of tabloid headlines engulfs the family in a very public scandal, Bertie is forced to face the fact that some of her nearest and dearest, those closest family members she thought she knew so well, have been keeping secrets, leading mysterious double lives she knew nothing about.
As revelation follows revelation, old wounds re-open and former grudges re-surface. Is Bertie's family unit tight enough to survive? Is her relationship with Tony solid enough to withstand the battering? And, when temptation arises in the form of a handsome stranger, is Bertie herself strong enough to resist?
But some truly shocking news is about to rock Bertie's world to its foundations. As a torrent of tabloid headlines engulfs the family in a very public scandal, Bertie is forced to face the fact that some of her nearest and dearest, those closest family members she thought she knew so well, have been keeping secrets, leading mysterious double lives she knew nothing about.
As revelation follows revelation, old wounds re-open and former grudges re-surface. Is Bertie's family unit tight enough to survive? Is her relationship with Tony solid enough to withstand the battering? And, when temptation arises in the form of a handsome stranger, is Bertie herself strong enough to resist?
- GenresChick Lit
384 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
5 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Debby Holt
19 books31 followersDebby Holt lives with her husband in Bath. She started writing short stories when her five children were small. She wrote her first novel, The Ex-Wife’s Survival Guide in 2006. Since then, she has written three more: Annie May’s Black Book, The Trouble with Marriage and Love Affairs for Grown-Ups. Having been a spectacularly useless teacher in the past, she is fully aware of how lucky she is to be doing something she loves.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
November 14, 2013
Cute. Also not horribly written (rare in this genre).
May 31, 2010
Twenty years after her husband Ed dies in a car accident, Alberta Granger finally feels as if her life is stable. She has two fantastic children and has been with Tony for almost twenty years. Alberta’s daughter, Hannah, also feels as if her life is great: she has a fab job in London, she has great friends and an even better boyfriend. Phillipa, Alberta’s mother, has an idyllic life, living with her former Government minister husband and the only thing that concerns her is the greenfly on her roses. However when Phillipa’s husband dies in dubious circumstances, all three women's lives are about to change. As scandal upon scandal comes out of the woodwork, do the three women have what it takes to come out of the whole thing stronger?
Until I read Recipe For Scandal, the only other Debby Holt book I’ve read was Annie May’s Black Book which I quite enjoyed. I was looking on Amazon for other Debby Holt titles and saw that her newest book would be Recipe For Scandal. The cover really caught my eye, so I eagerly had a look at the synopsis and liked the sound of it. Having a lot of spare time over Christmas I decided to give it a read.
The opening of the book seemed to be very distant. For the first 70 or so pages I didn’t feel anything for the characters and it was written in such a style that I couldn’t learn anything from the characters themselves apart from what I was told. I perservered with the book as it wasn’t bad and I found that as the book wore on, I did feel more for the characters and I did find the plot more interesting. It takes just over 100 pages for the main plot to start so that could be what attributed to my dislike of the beginning of the novel. After Alberta’s father dies, the plot picks up the pace and I found myself really getting into the book.
As I mentioned, it took 100 pages for me to really get into the characters. The only character I remotely liked before Alberta’s dad died was Jacob, Alberta’s precocious son. I found his insights interesting and he was an enjoyable character. It was a pity he disappeared after that, off travelling with his girlfriend. His insights as all of the scandals broke would have made for very interesting reading indeed! Alberta for most part of the book was our main character and the book was mostly narrated from her point of view. It took me a while to really like Alberta, but I did feel so sympathetic for her after her father dies and all of the scandals start coming out. The book is also told from Hannah and Marma’s points of view, Alberta’s daughter and mother respectively and I really liked both Hannah and Marma. A lot of secrets are revealed about Marma, some not so pleasant, but I liked her the entire time. The only other main character was Tony, Alberta’s partner who seemed nice enough.
The scandals in question aren’t so scandalous in this day and age – after all, there are scandals coming out left, right and center about politicians and their dirty little secrets every single day. I can, however, see how they were scandalous to Alberta and her family. Debby Holt’s books are seemingly about well-off-ish families who seem to have an air about them, so Alberta and her family would find the death of Lord Trussler rather scandalous. I also suppose that how scandalous the revelations are depend on your interpretation of the word scandal and how something like Lord Trussler’s death ranks on your scandal scale. Debby’s writing is really quite good. After Lord Trussler dies I was sucked in quite easily and I was eager to see how everything would settle once the scandalous revelations died down. The book was a little slow-paced at times but that wasn’t really a huge problem. It suited the style of the book.
The ending surprised me. I figured it was going to end one way and it ended a completely different way. I think I preferred the ending that happened rather than the ending I thought I wanted, it was quite cleverley done by Debby to make me change my mind about how I wanted the book to end. Recipe For Scandal was a very enjoyable read, and you really should persevere for the first 100 or so pages, however it’s probably one you can only read the once. I don’t think it could be one I’d read again and again. It is well worth a read though!
Until I read Recipe For Scandal, the only other Debby Holt book I’ve read was Annie May’s Black Book which I quite enjoyed. I was looking on Amazon for other Debby Holt titles and saw that her newest book would be Recipe For Scandal. The cover really caught my eye, so I eagerly had a look at the synopsis and liked the sound of it. Having a lot of spare time over Christmas I decided to give it a read.
The opening of the book seemed to be very distant. For the first 70 or so pages I didn’t feel anything for the characters and it was written in such a style that I couldn’t learn anything from the characters themselves apart from what I was told. I perservered with the book as it wasn’t bad and I found that as the book wore on, I did feel more for the characters and I did find the plot more interesting. It takes just over 100 pages for the main plot to start so that could be what attributed to my dislike of the beginning of the novel. After Alberta’s father dies, the plot picks up the pace and I found myself really getting into the book.
As I mentioned, it took 100 pages for me to really get into the characters. The only character I remotely liked before Alberta’s dad died was Jacob, Alberta’s precocious son. I found his insights interesting and he was an enjoyable character. It was a pity he disappeared after that, off travelling with his girlfriend. His insights as all of the scandals broke would have made for very interesting reading indeed! Alberta for most part of the book was our main character and the book was mostly narrated from her point of view. It took me a while to really like Alberta, but I did feel so sympathetic for her after her father dies and all of the scandals start coming out. The book is also told from Hannah and Marma’s points of view, Alberta’s daughter and mother respectively and I really liked both Hannah and Marma. A lot of secrets are revealed about Marma, some not so pleasant, but I liked her the entire time. The only other main character was Tony, Alberta’s partner who seemed nice enough.
The scandals in question aren’t so scandalous in this day and age – after all, there are scandals coming out left, right and center about politicians and their dirty little secrets every single day. I can, however, see how they were scandalous to Alberta and her family. Debby Holt’s books are seemingly about well-off-ish families who seem to have an air about them, so Alberta and her family would find the death of Lord Trussler rather scandalous. I also suppose that how scandalous the revelations are depend on your interpretation of the word scandal and how something like Lord Trussler’s death ranks on your scandal scale. Debby’s writing is really quite good. After Lord Trussler dies I was sucked in quite easily and I was eager to see how everything would settle once the scandalous revelations died down. The book was a little slow-paced at times but that wasn’t really a huge problem. It suited the style of the book.
The ending surprised me. I figured it was going to end one way and it ended a completely different way. I think I preferred the ending that happened rather than the ending I thought I wanted, it was quite cleverley done by Debby to make me change my mind about how I wanted the book to end. Recipe For Scandal was a very enjoyable read, and you really should persevere for the first 100 or so pages, however it’s probably one you can only read the once. I don’t think it could be one I’d read again and again. It is well worth a read though!
March 11, 2017
Very well written one of my favourite authors
An an amazing writers very romantic and humerous .never a dull moment a very good cast indeed they fitted like a glovelo
An an amazing writers very romantic and humerous .never a dull moment a very good cast indeed they fitted like a glovelo
May 15, 2017
Very engaging characters, an interesting plot with lots of surprises and it's well-written! Look forward ro reading another book by this author.
August 15, 2017
This is a grown-up romance for real people and I loved it. The writing style takes a bit of getting used to as Holt has a particular liking for reported conversations - whereas I would have preferred to read the conversation directly as it took place. However, once I got used to that style quirk, I really did find this story gripping and very well done. All the characters were well-rounded and fascinating, and the main character, Alberta, is just delightful. There is wit, laughter and drama, all wrapped up in a deeply-felt story about family life. A total pleasure and I will be seeking out more of this author's work.
October 24, 2021
I thought story was very disjointed
Thought there would be a big reveal regarding the dead husband at the end.
I felt there were so many different threads
The teacher at the beginning never really featured again / the author of the book.
The son Jacob headed off to Paris and no mention of him again
The entire will they won’t they with Daniel
I felt they all went nowhere
I listened to the audio book.
Thought there would be a big reveal regarding the dead husband at the end.
I felt there were so many different threads
The teacher at the beginning never really featured again / the author of the book.
The son Jacob headed off to Paris and no mention of him again
The entire will they won’t they with Daniel
I felt they all went nowhere
I listened to the audio book.
February 11, 2024
I loved this. Good plot lines, well-written and I cared about the characters. Lots of situations which I have either found myself in, or could imagine being in. Considering it’s not a short book at nearly 400 pages it kept me interested throughout and I was quite sad to finish it. I would definitely read more by this author.
March 5, 2021
I really enjoyed this from start to finish. Characters that were brilliantly written some to be fond of some not. Just the right balance. Plenty of surprises along the way. Great narration. All in all I thoroughly recommend it.
May 20, 2017
Basically all the way through this book I kept thinking I couldn't be bothered to finish it, but then it was too hard to decide on another book to read, so I ended up finishing it.
May 19, 2018
2.5* Fairly standard but not really terrible stars.
February 10, 2021
Good read
February 14, 2022
This was a perfect read for a cold wintery day. Such fun characters, witty dialogue. I found it thoroughly likeable story.
May 13, 2025
I found this book very hard work. Didn't enjoy the style of writing & the content was dull. Scanned chunks & couldn't wait to finish - & that's a first for me!
September 5, 2025
Well written beautifully described characters. I enjoyed the storytelling.
December 6, 2009
When this book arrived My wife branded it 'chick lit' and I never know if that is good or bad, after all she claims 'Con Air' is a 'chick flick'. She had already read a book by Debby Holt and said she enjoyed it so I settled down to read it.
I was surprised to find myself quickly getting into the story of Alberta and her family and their many varied personalities. Life is ticking along very casually for Alberta and Tony who are living together and have for many years until the sudden death of Alberta's father in strange circumstances. The repercussions of his death continue to grow affecting more and more of her family and an estrangement from Tony. However life goes on and everything ends for the best for everyone in her family.
I have read many books that cover these subjects recently and being somewhat a prude I can end up getting really angry about them, but this book didn't do that to me and I found myself enjoying the story more and more.
It is difficult to conceive of ANYONE taking any offence at any part of this book, although Tony and Daniel do take the mick from people of certain musical tastes (or lack of taste as they see it).
As lighthearted, fairy tale reading it was an excellent book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for something light and fun to read. If you want deep and complex then this isn't the book for you.
I was surprised to find myself quickly getting into the story of Alberta and her family and their many varied personalities. Life is ticking along very casually for Alberta and Tony who are living together and have for many years until the sudden death of Alberta's father in strange circumstances. The repercussions of his death continue to grow affecting more and more of her family and an estrangement from Tony. However life goes on and everything ends for the best for everyone in her family.
I have read many books that cover these subjects recently and being somewhat a prude I can end up getting really angry about them, but this book didn't do that to me and I found myself enjoying the story more and more.
It is difficult to conceive of ANYONE taking any offence at any part of this book, although Tony and Daniel do take the mick from people of certain musical tastes (or lack of taste as they see it).
As lighthearted, fairy tale reading it was an excellent book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for something light and fun to read. If you want deep and complex then this isn't the book for you.
May 15, 2011
Life is gently plodding along for Alberta Granger; living in Bath with her partner, Tony and son, Jacob. The catering business keeps her busy, and the only cloud is the general lack of contact by her high achieving daughter, Hannah.
But Bertie’s world is shattered by the death of her father, the well-known politician, Lord Trussler, in scandalous circumstances. Revelations about her mother, also hit the press and it causes her to question how well she knew the men in her life.
I’ve ready a couple of other books by this author and found them to be easy, light reads. There’s nothing wrong with this one but my main frustration is that nothing happened in the first hundred pages and so I didn’t care when the plot started to move. Generally, the characterisation wasn’t strong enough to make me interested; Alberta is one of the most dull and least self-aware characters I’ve come across for a while and I couldn’t see why she was so interesting to so many people. The tribulations of Hannah’s life were dull and Jacob had the most potential but was quickly shunted off to France (why?!).
The scandal and subsequent “outings” weren’t particularly shocking and although would, understandably create a family crisis, I didn’t find it particularly believable.
But Bertie’s world is shattered by the death of her father, the well-known politician, Lord Trussler, in scandalous circumstances. Revelations about her mother, also hit the press and it causes her to question how well she knew the men in her life.
I’ve ready a couple of other books by this author and found them to be easy, light reads. There’s nothing wrong with this one but my main frustration is that nothing happened in the first hundred pages and so I didn’t care when the plot started to move. Generally, the characterisation wasn’t strong enough to make me interested; Alberta is one of the most dull and least self-aware characters I’ve come across for a while and I couldn’t see why she was so interesting to so many people. The tribulations of Hannah’s life were dull and Jacob had the most potential but was quickly shunted off to France (why?!).
The scandal and subsequent “outings” weren’t particularly shocking and although would, understandably create a family crisis, I didn’t find it particularly believable.
January 1, 2016
I don't read a lot of this sort of thing any more and I certainly don't buy them, but they do turn up in my book club and since 1. I pretty much read everything that comes my way unless it's fantasy or a war book, and 2. It's nice to take a break from violent death, and 3. Reading about other people's relationships always reminds me how lucky I am.
This is typical British chook-lit, although not particularly funny. The title suggests there would be more about food, and the heroine is a caterer, but it's actually about the effects on 3 generations of a family when the ex-politician grandfather dies in scandalous circumstances and long-held secrets surface to change how everyone feels. It felt very predictable but she gained a star for the unexpected and much more satisfying ending, although there were a few characters who could've done with a comeuppance - especially the odious Dylan.
This is typical British chook-lit, although not particularly funny. The title suggests there would be more about food, and the heroine is a caterer, but it's actually about the effects on 3 generations of a family when the ex-politician grandfather dies in scandalous circumstances and long-held secrets surface to change how everyone feels. It felt very predictable but she gained a star for the unexpected and much more satisfying ending, although there were a few characters who could've done with a comeuppance - especially the odious Dylan.
May 30, 2016
This book was enjoyable to read but forgettable afterwards. I had to read the detailed review to remember what it was about and recall the nature of the crisis that kept the drama moving forward. I found it a little disappointing in that I could never fully engage with the main character, and perhaps it was that the personal choices she faced weren't explored deeply enough for my liking. Nevertheless, the story flowed smoothly and kept me hooked till the end, so it must have been suitably entertaining.
August 28, 2013
I have nothing against this book ... it has such a low rating because I just couldn't finish it I struggled to read the first 3 chapters after tht I stopped
.... I'm sure this book is very good But it just wasn't for me I'm so sorry
.... I'm sure this book is very good But it just wasn't for me I'm so sorry
February 19, 2014
A good book. Language seemed a bit too posh for me - I prefer something a bit more laid back which is why I only gave this three stars. Still a great read, full of secrets, strange sex obsessions and overall a very interesting read!!
January 14, 2010
Nice and easy read. Not the best book ever, but entertaining enough to get me through a few baby feedings.
June 15, 2010
A nice light book.
August 6, 2012
I admit it was rather boring at first. The scandal and the revelations were so intriguing.
August 6, 2012
Interesting twists in the plot & unexpected ending
December 7, 2012
excellant quick read
February 16, 2013
Easy to read, but a total snooze fest. Not for me I'm afraid
June 4, 2013
Clever, witty, simple and enjoyable.
Read
July 10, 2014Ehhhhhh. This novel is all-right-ish. Nothing special. Doesn't suck too hard.
I don't really recommend it. There are better things to read.
I don't really recommend it. There are better things to read.
October 3, 2014
I thought this was a suprisingly good read, I liked the writing, the characters' dilemmas and it felt psychologically correct too. The book is deeper and more interesting than the cover suggests.
December 26, 2014
more 2.5
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews