She has wanted to write for as long as she can remember. As a child, she produced reams of stories. Thankfully most of them have been lost over the years, although the ‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes’ did resurface recently! And when not writing, she read voraciously.
Well, this was a very engaging story. It’s told from the points of view of several characters and I must admit that it did take me a while to get my head around who was who at first. However, once I had the characters established in my mind, I was engrossed in the story.
Anni lives in Wiltshire with her husband, her sister, two dogs, a cat and a grey speckled hen. She has had a number of short stories published in various magazines and her work also appears in a number of anthologies.
At the same time, Jess’s best friends and work colleagues, Maggie and Sarah, are going through their own personal disasters – from shocking family revelations to dodgy dating app-related drama.
Recipe for Mr Perfect is a really uplifting read, one that will have you smiling warmly on more than one occasion and cheering the main characters on. There’s plenty drama, quite a few thought-provoking scenes and lots of emotion. The love lives of the three characters prove that there’s not just one Recipe for Mr Perfect. With a dash of humour, a pinch of hope and a healthy dollop of romance, Anni Rose has cooked up a delectable story!
About the book
Anni Rose took part in my Author Spotlight earlier this year, chatting about her debut novel Recipe for Mr Right. You can read that here. I didn’t have time to read that book but I’m pleased to say that I have a review for her latest book, Recipe for Mr Perfect which is published by ChocLit today. It’s a bumper post as I also have #TenThings that Anni Rose would like her readers to know about her.
- I’ve never watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang all the way through – I can’t get past the child catcher scene. And until I went to Sing-along-a-Sound of Music, I’d never seen Sound of Music all the way through either. Similar problem, but only got as far as them hiding in the convent this time.
- I love fish fingers sandwiches provided they are served with both butter and tartare sauce.
- All my school friends used to have pictures of popstars or boy bands on their wall. I had a picture of Johnny Saint, the wrestler, on mine.
- I used to love the Bay City Rollers, but the first concert I ever heard “live” was Thin Lizzy. I say “heard” because I was too young to go in, and so a group of us sat outside our local Sports Centre listening and sang along to “The Boys are Back in Town”.
- I thought I had traced my family tree back to the sixteenth century, and then with a small gap, back to the fourteenth. One of my ancestors was the first person to bequeath a copy of the Canterbury Tales back in 1420. I say “thought” because having recently done a DNA test for ethnicity and genealogy I am apparently almost a quarter Scottish, which is practically a whole grandparent full. I still haven’t found a Scottish connection
- My mother once told me I make the worst tea in the world. Thankfully she seems to be the only one who thought this, unless everyone else is being far too polite to mention it, but as a tea drinker, I think I get it pretty much spot on every time, although I do prefer tea made in a teapot and can’t stand Earl Grey.
- Talking of dislikes – mashed potatoes. If it was you and me and a pile of mashed potatoes on an island, I would have to eat you, before I even considered taking a mouthful of mashed potato.
- I have two dogs, a cat and a chicken and until fairly recently a horse was part of the family too.
- I am the only person my music teacher taught, who he claimed was “tone deaf”.
- My next car, who knows, but just let’s say I have my eye on the Morgan Plus Four CX-T. All contributions welcome.
These days, she writes modern day romances with – spoiler alert – a happy ending and a healthy dollop of humour thrown in.
Away from writing, Anni can usually be found behind a camera, walking her dogs, enjoying her husband’s curries or one of her sister’s bakery treats.
Jess is the main character. She’s an accountant and good friends with Sarah and Maggie who work in the same company. All three have quite a lot going on in their lives from love life disasters, to bereavement, to family revelations. Plus there’s the intrigue of some rather underhand company dealings going on which will affect them all. Neil comes into Jess’s life at a wedding and the two hit it off immediately, but there is plenty which make their path to happiness look very unlikely.
Work might have got in the way for a while, but writing was a love that never died and she loves it as much now as she did back then.
#TenThings You Never Knew about Anni Rose
My thanks to Liz at ChocLit for sending me a digital version of the book to review.
Buying Link: Recipe for Mr Right
How do you know if you’ve found Mr Perfect or Mr Perfectly Useless?
My thoughts about the book
About the Author
Jess Willersey realised things with Martin weren’t perfect, but it’s still a shock when he leaves. Is she destined to a singleton lifestyle with only her cat for company, or could a certain hat-astrophic encounter with a handsome stranger at a rather unusual wedding signal a turning point?
It’s not that all of the women are looking for Mr Perfect but as is often the way, Mr Perfect turns up when you are least expecting him and that was a pleasure to read about. I think for me, Maggie’s romance was perhaps the most touching simply because of the circumstances it happens in. Friendship and support between female characters is something I always enjoy in a novel and with three strong women at the heart of the story, I certainly found plenty of that to enjoy in this book.
To top it all off, it seems that the handsome stranger won’t remain a stranger – and when Neil Jackson turns up at the friends’ offices with yet another bombshell, how long will he stay ‘Mr Perfect’ in Jess’s eyes?
