White Lies and Wishes

by Cathy Bramley

[Leah]

Cathy Bramley is one of my favourite authors and it’s a pain in the backside to have to wait every year to read her new novel, because first they come out in parts and I can’t be doing with that. I rather like my books in one go, but Cathy is definitely worth the wait and I adored Wickham Hall. So I was very excited to be invited to take part in the blog tour for White Lies and Wishes, her first book with Transworld to be published without being a serial first (except for her debut Conditional Love).

I really liked White Lies and Wishes, it was a quick, light read and it didn’t take me long to complete at all and I loved the idea of making a wish list and sticking to it, because boy am I bad at sticking to things I say I’ll do. I’m easily distracted, see. I think it also helps when you have friends spurring you on, in the case of Carrie, Jo and Sarah. I liked how different they all were, but how they were willing to come together just to make this wishlist happen and how it blossomed into friendship. If only it were that easy in real life…

I thought I would relate to Carrie the most, since we both seem to struggle with our weight, but by God, I wanted to smash her face in. She was so down on herself all the time, and it drove me to distraction and the endless excuses! Dieting being a full time job, and how good it was she *didn’t* have a job, I could talk forever about that, but what I will say is that it must be nice when all you have to worry about in life IS your diet. I also hoped Carrie’s story would be one where she struggles to lose the weight, but no. A hypnotherapist was all it took. I long, absolutely long, for a real weight loss story, be it in magazines or books, because the way it’s always portrayed is that you just throw out all the unhealthy stuff, make meals from scratch and boom! the weight just falls off (and it literally falls off, apparently). When in reality, you still have to deal with cravings, failing, picking yourself back up, because it really isn’t just a case of stopping eating junk (if only it were that easy), or seeing a hypnotherapist. Or I could just be the exception, I could be the only one who struggles? But I couldn’t relate to Carrie at all, which made me sad.

Instead it was feisty Jo and new mum Sarah who I related to. Jo especially, because let me tell you, being a business owner is hard bloody work and I could absolutely see where she was coming from as she tried to get Golds back in business, to try and stop it from failing. And Sarah, who is struggling with new mum going back to work guilt. All these ladies were so different which made their friendship that much better.

I really enjoyed White Lies and Wishes, Cathy Bramley is a fantastic storyteller and this was a wonderful read. Yes, I had some slight issues, but that’s always the way it is, apart from the slight hiccups, because they were personal to me issues rather than actual issues with the book itself, this was a fantastic read. Cathy just seems to get better with all of her books and I’m enjoying reading her books so, so much as she’s quickly become a favourite author of mine.