The Sweetest Taboo [Import] [Hardcover]

Carole Matthews (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (August 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747269750
• ISBN-13: 978-0747269755
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,938,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carole Matthews is an internationally bestselling author of hugely successful romantic comedy novels. Her unique sense of humour has won her legions of fans and critical acclaim all over the world.

As well as appearing on the Sunday Times and USA Today bestseller lists, Carole is published in 24 different countries. Her novel Welcome To The Real World was shortlisted for the RNA romantic novel of the year award.

In the USA, the hilarious For Better, For Worse was selected by one of America's top TV book clubs - Reading with Ripa on LIVE with Regis and Kelly - as their book of the month. As a result it went straight into the USA Today and New York Times Extended bestseller lists.

Carole co-edited two editions of the hugely popular Girls' Night In charity series called Girls' Night Out - one for the USA and one for Canada. All proceeds go to War Child. She has recently contributed a story to an anthology for the Romantic Novelists' Association, Loves Me, Loves Me Not. Carole has presented on television and is a regular radio guest.

Born in St Helens, Merseyside, Carole has always been an avid reader and dreamed of being a teacher, an air traffic controller, a travel guide or a hairdresser - writer never featured once. Leaving Liverpool for London after a torrid holiday romance in Torquay, she worked as a secretary, an ice-cream lady, a shop assistant and a beauty therapist. It was when she was working in a completely mad holistic clinic that she first thought 'one day I should write a book about this.' She still hasn't got round to it.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So so, November 28, 2006

By 

Nikkie (Toledo, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sweetest Taboo (Paperback)

This is an okay book. Written in both first and third person. It was an easy read with extremely short chapters. Plot was okay at best.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some things are better left unsaid, or rewritten, August 10, 2004

By 

Christine Louise Hohlbaum "award-winning auth... (near Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sweetest Taboo (Paperback)

The Sweetest Taboo by Carole Matthews is a mild roller coaster ride with a few predictable twists and turns for the reader to digest. While her plot line sustained my interest for most of the book, Ms. Matthews made the mistake of telling, not showing her readers how great her protagonist, Sadie, really was. Her slapstick antics made her character flat, not warm or someone to which readers could truly relate. We got beaten over the head with how poor Sadie was and we were to fall in love with her for her simple, uncomplicated personality. She seemed more a fool than a lover throughout the entire book.

Ms. Matthews wrote the book as if it were a screenplay. She found the right topic, just the wrong medium to convey her story. I can easily imagine Greg Kinnear as the quirky, I-must-act-or die waiter, Tavis; Mini Driver as the bumbling Sadie; Bruce Willis as the well-meaning, yet sorely misguided Gil; and Goldie Hawn as the luscious lush, Gina. I wish Carole Matthews well in her pursuits. It seems she has Hollywood pegged to a tee.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting twist on a trans-atlantic love triangle, December 12, 2005

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sweetest Taboo (Paperback)

At 32, Sadie is still experiencing the angst of a revolving door of bad jobs. She currently hands out leaflets at a London book fair, and runs into Gil, a Hollywood producer. The two hit it off, and after talking on the phone for a couple weeks (during which she has had several more "jobs"), he offers to send her an open-ended airplane ticket so that they can get better acquainted and see if this relationship is worth pursuing. She is in a dead end job, has no real ties, and so figures what the heck.

Faster than you can say "mush," she has arrived in LA, and Gil is no where to be found. At least not at the airport... he is too busy rescuing his alcoholic / drug addicted / philandering wife (from whom he has been separated for two years since she ran away with the pool boy). When Sadie discovers that not only is Gil still married, but he caters to his ex-wife's every need (and said wife plans to stay with him indefinitely), Sadie finds other living arrangements. A series of mishaps, miscommunication, and machinations on the part of his ex, Gina complicates the unconsummated relationship, while Gil tries to make it up to Sadie by buying her expensive gifts.

Meanwhile, Sadie has started a job at a talent agency specializing in body doubles. There she works with up and coming actor Tavis, and after spending extra-curricular time with him and his gay roommate, assumes they are a couple (and Tavis makes no effort to steer her into a different conclusion). After helping him with a scene from "Romeo & Juliet," she starts to feel a little more than friendship for him, especially after some racy kisses make her pulse to race, but he takes the time to assure her that it was acting, and they can never be more than friends. Her friendship with Tavis has Gil jealous. But does he really have a right or a reason?

Matthews does a good job working with an interesting premise, though Sadie seemed a bit whiny and hard to like at times (and lets face it, good things fell into her lap with no effort a bit too often). At some point, the reader says UNCLE. How many times can Gil disappoint Sadie and expert her to turn the other cheek? She does a good job of adding tension and making the reader wonder what path Sadie will choose.