Tout Sweet
In her mid-thirties Karen has it all: a career as a fashion editor, a handsome boyfriend, a fab flat in west London and an array of gorgeous shoes. But when her 'plus one' leaves, she wonders if there is more to life than high fashion. So, she hangs up her Manolos and waves goodbye to her city lifestyle, deciding to go it alone in a run-down house in rural Poitou-Charentes...more
Published
(first published August 1st 2011)
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Karen Wheeler decided to chuck in the superficial world of fashion journalism to move to rural France and indeed the beginning of the book is pretty good. Like most people I have wondered if life in rural France would be enjoyable. Wheeler tells it warts and all and it does seem to have some high points mainly the chocolate croissants and hunky local baker.
The problem is Wheeler still works as a fashion journalism when she lives in France so it seems like she cannot cut the umbilical cord to he...more
The problem is Wheeler still works as a fashion journalism when she lives in France so it seems like she cannot cut the umbilical cord to he...more
Wouldn't it be wonderful to just chuck it all? The 60 hour work week, the hustle, the bustle? Go live a simpler life out in the country?
Hmmm, this sounds familiar....
But instead of leaving NJ to go live on a goat farm in Montana Karen Wheeler leaves the fast paced life of London to renovate an old house in the countryside of France. I would love that...somewhere, lost in my addled brain is fluent French. *sigh* But the hubby...as I said, *sigh*. But back to the book.
I did enjoy this memoir of Ms...more
Hmmm, this sounds familiar....
But instead of leaving NJ to go live on a goat farm in Montana Karen Wheeler leaves the fast paced life of London to renovate an old house in the countryside of France. I would love that...somewhere, lost in my addled brain is fluent French. *sigh* But the hubby...as I said, *sigh*. But back to the book.
I did enjoy this memoir of Ms...more
This book is basically "Under the Tuscan Sun" written as chick lit (which by the way, would have made UtTS much better). It's light, but not fluffy, the author is definitely getting to know herself, and it's an interesting story to read (unlike UtTS, which had potential to be interesting to read, but instead was basically a boring documentary - a chronicle, if you will, with no story. While I'm on this tangent, and for anyone actually reading this who likes that type of story, read Extra Virgin...more
After my trip to France this past summer, there isn't much about this book and cover that doesn't appeal to me. There is that certain passion for life in all of its facets that one can readily recognize in the French, and something that is very romantic--on the surface. Don't get me wrong, it is very romantic, but Karen Wheeler's memoir reminds us that there are drafty, run-down homes to be fixed, bug bites to cure (with nary a 24-hour drugstore in sight), and a lack of eligible bachelors to be...more
drey’s thoughts:
Tout Sweet appealed to me because Karen did something I’ve always dreamed about–picking up and moving to France. Or Italy–I’d move to Italy, too. I can’t imagine buying a house on a whim, or having no kitchen floor, but love the idea of everything within walking distance, friends across the way, and learning French. Of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that in real life! *grin*
The people Karen meets are a hoot to read about, but I don’t know that I’d have had the patience...more
Tout Sweet appealed to me because Karen did something I’ve always dreamed about–picking up and moving to France. Or Italy–I’d move to Italy, too. I can’t imagine buying a house on a whim, or having no kitchen floor, but love the idea of everything within walking distance, friends across the way, and learning French. Of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that in real life! *grin*
The people Karen meets are a hoot to read about, but I don’t know that I’d have had the patience...more
Aug 09, 2011
Chelleyreads (Michelle&Leslie's Book Picks)
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
z2011-review
Tout Sweet: Hanging Up My High Heels for a New Life in France is a memoir written in an entertaining chick-lit style that I really like. Who doesn't wish they could just quit their nine-to-five job and live the simple life in an idyllic, peaceful European countryside. I certainly have and it was fun living vicariously through Karen Wheeler.
Though I enjoyed her recounting all her misadventures in renovating her house Maison Coquelicot ("house of the wild poppy")--which made me think that if a Man...more
Though I enjoyed her recounting all her misadventures in renovating her house Maison Coquelicot ("house of the wild poppy")--which made me think that if a Man...more
The best part about this book is the dilapidated old house in the French countryside that Karen restored all on her own. I have done the same thing myself but here in the states and not in Europe. As a single woman it is very satisfying knowing that I could take on such a huge project like that. There are couples who would run from it, but I did it. It took me longer than a year though to restore my brownstone.
In the year that it took Karen to restore the house she grew so much. I am very proud...more
In the year that it took Karen to restore the house she grew so much. I am very proud...more
quickie review before full-length one:
PRO:
- rural France lovely to read and daydream about
- protagonist gives candid picture about vulnerabilities and flaws, not an 'airbrushed' picture painting herself all in areas of confidence and strength
- just enough French language snippets included to add flavor and make me with my high school level feel to comprehend
- Story ends on a note where reader is satsified with level of success the author's experiment has achieved, and is happy for and with her...more
PRO:
- rural France lovely to read and daydream about
- protagonist gives candid picture about vulnerabilities and flaws, not an 'airbrushed' picture painting herself all in areas of confidence and strength
- just enough French language snippets included to add flavor and make me with my high school level feel to comprehend
- Story ends on a note where reader is satsified with level of success the author's experiment has achieved, and is happy for and with her...more
En la contraportada lo describen como una agradable lectura de verano, as�� que haberlo le��do en febrero en Londres igual no es buena idea. Lo saqu�� de la biblioteca por su bonita portada y porque me gustan los libros en los que alguien decide acabar con su vida anterior y empezar una nueva. El problema es que la protagonista desde el principio me pareci�� rematadamente tonta y claro, leer un libro sin dejar de pensar lo tonta que es la protagonista no es la mejor postura.
Es un libro simple de...more
Es un libro simple de...more
Tout Sweet (Hanging Up My High Heels for a New Life in France) is a novel by Karen Wheeler from SourceBooks.
Book Blurb:
Thirtysomething fashion editor Karen has it all: a handsome boyfriend, a fabulous flat in west London, and an array of gorgeous shoes. But when her boyfriend leaves, she makes an unexpected decision: to hang up her Manolos and wave good-bye to her glamorous city lifestyle to go it alone in a run-down house in rural Poitou-Charentes, central western France.
Acquiring a host of new...more
Book Blurb:
Thirtysomething fashion editor Karen has it all: a handsome boyfriend, a fabulous flat in west London, and an array of gorgeous shoes. But when her boyfriend leaves, she makes an unexpected decision: to hang up her Manolos and wave good-bye to her glamorous city lifestyle to go it alone in a run-down house in rural Poitou-Charentes, central western France.
Acquiring a host of new...more
This was a fun book to read. These stories of women moving to France to renovate an old house in the country, open a bakery, or just start a job in Paris, I love them all. This one is pretty well written, altho sometimes the Brit ex-pat parties and the men letting her down, one afer another, stretch kind of thin. The parts where she explores on her own and about renovating her house are really interesting.
I do like her pluck...............well, this isn't working, so lets soldier on and try some...more
I do like her pluck...............well, this isn't working, so lets soldier on and try some...more
Tout Sweet is the story of Karen Wheeler, a rather high-end fashion journalist in London, who decides to pack her entire life up and leave the city to move to a rural village in France and renovate an old farmhouse. The decision is sparked by two things – the devastating end of her latest relationship and an increasing sense of ennui and disillusionment with her fashion-girl life and its obsessive focus on accumulating things. As you would expect, the story runs the emotional gamut – it alternat...more
I recently went on vacation out to the East Coast of Canada. I fell in love with the relaxed pace, the people and the scenery. I found myself looking around and thinking..." Hmm I could buy a little house and retire out here." Well Karen Wheeler took it a step farther. She bought a run down house in France on a whim and said good bye to England.
Tout Sweet is the story of her journey to change and simplify her life.
"To be honest, my life in London had started to seem very empty. I had wardrobe...more
Tout Sweet is the story of her journey to change and simplify her life.
"To be honest, my life in London had started to seem very empty. I had wardrobe...more
Tout Sweet: Hanging Up My High Heels for a New Life in France is a fun, light, and interesting memoir where Karen Wheeler shares her experiences after she leaves her hectic London life behind and moves to rural France.
After a bad breakup, the thirty five year old successful fashion editor decides she needs to leave it all behind her. Karen lived a glamorous lifestyle, complete with her nice London flat, invites to fancy cocktail parties, jet setting off to fashion shoots and a closet full of de...more
After a bad breakup, the thirty five year old successful fashion editor decides she needs to leave it all behind her. Karen lived a glamorous lifestyle, complete with her nice London flat, invites to fancy cocktail parties, jet setting off to fashion shoots and a closet full of de...more
Having recently come into a job that comes with a BlackBerry and loving France, Tout Sweet interested me immediately. Like Wheeler’s friends, I wished I could buy a house to renovate in France. I kept up with the pacing and found the story interesting enough to keep turning to the next chapter. As a bit of light summer reading, Wheeler’s foray into creative writing fit the bill perfectly. I did find that it read more like a novel than a memoir, which either speaks to Wheeler’s writing versatilit...more
Aug 08, 2011
Kathleen Kelly
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
finished,
sourcebooks
I am not a Francophile as I prefer to read or visit Ireland, but I found Tout Sweet by Karen Wheeler to be a very enjoyable read. I was not sure what to expect when I started the book. A lot of authors that write memoirs tend to get a bit wordy in their descriptions of their subject matter. Not this one, a very readable story, if I didn't know better I would have thought I was reading a novel. Tout Sweet tells Karen Wheeler's story as she quits her highly paid and successful job as a fashion re...more
Aug 17, 2011
Diana Leigh
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
memoir
Tout Sweet: Hanging Up My High Heels for a New Life in France is Karen Wheeler's memoir about giving up city life in London for the French countryside. For many years, Karen had a successful career as a fashion editor. At 35, she had a glamorous life and the perfect man - Eric. But, when talk between them turned to marriage, Eric bolted.
So, a heartbroken Karen decides to give up it all up and move to a small village in France. She buys a house in serious need of renovations. (No indoor bathroom!...more
So, a heartbroken Karen decides to give up it all up and move to a small village in France. She buys a house in serious need of renovations. (No indoor bathroom!...more
I absolutely love books/memoirs of people who leave their high stress life behind for a new life in the country and/or a new country, so Tout Sweet was a perfect literary fit for me.
Francophiles will be in absolute heaven, reading author Karen Wheeler's tale of finding an old and neglected maison and painstakingly restoring it beyond its original glory, while also struggling to find a social life in a rural village and fit in.
I liked Karen and her style of writing immediately. Karen is the Brit...more
Francophiles will be in absolute heaven, reading author Karen Wheeler's tale of finding an old and neglected maison and painstakingly restoring it beyond its original glory, while also struggling to find a social life in a rural village and fit in.
I liked Karen and her style of writing immediately. Karen is the Brit...more
2.5 out of 5 rating
This book was a memoir, and it read like one. I felt like I was submersed in the author's new life in France. Unfortunately, it didn't interest me as much as I thought it would. I didn't really care about the remodeling of the house and the friends Karen made just didn't do anything for me. I wish there had been more about France itself.
I do have to say that I though Karen was so brave to just up and move and leave the life she'd always known. And she had awful luck with guys...more
This book was a memoir, and it read like one. I felt like I was submersed in the author's new life in France. Unfortunately, it didn't interest me as much as I thought it would. I didn't really care about the remodeling of the house and the friends Karen made just didn't do anything for me. I wish there had been more about France itself.
I do have to say that I though Karen was so brave to just up and move and leave the life she'd always known. And she had awful luck with guys...more
For me, a book full of Post-It flags is typically the sign of a great read. Unfortunately, this was not the case with Tout Sweet. I read it in bits and pieces over the course of two weeks and enjoyed it well enough, but it’s not one that I’m singing praises of. There was just something missing that kept it from becoming a hit.
Read my complete review here.
Read my complete review here.
Light-hearted read, not nearly as pompous, arrogant, or frou-frou as other authors' chronicles of becoming an expat in rural France.
Journalist leaves behind posh city life in favor of telecommuting from her French Countryside home. Naturally, bumps occur along the road, construction is expensive, contractors are inept, decorators are slow, and romance is scarce. But friends, food, wine, and a puppy help take the edge off.
Journalist leaves behind posh city life in favor of telecommuting from her French Countryside home. Naturally, bumps occur along the road, construction is expensive, contractors are inept, decorators are slow, and romance is scarce. But friends, food, wine, and a puppy help take the edge off.
First thoughts after finishing: "Where can I sign up to do exactly what Karen did????"
This book had me at the summary alone. Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity for a fresh, new start in a romantic country? I loved Karen's straightforward writing and her humor made me chuckle more than once. I think that renovating an old house in the countryside of France would be wonderful and probably exasperating experience, but I would certainly be game to do it. I've been reading her blog, Tout Sweet off...more
I’d have been sad if I’d bought rather than been given this little memoir of a woman’s decision to ditch her life as an editor for a high fashion magazine in London and head off for a new life in a rural village in France. It was still a big waste of three hours; I’d have rather spent the time clipping my toenails and washing my windows. Such a promising cover, too, with a woman in flipflops carrying a big wicker tote with loaves of fresh bread and purple lavender sticking out. But, no, the book...more
What girl doesn't dream of picking up and moving to a quaint village in France? I know this has been a dream of mine for more years than I can count. Karen Wheeler's Tout Sweet describes the dream come to life but it isn't all sunshine and daisies. Wheeler has to overcome the ghosts of her past in an attempt to make way for new dreams and finding the happiness she so desperately seeks. She is challenged from day one by feelings of uncertainty, building relationships and friendships from scratch...more
Loved this book. Karen Wheeler makes her move to France seem much easier than it must have been. She does describe the challenges of fixing up an old house, but it is so interspersed with stories about the social life that it seems more romantic than back breaking difficult. She makes me want to move to France myself. I am looking forward to reading the sequels...
I realized after finishing the book that I realized my enjoyment of the story actually paralleled Karen's experience. I was enamored by the story at the start - much like her excitement and enthusiasm at the thought of leaving city living for the romantic thought of the quaint French countryside. I sort of fell out of "like" with the book for a while in the middle - which I can only imagine is what it is like to labor over restoration of a house like hers over the course of the year. You start t...more
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“But you have to remember...that you can't run from unhappiness. You just take it with you.”
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Jan 29, 2012 10:29pm