Anyone for Seconds?

by Laurie Graham

'Why is Laurie Graham not carried on people's shoulders through cheering crowds? Her books are brilliant!' MARIAN KEYES

The laugh-out-loud sequel to Perfect Meringues - can former queen of the kitchen Lizzie Partridge claw her way back into the nation's hearts?

Life has been going downhill for ex-TV chef Lizzie Partridge ever since she spectacularly ended her television career by throwing a chocolate mousse at the host of Midlands This Morning. Her partner Tom has left her, Nigella and Jamie have got the cookery world sewn up, and now her restaurant reviewing column - her last bit of work - has been cancelled. Surely the only way is up from here?

In a desperate bid for sympathy and attention she runs away, from the gas bill and the mouse under the sink, and in wet and wintry Aberystwyth she experiences a brush with her past and a glimmer of new prospects. And when her nephew - now a TV producer - has the bright idea to reunite her with her former nemesis and target of the mousse attack in a new show, it seems like things could be going Lizzie's way again after all!

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction

263 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 23, 2018

About the author

Laurie Graham was first published at the advanced age of 40. Gentle comedy is her style. She is the author of seventeen novels, including the best-selling The Future Homemakers of America and its sequel, The Early Birds

Mother of four, grandmother of many, Laurie is married to a New Yorker and lives in County Dublin, Ireland.

You can visit her website, read what she's up to and say hello at http://lauriegraham.com

Reviews

[Donna Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...

This is the first book that I have read by this author and I loved it!

It is a lovely story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It has some great characters and I loved reading about them, I read the book in an afternoon and it was a delight to be able to sit down and read it and take a break and escape from the day to day norm for me.

This book is a sequel to “Perfect Meringues” but I read it as a stand alone and I didn’t feel that I missed out, but after reading this one I have downloaded a copy of the first book as I loved the characters and writing style so much!

Four stars from me for this one, very enjoyable and highly recommended!!

[Agi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lizzie Partridge used to be a chef on a morning TV show but, after a very spectacular grande finale, she was replaced. But Lizzie usually never gives up and keeps going. However, we meet her when she hits a low point after being fired from a magazine that she writes recipes for. Feeling low and taken for granted, she decides to go missing to see how long will it take before her friends and family start to look for her. She maybe hasn't been successful in this matter but during her short break she meets new people and some changes are to come. She might be 64 year old, she might be jobless and a little overweight, she might be single and her mother might rely only on her brother, but Lizzie is determined to achieve something in her life.

And I though, go girl! Show them!

Where has Laurie Graham been hiding my whole life, I'm asking myself guys. This book was so right up to my street, and the author has written loads of books and I am really, really surprised that I haven't heard about her before - my bad. I should go and hide under a rock. Although, at the beginning, I was dead sure that I've read this author before, heck, that I've read the first book about Lizzie as it came so familiar to me. But no. I haven't - although I've read a book very similar in plot. But not so good! And yes, "Anyone for Seconds?" follows adventures of Lizzie Partridge, a woman with the sharpest tongue ever and the best one - liners and replies and thinking on her feet I've seen in a very, very long time. I haven't read the previous book but I didn't have any problems to just pick up and go on.

Lizzie was a fabulous character. She was strong and determined, she complained, she was unhappy, she was an attention - seeker, she was also a drama queen, but she was so normal in all of this, so true and honest. I loved her dry humour and the way she's seen the world and things - not only good things but she could be cynical as well. She's seen things just as they were. Her habit of creating newspaper headlines out of things people did around her was simply great. All the characters were hilarious, but in a good way. They were impressively described and very well rounded and it was so easy to see what make them tick. They were all so different but every single one has a great and huge personality.

It was a really funny read with some much more serious and poignant moments that were so well balanced into the story. In a very amusing way we were able to experience all of the ups and downs in Lizzie's life, the good and bad that happened to her and guys, it was impossible not to fell for Lizzie - immediately. Laurie Graham's writing style is unbelievably sharp and she takes no prisoners, she has a great comic timing, and she always knows when to add a word or two to either break the ice or make the scene even more hilarious - not everybody can do this as effortlessly as Ms Graham. I actually had a great feeling about this book and well, it worked out. There was a great feel - good factor to it and even though our main character is older than our usual heroines, I still could relate to her on many levels and I think we just share the same sense of humour. It is this kind of book that the more you read, the more you want and I was really disappointed when the novel came to an end.

Altogether, "Anyone for Seconds?" was one of the sharpest, incredibly spot - on observed novels that I had a pleasure to read, guys. Story about new and old love, about friendship and family relationship, but also about never giving up, about living your life to the full and watching fur conventions and your best friend in a panto. It was refreshingly honest, it made me bitterly laugh at the realistic and brutally honest observations and now when I've discovered Laurie Graham, I'm going to go through the whole back - catalogue of her books - I really don't know why she doesn't receive more of the deserved recognition, guys. Highly recommended!

Copy provided by the publisher in return for an honest review.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I would like to thank NetGalley and Quercus books for my copy in exchange for an honest review.**

'Entirely original, this makes us laugh a lot and take a long look at our lives. I absolutely adored it!' KATIE FFORDE

Just desserts and second chances…
 
The laugh-out-loud sequel to Perfect Meringues - can former queen of the TV cooks Lizzie Partridge claw her way back into the nation's hearts? For fans of Dawn French, Jenny Eclair and Cathy Hopkins.

I haven't read the previous book, Perfect Meringues, or any other books by this author. The plot from the first in this series was easy to pick up & this book could still be read as a stand alone. The main characters in the books I usually read are a lot younger than Lizzie Partridge but she was a faboulous, relatable character.

Although the book is mainly humourous, it also deals with some more serious issues too. Lizzie and the other characters experience many ups and downs throughout the book which the readers can emphasise with.

Highly recommended but I thought the ending was very abrupt and I just wanted that little bit more.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.

I haven't read the previous book but this seemed easy to pick up. Lizzie Partridge was a TV chef on a morning TV show, when she was replaced by a one-trick pony chef who was sleeping with the producer she may have had a spectacular final show ... At the time she was too busy with her new romance to seriously look for more work and since then she has bumbled along quite happily, then her relationship with Tom broke down and so we see Lizzie at the start of the book, alone and jobless. Her mother relies on her brother and doesn't need Lizzie, her daughter Ellie has her career and her son to keep her occupied. Lizzie has never felt more alone. Sixty-four years old, overweight, jobless and surplus to everyone's requirements.

Lizzie decides the easiest thing to do is run away, she thinks that her friends and family will discover she's missing and the next thing it will be the front page of the tabloids - British celebrity TV chef goes missing, a bit like when Agatha Christie disappeared. Not having thought things through before running away, Lizzie doesn't have her passport so instead of a week in Spain she gets on a train to Aberystwyth and spends the week talking to soil conventioneers and furries.

I could totally see this as a Sunday night TV series, maybe featuring Dawn French (I know she's not that old), on Sky One or ITV. It wasn't laugh out loud funny but it was humorous, Lizzie has a dry wit and a habit of creating newspaper headlines from the things people do and say around her. I could empathise with the politics of parents and siblings and children and organising Christmas in October and trying to please everyone all the time and ending up with everyone hating it.

New love, new career prospects, babysitting her grandson, trying to connect with her mother, watching her BFF in panto, this was a fun read, with some serious moments and some poignant ones too - when Lizzie's father used to say he went to war and lived to tell the tale but as Lizzie recalls he never told any tales of that time - that really struck a chord with me. Overall I enjoyed it but I thought the ending was a bit abrupt.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Bumped for release.

[Elizabeth Ducie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone For Seconds? By Laurie Graham

Lizzie Partridge, former TV cook, is having a bad time. Her live-in lover has left her for another woman; her daughter resists all her attempts to play the role of typical grandmother; and her own mother disapproves of her life choices and continually compares her to her brother - and finds her wanting. How can life get any worse? Well, she loses her restaurant review column; and she may have a mouse in her kitchen. All in all, it’s a life worth running away from; so she does. But life has a habit of catching up. And suddenly, a number of interesting opportunities appear on the horizon.

I was initially a tad disappointed by this story. There was far less cooking than I expected. In fact we were on page 170 before Lizzie did anything remotely chef-like. (Although I did love the title of the cookery book she pitched to Izzard Sykes.) But that was more than compensated for by the setting of the story in the Midlands, rather than the more usual south-east. As a Brummie myself, it was wonderful to read about the traffic in Paradise Circus (been there, done that); and the regenerated inner-city place where ‘you only went…if you needed to catch a long-distance coach (very definitely been there). Plus continual references to Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, and Rackhams; it all made me feel right at home.

But the greatest delight for me was the age of the main characters. Lizzie is in her mid-sixties; her erstwhile lover, Tom, is in his seventies. There is a wide range of age groups represented from toddler Noah, a budding genius who colludes with his grandma to break to ‘no chocolate’ rule to Lizzie’s mother Muriel, who is in her nineties and reveling in watching all her friends heading off to the cemetery before her. But the main characters have all reached a level of maturity, at least in terms of age, if not in terms of behaviour, and that is so refreshing.

This is the first book I have read by Laurie Graham, but it certainly won’t be my last. A fun, easy read; perfect for relaxing in the garden or on the beach. Highly recommended.

[Angela]

The worst book ever, instantly forgettable. No substance to story.

[Caroline Kerdouci · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of Laurie Graham’s novels and thoroughly enjoyed all of them, this is no exception. We get to meet Lizzie Partridge again, a former TV chef seemingly down on her luck. With no job, a failed relationship, an elderly mother, a brother she hates and a daughter who is impossible to contact unless via email, Lizzie is definitely feeling unloved and past her sell by date. A decision to run away to Aberystwyth for a week, an experiment to see if anyone will actually miss her, Lizzie has a chance encounter with someone from her past and has lots of amusing capers along the way. I love Lizzie’s character, her ‘grumpy old woman’ way of speaking her mind. The world of showbiz and minor celebrities come under scrutiny in a hilarious way as does her poking fun at the modern way of parenting (ie absolutely no sugar intake, mandarin lessons at two years old etc). This is a delightful, funny, easy to read novel that will brighten up anyone’s day. Definitely recommend.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read from this author. This is like a chick lit book for the over 60s, but wittier. It's good to see something being written for us older women.

[Verity W · Rating 5 out of 5]

***Copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review****

Laurie Graham has long been one of my favourite authors, and although I was somewhat sceptical about the idea of a sequel to Perfect Meringues, it turns out it was just what I wanted - funny, well observed and incredibly readable.

Lizzie Partridge used to be a TV chef on local TV. Then there was that incident with the chocolate mousse and suddenly she's the wrong side of 60 and her last cookery gig (a magazine column) has been cancelled. She decides to run away in a desperate bid for attention, but nobody notices that she's gone although she spends a week in off-season Aberystwyth. But while she's there she starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel and then her nephew's girlfriend has the bright idea of reuniting her with her former local TV nemesis for a new TV show and life really does seem like it might be going her way again.

Lizzie's inner voice is pure Graham - funny, dark, sarcastic and with an observant eye on others, but not as much self-awareness as she thinks she has.  I could have read pages more of the exploits her exploits and there are definitely a few things left not as resolved as I could have wanted.  There aren't enough books with leading ladies who are over 60, and Lizzie is definitely not a fading old lady in a twinset and pearls. She's spunky and fun and not done with life and love yet - and she hasn't got a bank balance to sit back and retire anyway.

Perfect to cure your end of summer blues.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit from the title I wouldn't have chosen this book and that would have been a great shame as I really enjoyed it. I suppose because the lead character was around my age I could relate to her easily and I liked her cynical take on life.

It follows the adventures of Lizzie Partridge who used to be a TV chef but after a spectacular altercation on air she was unceremoniously dumped and replaced by a younger model. Licking her wounds Lizzie decides no one would miss her if she disappears (secretly hoping it wont take long for her family and friends to miss her) she goes to Aberystwyth and has a little adventure.

I liked Lizzy, funny, sarcastic, over weight, jobless, single, quick witted and great one liners she is a survivor and someone who anyone would like as a good friend.

I won't re-tell the story, it's such a good read you need to read it yourself. Funny and poignant at times with good secondary characters that fitted with her so well. Lots of humour in this book and often hilarious things going on in the background. I liked everything about it, the story, the characters and the easy way this was written. It's an easy 5 stars from me and I look forward to reading more from this author.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This follow-up to Perfect Meringues works as a stand-alone novel and I enjoyed it very much, as I do all of Laurie Graham’s work. In this her latest novel (2018) she returns to Lizzie Partridge, a TV cook whose personal life and career seem to be going nowhere. Then some new opportunities arise and perhaps her life is going to change for the better. I’m an enormous fan of Laurie Graham, but for me this wasn’t perhaps one of her best. Some of the characters were perhaps just a little too exaggerated and the scenarios just a bit too off-beat. However, Graham is an excellent writer, funny, witty, wise and compassionate – and she knows how to write a cracking good story. Her ability to blend the serious with the mundane and the amusing with the tragic is second-to-none and if not quite up to standard this is nevertheless a thoroughly enjoyable read.

[Sarah Hills · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a very unique book. Written 6 years ago now, I had never heard of it or the author before and I do wonder why.
It's a great book, so quirky and funny with a female 62 year old lead who has a wonderful view on life and is very sarcastic.
I enjoyed the time we spent in Lizzie's life the ups and downs ans how she copes with being on the 'once famous, now forgotten' pile.
So much goes on in this book, it's a refreshing look at life and all that women go through as they mature. I loved Lizzie's sarcastic headlines that sum up what she is thinking that are scattered throughout this book. if you want an ultimately uplifting read and a completely different look at life I would suggest you look no further than this book.
I will certainly be looking out for more books by this author in the future.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing you can guarantee in a Laurie Graham novel - the voice of the protagonist will be real, engaging and likeable from the very first page. That's just as well in this case, because I found the first chapter very confusing. Her marriage had broken up - but how long ago? She used to be a TV chef - when? I couldn't quite work out which character was which either - and with a lesser heroine, I'd likely have given up on the story.

For that reason, I'd say this novel works better for people who read the first book in the series. However, I'm glad I persevered because once I got my head around the dramatis personae, it was quite an enjoyable story. Not one of Graham's best but a fun read.

[Helen Carolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lizzie Partridge is back!!!After losing her tv presenting gig by throwing a chocolate mousse at her rival,Lizzie's life is spiraling into disaster,and now she's been fired from the only job she still had left,writing for a magazine.Her love life is also on the skids. So she flees to Wales, where a chance encounter with an old school friend leaves her love life looking up. And it's not long before her tv producer nephew gives her the chance to be back on telly it seems life is finally getting better. But are these blessings too good to be true. As usual there are some heart-breaking but also some laugh out loud moments in another winner from Ms Graham.

[Hannah Symonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this is a sequel to perfect meringues you can still read it as a standalone like I did, though I will definitely now want to read the first one. This is the story about Lizzie who is an ex TV chef and the reasons why she is now an ex. She decides to head to Aberystwyth to drown her sorrows and look for other work and from there on in the future seems a bit brighter for her. Lots of different characters make for some great comedy. 

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic - a lovely easy read that drew you in from the first few pages .
It really made me believe that there is always room for second chances in life - that even if life has closed one door another one will open.
The characters were all relatable and sounded as dysfunctional as me.
I couldn’t put the book down , I needed to know what happened next and definitely recommend it to others .

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the chance to preview this book

[Sarah Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing account of new starts in later life. The protagonist of this book is fired from a TV chef job due to a lack of gratitude of her culinary prowess and her consequent over-reaction of a food fight. She dabbles with some writing - such as "what to cook when you don't give a . . ." and then ends up trying out for a Loose Women type chat show. Being a single lady, she also has some entertaining dating dalliances in her older years and throughout all this maintains an evensong presence and deals with issues around changing commitments. There are humouress elements and overall a portrayal of the hope of potential in later years so this should offer some smiles.
Also, being from the heart of the UK, it was nice to have some local references when so often books are set in some seaside setting or readers are transported to some tropical destination. In this way, hope is offered at a more mundane starting point. She does take herself off to the far-flung resort of Aberystwyth for a short time, giving some hint of exoticism along the way during her search for worth in terms of how much she is might be missed in the Midlands and thereby also mentioning a familiar venturing point of many from this region.

[Alice Yong · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title and blurb were misleading. I expected some kind of "celebrity food fight" and BTS intrigue but alas, it was a lot of disappointing blather about aging people's dire love lives, washed out careers and messy family ties. I have enough of that in real life tqvm.

[Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from the library, I was intrigued by the blurb. But sadly this book wasn’t about the food fight at all. I found this book quite dull it parts and then rather weird. It was an alright book, not one that was memorable or stand out at all.

[Gayle Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweetly humorous book with an endearing central character Who somehow despite the odds manages to get it right in the end

[Beth Cooksey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me laugh out loud in parts and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this author!
This book is smart and funny. It runs along at a great clip. Grahams character portrayals are so sharp, with just a few words she makes a complete picture. A unique talent!

[Louise Marshall-jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don’t know what to write ! Where was the story and the characters in my eyes it was so bland

[Beccy · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK easy read

[Liz | lizzuplans · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why I read about train, laverbread, and furries for 100 pages when this is supposed to be about cooking and baking and has a GBBO tent on the front…

DNF.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved reading about an older heroine who is less blythe and more pessimistic than the usual type of chick lit heroine.

In fact, I almost hesitate to call it chick lit, except that it follows the form: Girl is sad and single at the start of the book with problems up the wazoo. She is strong and sassy and there is cracking dialogue that no one in real life could think up on the spot. There is usually some crazy friends and the "wrong" man makes a strong showing. By the end of the book she is riding high and has met a nice man and all is well in her world.

It's all here, but its done so well.
Found out after I finished its a sequel, but you'd never guess.

[Lethmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange read. Amusing and lighthearted and certainly different. I didn’t love it but it was fun and sweet.