Like other well-meaning mothers, Julie Mueller’s believed she did the right thing when she secretly ended her teenage daughter’s crush on Michael Slayton, a wild older neighborhood heartthrob with a penchant for Shakespeare and the pedigree of trailer trash.
Twenty years later, Betty Mueller has come to realize that was a big mistake. Her daughter Julie – divorced and raising a teenage daughter alone – is a workaholic obsessed with her career. And Michael, the one man who could make her happy, is the one man to whom she won’t speak.
Now dying and determined to make amends, Betty stages her last great feat of motherhood by reuniting the couple in a dessert class where she hopes the sweetness of a chocolate almond Torta Caprese will erase the bitterness of a wretched misunderstanding.
“Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said thy edge should blunter be than appetite,” Shakespeare once pleaded—though it will require more than poetry and passion fruit for Julie and Michael to renew their love.
It will, in fact, require the sweetest sacrifice of all.
Praise for Sarah Strohmeyer’s previous books:
“Opening a book by Sarah Strohmeyer is like opening a box of chocolates.”—Meg Cabot
“Laugh-out-loud funny.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Strohmeyer nails it at every unpredictable turn.”—Publishers Weekly
“The romantic insights . . . ring true.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Perfect, light, summer fare. . . . Challenges the limitations unmarried women regularly face while maintaining a tight tone and humorous voice.”—The Flint Journal
“Top-notch storytelling . . . a warm-hearted tale that will bring tremendous amounts of laughter, but also a catch in your throat.”—Romance Reviews Today
