can a stranger heal your heart?
After Kendra Tamale returns to England from Australia, she rents a room from Kyle, a single father of two, and looks forward to an uncomplicated life.
Kyle's young twins, Summer and Jaxon, have other ideas and quickly adopt Kendra as their new mother - mainly because she lets them eat marshmallows for breakfast. Even though Kendra is hiding a painful secret that makes her keep everyone - particularly children - at arm's length, life improves for her as she becomes a part of their family.
Then Kendra bumps into the man who shares her awful secret and everything falls apart - especially when the kids are taken away by their mother. The only way to fix things is to confess all about her past, but that's something she swore never to do...
Marshmallows For Breakfast is different again from my previous novels. It deals with difficult issues such as divorce and hiding from your past, and explores what can happen when you open your heart to complete strangers.
The main character, Kendra, is also very different from The Cupid Effect's Ceri, The Chocolate Run's Amber and My Best Friend's Girl's Kamryn. I loved writing it and I'll never forget that it was the only one of my novels to be written in Australia.
what the press say about marshmallows for breakfast
When Kendra Tamale returns from Australia and signs a lease on a flat, she discovers her new home comes complete with two children and a recently separated father. Suddenly she's a surrogate mother - a situation she embraces even though it's a cruelly ironic reminder of the horrors of her past. Dorothy Koomson's breakthrough best seller, My Best Friend's Girl, hit the headlines when it took second place in the highly regarded Richard & Judy Summer Reads Book Club. Marshmallows For Breakfast, a dramatic, heart-tugging tale of love, pain and survival, has every chance of matching the giddy success of its predecessor. Shari Low, The Daily Record, 3rd June 2007
Heat is tired today, but if we should fall asleep at work it's not our fault, it's Dorothy Koomson's. She's written a book so darn good that we had to read it all in one evening. Marshmallows For Breakfast begins with a phone call for Kendra Tamale, who has returned to the UK from Australia. She rents a room from the Gadsboroughs, a family with more than their fair share of problems, and quickly becomes caught up in their lives – specifically the two children, Summer and Jaxon. But for someone like Kendra, who's always kept life at arm's length, learning to trust isn't easy and it's not long before life takes a terrible turn for them all. Calmly yet movingly dealing with subjects like rape, divorce and the cruelty of alcoholism, Marshmallows For Breakfast will make tears run down your face, but leave you feeling that whatever happens, there's always hope. (Five stars) heat, 9-15 June 2007
Kendra returns from Oz to England in search of a quieter life. But hopes of that dissolve when she rents a room and finds herself reluctantly playing mum to two six-year-olds – who like her because she lets them eat marshmallows for breakfast. A poignant page-turner. (Four stars) Closer, 9-15 June 2007
Kendra returns to England in the hope of a quiet life. But when she rents a room from single dad Kyle, she becomes involved in the dysfunctional world of his family. Great stuff. (Three stars) OK Hot Stars, 9-15 June 2007
Bag a better beach read
If you like tears interspersed with laughter, then this rollercoaster of a book is for you. It's the story of Kendra, who returns to England from Australia to try and escape her past. But instead of the quiet and simple life she craves, Kendra gets involved in a complicated relationship with her new live-in 'family' that brings her past closer than ever, while unearthing a painful secret she'd rather forget. Dealing with issues like death, betrayal and forgiveness, Marshmallows For Breakfast is much more touching than your average chick lit. Expect to cry from start to finish but it's worth the tears. http://www.getlippy.com
Dorothy Koomson made her name when Richard and Judy chose her third book, My Best Friend’s Girl, as one of their 2006 summer reads. Now she’s back with another hit – the moving, and at times harrowing MARSHMALLOWS FOR BREAKFAST (Sphere, £6.99). Returning to London from Australia, the enigmatic Kendra Tamale rents a room from Kyle Gadsborough, hoping to lead a quiet, ordinary sort of life. It’s clear that Kendra is running away from a trauma in her past but despite that, she finds herself swept up into Kyle’s dysfunctional family. daily express, Friday 22 June 2007
Woman Book of the Week
Seeringly painful but ultimately hopeful, this book is a riveting read from start to finish. Dorothy's novel My Best Friend's Girl became a Richard & Judy bestseller in 2006 and this new offering looks set to follow. Kendra is running away from her past when she ends up as Kyle's lodger and is drawn into his family – he's a single dad raising young twins. But Kendra's life changes forever when her secret comes back to haunt her. Incredibly moving and intelligently written, this novel delicately touches on the emotional subject of being betrayed by a lover, and the painful journey to forgiveness. Enjoy being moved by this story and give in to its irresistible charm and wit. Woman, 18 June 2007
This is a touching and engaging story of what happens when love demands that you open the Pandora's box of the past. Kendra Tamale is on a mission to enjoy the simple life when she rents a room from Kyle, a single father of young twins. The children soon want to adopt her as their new mother – who wouldn't a mummy who feeds you marshmallows for breakfast. But Kendra is trapped by a secret that she swore she'd never reveal, and when the children's mother takes the twins away to live with her, Kendra is forced to face the biggest emotional dilemma of her life. Good Housekeeping, July 2007
There's something satisfying about knowing how a book will end. A comedy should make you laugh. A romance should make your heart flutter. A drama should make you cry. Marshmallows for Breakfast does all this but never in the places you'd expect.
From beginning to end, this emotional rollercoaster of a book confounds expectations and bombards the reader from all sides.
Kendra returns home to England in a hurry. Something strange happened in Australia but she's not going to talk about it, not to her best friend and boss Gabrielle and certainly not to her new landlord, Kyle, whose family is falling apart. Instead of being allowed to hide from her past, Kendra becomes the last thing she wants to be: a surrogate mum to Kyle's six-year-old twins, Jaxon and Summer.
Koomson writes like a kitten with a ball of wool, playing skilfully with traumatic events, dark secrets, potential love affairs and the heart-rending innocence of childhood. Each character is a masterful reflection of reality: the twins behave like regular kids and the grown-ups are beautifully flawed and awkward. But just like reality, don't expect a neat and happy ending.
Some scars run too deep to disappear with a joke, a kiss or the shedding of tears. Good Reading magazine(Australia), August 2007
what the blurb means. . .