Breaking Eggshells by Liv Andrews

 Breaking Eggshells

 by Liv Andrews

Breaking Eggshells by Liv Andrews was published on 29th January 2021 by Words on Toast. My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Things Tours for inviting me on the tour.

Synopsis

Amanda has been walking on eggshells all her life.

Aunt Julia runs away at the very thought of them.

Sister Maddy breaks whatever she wants. (Eggshells? What eggshells?)

When Amanda’s life falls apart, she realises that she has been too accommodating of everyone around her; pressured into living a life she never really wanted. She’s been treading water and is only just keeping her head above the waves. Losing her sense of self, discovering a family secret and realising that they are all dancing to a very different tune means that starting over and trying to be the person she should have been is not easy.

So when an opportunity beckons, should she go to the safety of the shallows or take the risk and dive right in at the deep end?

My Review

My first impression on starting the book was that this was going to be a farcical story that was way over the top about relationships. However, as you read the book you find that if you read below the surface of the story and the different worlds and attitudes that Amanda and her sister Maddy have and the contrast between them you will find a story that actually gets you thinking about relationships in a lot more depth and how we control, or don’t, what happens within them.

Once I got past the “Really Maddy!!!!!” thoughts I got drawn into the story and how Amanda responds to what life throws at her and how her character changes and evolves as you get to know her and the different relationships she develops on the way.

What in general is a tongue in cheek storyline  actually does provoke a lot of thoughts and keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens to Amanda as she negotiates the minefield that other people in her life create for her and their expectations of what she should , or shouldn’t do . 

Breaking Eggshells is an entertaining read that is well worth spending a few hours on.

About the Author

I began copywriting for small companies around twenty years ago; product description, sales letters, then website content, press releases and social media posts and blogs.

I’d wanted to write fiction for many years, but my lack of confidence was overwhelming.

Then, I hit fifty, and something changed.

So before I jumped fully into the fiction route, I submitted a pitch for a feature to a national magazine. I was surprised and delighted when they commissioned me to write it, and the validation that came with that and knowing someone actually wanted to pay for my writing set me on a new path. Several other features followed in both print and online magazines, and then, rather like Amanda in Breaking Eggshells, the rug was pulled from under me when my then husband had an affair and our marriage broke up.

Fast forward several years, and I am now married again, writing books and self publishing them (three out currently, next one out in the summer) and have had a couple of short stories published in women’s magazines - one in a special edition of Woman, one in Woman’s Weekly.

Life can change in an instant, and I know what it is to feel like the earth has tilted on its axis, and how frightening that can be. I also know that it’s possible to rise from that and have a better life than you ever imagined. That’s what I try to impart in all my books.