View source for Leftovers by Stella Newman

{{infobox
|title=Leftovers
|author=Stella Newman
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=A long, indulgent read with some brilliant food and a clear-eyed look at how single women over the age of thirty are really judged.
|rating=3.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=456
|publisher=Avon
|date=April 2013
|isbn=978-1847562715
|website=http://stellanewmansblog.blogspot.co.uk/
|video=
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184756271X</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>B009YBTUPW</amazonus>
}}

Susie Rosen is what a magazine calls a 'leftover' - she's thirty something and lacks her dream man, job or home.  You might ''think'' that she has the job of her dreams as she's an account manager in advertising, but she finds it unfulfilling - and that's on the good days.  On the bad days she resurrects her plan that she's going to get promoted by Christmas and then quit.  Boyfriend Jake cheated on her and although the relationship broke up some time ago she hasn't got over him.  Right now life revolves around the job, minimising the effect of some of the more dreadful colleagues and her girlfriends - but some of them are proving to be not quite as reliable as she might have hoped.

It's more than a year since I read [[Pear Shaped by Stella Newman|Pear Shaped]] and I loved it not least because of the feeling it gave me of being ''inside'' the food industry.  Live to eat?  Me?  Yes.  This time Stella Newman has taken a sideways look at the industry by placing her heroine in an advertising agency which has the account for a major supermarket, although you do get the feeling that the purpose of Fletchers is to keep the riffraff out of Waitrose.  The food's not as tempting as the gorgeous M&S desserts from ''Pear Shaped'' but if you're thinking of going on a diet then you'll have no problems about keeping away from supermarket pizza.

So, excellent background and a heroine you can really believe in.  It's a good start and if you're looking for a plot where you can really get to know the characters in a long, indulgent read then this could well be the book for you.  The recipes at the end of the book don't do any harm either!  Personally I found it just a little long, but I did love the clear-eyed look at the way that relationships tend to turn out when the first flush of youth is just a memory.  I cringed when I saw the title, when I read what it meant - but I ''know'' that's how single women of a certain age are regarded.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

If you haven't read  [[Pear Shaped by Stella Newman|Pear Shaped]] then you should.  You'll probably also enjoy [[Good Husband Material by Trisha Ashley]] and [[A French Affair by Katie Fforde]].

{{amazontext|amazon=184756271X}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=9408312}}

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