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Kissing Toads
Kissing Toads
Nov 30, 2025 6:35 AM

Author:Jemma Harvey

Kissing Toads

Delphi, garden programme presenter extraordinaire, and Roo, TV producer and queen of the messy relationship, have been best friends since childhood. As different as night and day, they've been there for each other's every merciless heart-break, every evil critic, and any and all knotty wardrobe choices.

But now, Delphi's career as a C-list celeb seems slightly stuck and the spectre of the has-been garden presenter looms large on the horizon, while Roo's long-time boyfriend has secretly gone and married his long-time Romanian girlfriend. These are dire straits indeed and they decide to ditch their life of urban glamour (Delphi) and overworked late nights (Roo) and sign on for a garden make-over programme in the darkest end of Scotland. Draughty castle, craggy rockstar with ambition to be the laird and a cast of very strange characters included -- the two are in for a big surprise ...

Reviews

A fizzy, feel-good summer romp

—— heat

A charming romance concerning a psychic making global and personal predictions; a coven of witches; and a few suprises. Good fun

—— Bookseller

An engaging, easy-going novel

—— Victoria Moore , Daily Mail

This book has wit, mystery and romance - you won't be able to put it down!

—— New Woman

Warm, wise and witty ... a compulsive page turner that'll keep you up all night.

—— Glamour

Compelling

—— Woman's Own

Joughin's characters are always tangible. Yet while her dialogue has the ring of authenticity, the inclusion of selected lines from Larkin, Hughes and Yeats ensures an appealing languor

—— The Observer

Joughin's second novel confirms her gift for mining tragi-comic gems from outposts of shabby bohemia

—— The Independent

Joughin's poetic prose perfectly conveys the delicacy of human emotion, and the frequent disjunction between art and life'

—— Choice Magazine

Like a cross between Margaret Drabble and Francoise Sagan

—— The Times

Joughin has an appealing darkness and urgency, as she potently conveys the pleasures and pains of human interactions

—— The Sunday Times

Adeptly written and enjoyable... Ruth's childhood perspectives are extremely well captured

—— Telegraph

Striking story of Ruth and Gray under the spell of famous poets' lives

—— Good Housekeeping's 8 Great Reads

Reading Joughin's second novel is like immersing yourself in a cool pool at a hazy summer party ...as addictively abrasive as a shot of cold vodka, this wil leave you both refreshed and gasping for stability

—— Time Out

This darkly comic story about unpredictable love is perfect if you're looking for some intelligent chicklit

—— Family Circle
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