Twenty-seven-year-old Josey is sure of three things:
winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favoutire season;
she's a sorry excuse for a Southern Belle;
and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet.
For a while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother's house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night . . .
Until she finds her closet harbouring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tender-hearted woman who is one part nemesis - and two parts fairy godmother . . .
This book has been on my shelf for ages. I originally picked it up because of the cover, it's sparkly and I'm a bit like a magpie that way. An author I follow on Twitter mentioned it last week and I remembered it was there so decided to read it.
I couldn't get into it at the beginning and by the time I realised I was getting really into it, I noticed it was nearly finished.
Josey still lives with her mother and feels guilty about her childhood so feels she must stay with her mother to make up for it. She takes her mother out and about and runs all her errands for her. Then Della Lee Baker shows up in her closet and things begin to change. She makes new friends and slowly begins to enjoy her life.
I loved Josey from the beginning. In fact, I loved all the characters I was meant to. Sarah Addison Allen does a very good job at writing people and the storyline was fun too. It's written from different character's POV, not just Josey's, which gives it a nice change of pace.
Well worth a read and I'm keeping an eye out for her other book.
Rating
4/5
Book Depository: The Sugar Queen
Amazon UK: The Sugar Queen
Have you read Garden Spells? It's excellent, and made me an instant SAA fan. The third book, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, was a decent read, but not in the same league as the first two. I'm hoping that the next book, The Peach Keeper, will be as good as the first two were. According to her website it's due out next March, but I don't know if that's just a US release date or how much longer you might have to wait.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Garden Spells but I saw the blurb at the back of The Sugar Queen for it, so I'm going to keep an eye out for it and pick it up if I see it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation.