Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen

Rating: 4 Tell a Friend over a Derby pie (ääää)

Pages: 267

Challenges: Summer Thing (swap), Pub Challenge

Synopsis (from BN.com)
Sarah Addison Allen tells the tale of a young woman whose family secrets—and secret passions—are about to change her life forever.Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For 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 it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother…

Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey’s clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she’s going to change Josey’s life—because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding.

Before long, Josey bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who makes the best sandwiches in town, is hounded by books that inexplicably appear whenever she needs them, and—most amazing of all—has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush.

As little by little Josey dares to step outside herself, she discovers a world where the color red has astonishing power, passion can make eggs fry in their cartons, and romance can blossom at any time—even for her. It seems that Della Lee’s work is done, and it’s time for her to move on. But the truth about where she’s going, why she showed up in the first place—and what Chloe has to do with it all—is about to add one more unexpected chapter to Josey’s fast-changing life.Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.

Review -

I really liked this book. I liked that the chapters were named after Candy! Here are some quotes that I liked:

This is about a new maid (Helena) who spoke very little English that was hired
to help Margaret after a hip replacement (including bathing which this quote is
about). “But Helena could never quite grasp what was required of
her. She would sit on the lowered toilet lid, her eyes adverted, anxiously
wringing her hands while Margaret sat in the tub and played charade to get her
to understand soap.(7)”


“Della Lee, you’re living in my closet, you’re blackmailing me over candy, and you are currently wearing 16 articles of clothing. It’s amazing to me that you think I have problems. You need to form a plan for yourself (60).”

“’Why do you buy books you don’t even read?’ our daughter asks us. That’s like asking someone who lives alone why they bought a cat. For company of course. (180)”

This book made me laugh out loud during many times! Chloe has books that just appear when she needs him – bad break up with a boyfriend a book on forgiveness appears. I think if I was to die before my daughter was an adult this is what I would want to do…send her books on whatever I thought she needed to learn or should read for enjoyment. And the books relentlessly follow Chloe around until she reads them…doesn’t that just sound like a mother?!

I did have one problem with this book and that is the cover. The book main character is a "thick" girl. The girl on the cover certainly is not. It is possible that it is a different character by why wouldn't they put the main character on the cover...things that make you go hmm...