Reviews

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

jessiehendrix8's review

lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

librarianinperiwinkle's review

4.0

It took me a little longer to really get into The Sugar Queen than it did Garden Spells, but once I did, I loved it.

This novel falls into the category I believe is called "magical realism." How can you not love a story where books follow one of the characters around?! Books on whatever topic is appropriate to her life appear out of thin air wherever she happens to be. Ha!

At first I had to remind myself that the connections between some of the characters were supposed to be Magic. (I kept wanting to send the women to a PAX workshop...or 4.) But once my brain finally accepted it, that was when the story really started to flow & when I really got interested in piecing together the clues of what was REALLY happening with some of the characters--who people were and what happened with them in the past.

It's a lovely book. A bit poignant at times. Bad parenting is ...AUGH!! But all's well that ends well.

chibi418's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was a reread. I absolutely love this book and needed the comfort reread.

Still dont understand how her finding out who he cheated on her with made it so easy to forgive. truly do not understand, never understood then still do not

has not quite aged well, but i just love the vibes of this book that I can still overlook it.

lovelyloro's review

5.0

If I could give this 6 stars I would! This was fantastic!

sarsarsarsarsar's review against another edition

3.0

This was strange and confusing

Perspectives switch with little warning/tell

I feel like I walked in to the middle of a story with there being nearly no introduction or conclusion

I can’t say I didn’t like it… but at times there was lots of description and internal monologue and at other times (where there were big events) there was next to none…

I also found it so weird that only sometimes facts would be repeated to keep the reader in loop with all the changing story lines and other times there was no added details to refresh the readers memory/keep them on track with the character’s POV

IM LIKE CONFUSED IDK - weird premise bc it felt like early 1900s but there are cell phones and iPods????

wanderingjedi's review

2.0

I read this because I really loved Sarah Addison Allen's other book, [b:The Peach Keeper|8546358|The Peach Keeper|Sarah Addison Allen|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320549305s/8546358.jpg|13414212], but this one was nowhere near as fantastic. It was well written, but I didn't really care about any of the characters. I didn't feel like any of them were believable, except maybe Adam.

This book left me with so many questions about the characters and the plot that I don't even know where to begin. Why would Josey still be hanging around taking care of her mother if her mother was so horrible to her (and how the heck had she never done anything for herself besides secretly hoarding food? And did Rawley seriously not talk directly to Margaret for forty years just because he made her a promise once when she was hopped up on pills? Apparently books just sort of follow Chloe around and pop up randomly when she supposedly needs them? All of these things just seem pretty ridiculous.

I'm all for some magical elements in a story, but being stalked by books was just too unbelievable, especially since there wasn't really any other magical/fantastic stuff going on (other than Della Lee). The whole story just seemed sort of far fetched.

Overall, the writing was good, and if you like books like this I can see where you might enjoy this one, but I just couldn't really get into the plot enough to actually enjoy it.

sarojaede's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

krystalalmanza2014's review

4.0

I loved this book! Such a sweet and easy read. Blew through it in a day. It jumps right into the story from the first page and I was afraid there wouldn't be enough character development, but it turned out to be great! I look forward to reading more Sarah Addison Allen's books :)

laura_corsi's review against another edition

3.0

A fun magical adventure full of characters you will want to get to know.

desiree_boom's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0