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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I loved it! I laughed, I cried, I read it in one day. I loooove the dynamic between Sugar Beth and Colin.
I wasn’t as into the focus on Winnie and Gigi, but I did warm up to them by the end. I enjoyed the redemption story and the mending of relationships.
I wasn’t as into the focus on Winnie and Gigi, but I did warm up to them by the end. I enjoyed the redemption story and the mending of relationships.
emotional
funny
hopeful
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Finally crossed this one off my Fated Mates queue and it delivered on the promise of the premise. So much discourse on how enemies have to be before lovers and whoa boy SEP teed this one up so well.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one is tough to judge. I started out listening to the audiobook and it just wasn’t working for me. I let it go too long, not switching to the ebook version until almost halfway through the book. The MMC is British and I just couldn’t with the voice used for him, often sounding like an old lady instead of a man in the prime of his life. Once Sugar and Colin started giving in to their pull, I had to give up on the audio. It was just too weird.
I am usually all in on this author and her storylines that take dips and turns that are just bonkers. It was hard for me to know if certain things weren’t working or if they didn’t work because I started with a subpar audio version of the book. Colin and a young teenage girl are the only characters who seem redeemable throughout most of this book. Thankfully, things did finally turn around for many of the characters, but it took a really long time.
There are a lot of emotions in this book. Sugar grew up as the queen bee of her small town. She was the rich entitled princess whose mother rained down brimstone if Sugar complained about anyone. Sugar and her underlings aka friends were Mean Girls times a thousand. And Sugar’s main focus was Winnie. Children, especially teenagers with their roller coaster emotions, make terrible decisions. Sugar was no different than any other teenager in that respect. Winnie and Sugar shared a father and the whole town knew that he preferred his illegitimate daughter and his mistress. When a young, innocent Sugar discovers where her father has been spending his time and witnesses the love and caring he treats his other daughter, it’s gut-wrenching. The way Sugar decides to treat Winnie and thoroughly humiliate her when they’re in high school is heartbreaking. I had a ton of empathy for a young Sugar and Winnie. Not so much for their adult immaturity.
Sugar returns “home” after leaving her friends, first love, and everything else behind as soon as she leaves high school. There are a lot of hard feelings. She caused a lot of destruction. But the reaction of her former friends is juvenile. They are still stuck in the mindset of being in a hierarchy of friendship, this time with Winnie as their leader. It’s bizarre.
I could go on, but what it boils down to is the feelings and emotions are written beautifully. Yet it was hard getting over the odd dynamic all of the characters had with each other. I adore Colin and Winnie’s daughter, they are often the only level heads on the page. Winnie and Sugar do finally get their heads on straight, it just took too long for their humanity to show through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide
One of SEP's better books, with its story of the redemption of a high-school queen bee heroine who comes back to the southern small town she and her family once dominated broke, thrice-married and divorced/widowed, and shamed, her accusation against a former teacher of sexual abuse having been revealed to be a lie. Phillips goes to extraordinary lengths to prove that Sugar Beth has changed (she really loved her older last husband; she needs $ not to maintain a luxe lifestyle but to pay for the care of her 50-ish stepdaughter, who is mentally disabled; she cares for her husband's foul dog).
Of course, the young man whom Sugar Beth accused of abusing her, an Englishman who embodies a rather feminized masculinity far different from the typical SEP hero, is there, too, just waiting to exact his revenge on the down-on-her-luck Sugar Beth. But as SB continues to hold her head high, even while spewing gallons of self-deprecating humor, her former teacher finds himself more and more attracted to her. The sparring between the two is of the highest quality, razor-sharp and biting and oh so very smart.
I still find it so weird, though, how often SEP writes of women who embody male anxieties, rather than female ones. In this book, the fear of being wrongly accused of sexual misconduct, and the fear of being tricked into marriage by a woman who deliberately gets pregnant without your consent. Even in her books that aren't overtly sexist, there always seems to be this hint of sexism underneath... Something I want to think further about, and perhaps write more about, in the future.
Of course, the young man whom Sugar Beth accused of abusing her, an Englishman who embodies a rather feminized masculinity far different from the typical SEP hero, is there, too, just waiting to exact his revenge on the down-on-her-luck Sugar Beth. But as SB continues to hold her head high, even while spewing gallons of self-deprecating humor, her former teacher finds himself more and more attracted to her. The sparring between the two is of the highest quality, razor-sharp and biting and oh so very smart.
I still find it so weird, though, how often SEP writes of women who embody male anxieties, rather than female ones. In this book, the fear of being wrongly accused of sexual misconduct, and the fear of being tricked into marriage by a woman who deliberately gets pregnant without your consent. Even in her books that aren't overtly sexist, there always seems to be this hint of sexism underneath... Something I want to think further about, and perhaps write more about, in the future.
emotional
funny
hopeful
As I have recently been drawn to this author my only concern with this book is that it was so much anger and hate in the beginning. For a romance it was intense HATRED. I am glad I didn't read this one first because I would have been reluctant to read any others. But never the less, I still am very fond of her writing style and the ending definately redeemed the hateful beginning.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
funny
hopeful
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:
Yes
A perfect romance. Sprawling and messy emotions and more than just romantic love. 10 out of 10.