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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Okay, a mash-up of kooky Southern feel-good novel and brooding British hero from off the moor sounds awful. I avoid Pat Conroy and anything with Ya-Ya in the title, and it's hard to be sympathetic with the mean girl, even if she is a reformed mean girl.
And yet, Susan Elizabeth Phillips makes it work. It's a romance, but not necessarily a mushy, nostalgic novel. The characters are all fighting against the past, coming to terms with their mistakes so that they can leave their past in the dust. Unfortunately, the past keeps rearing it's ugly head.
I liked Sugar Beth, despite her former cruelty and the fact that she is known by the ridiculous name of Sugar Beth. Phillips shapes her characters enough so that their actions are understandable, not plot devices. She has a difficult line to walk, to make it believable that Sugar Beth would do some terrible things, but also that she'd be possible of reform, and how to demonstrate that reform without making it seem a miracle.
And yet, Susan Elizabeth Phillips makes it work. It's a romance, but not necessarily a mushy, nostalgic novel. The characters are all fighting against the past, coming to terms with their mistakes so that they can leave their past in the dust. Unfortunately, the past keeps rearing it's ugly head.
I liked Sugar Beth, despite her former cruelty and the fact that she is known by the ridiculous name of Sugar Beth. Phillips shapes her characters enough so that their actions are understandable, not plot devices. She has a difficult line to walk, to make it believable that Sugar Beth would do some terrible things, but also that she'd be possible of reform, and how to demonstrate that reform without making it seem a miracle.
5 star story but dropped 2 stars due to personal reasons*
Loved the snarky heroine. Very well developed with a terrible past in the she was a terrible person who bullied and manipulated others way, not the angst riddled backstory way.
The hero was meh. Not sure if it's because the narrator (audible) made him sound like an elderly duke from the 14th century or because he was just.. Boring whether that be in comparison to the sparkly and thorny heroine or because he was just written that way..idk
Their romance took a back burner to everything else going on in the book. As expected of a SEP book, the cast of secondary characters were very well written and developed.
*My beef with the book is the blatant homophobia littered throughout. Saying or implying someone is gay because they dress well is not an insult. But apparently SEP missed the memo back in 2004 because the heroine repeatedly used that as a punchline. I'm also aware that the story is set in Mississippi, but there was a scene that had me cringing at the subtle racism against a black minor character. I get that wasn't SEP's intention, and that she was trying to show how progressive the town was in comparison to other parts of the south, but it still made me uncomfortable.
Loved the snarky heroine. Very well developed with a terrible past in the she was a terrible person who bullied and manipulated others way, not the angst riddled backstory way.
The hero was meh. Not sure if it's because the narrator (audible) made him sound like an elderly duke from the 14th century or because he was just.. Boring whether that be in comparison to the sparkly and thorny heroine or because he was just written that way..idk
Their romance took a back burner to everything else going on in the book. As expected of a SEP book, the cast of secondary characters were very well written and developed.
*My beef with the book is the blatant homophobia littered throughout. Saying or implying someone is gay because they dress well is not an insult. But apparently SEP missed the memo back in 2004 because the heroine repeatedly used that as a punchline. I'm also aware that the story is set in Mississippi, but there was a scene that had me cringing at the subtle racism against a black minor character. I get that wasn't SEP's intention, and that she was trying to show how progressive the town was in comparison to other parts of the south, but it still made me uncomfortable.
I didn't expect to like this book, but it was absolutely adorable.