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A review by _mercury_
Sugaring Off by Gillian French
2.0
*spoilers*
I feel like most of what was advertised in the synopsis didn't really happen in the book.
Apparently, Cody is able to see the "real" Owl for who she is, not shadowed by her disability. But given how their relationship was in the book it never felt like anything more than a forbidden, one-sided teenage romance (one-sided because Cody didn't have any real feelings for her). Their interactions don't signify any deep understanding of each other besides the fact that they're both adopted and came from bad homes.
I also feel like Owl's relationship with her biological father could have been explored so much more. Throughout the book she insists that she wants nothing to do with him, yells at Holly and Seth when they try to talk to her about their relationship, yet at the end, she starts writing a letter to him basically saying "Hey Joel, let's not talk about all the things that happened in the past, let's just get to know each other; my name is no longer Rochelle, it's Owl." Because that's what you say to your biological dad who spent 10 years in prison after he threw you down a staircase and caused you to get a 4 inch fracture in your skull and partial hearing loss.
The synopsis also talked about a murder that "shocked" the small town. You mean the murder that happened in the last, like, 50 pages of the book? That didn't really cause any major upset in the town's population? The murder of guy that was such an obscure character that I had to flip back in the book to remember? That murder? There wasn't really any mystery plot in this book, despite all the foreshadowing of one. And the supposed thriller that happened in the last 20 pages was confusing and a little underwhelming.
I feel like most of what was advertised in the synopsis didn't really happen in the book.
Apparently, Cody is able to see the "real" Owl for who she is, not shadowed by her disability. But given how their relationship was in the book it never felt like anything more than a forbidden, one-sided teenage romance (one-sided because Cody didn't have any real feelings for her). Their interactions don't signify any deep understanding of each other besides the fact that they're both adopted and came from bad homes.
I also feel like Owl's relationship with her biological father could have been explored so much more. Throughout the book she insists that she wants nothing to do with him, yells at Holly and Seth when they try to talk to her about their relationship, yet at the end, she starts writing a letter to him basically saying "Hey Joel, let's not talk about all the things that happened in the past, let's just get to know each other; my name is no longer Rochelle, it's Owl." Because that's what you say to your biological dad who spent 10 years in prison after he threw you down a staircase and caused you to get a 4 inch fracture in your skull and partial hearing loss.
The synopsis also talked about a murder that "shocked" the small town. You mean the murder that happened in the last, like, 50 pages of the book? That didn't really cause any major upset in the town's population? The murder of guy that was such an obscure character that I had to flip back in the book to remember? That murder? There wasn't really any mystery plot in this book, despite all the foreshadowing of one. And the supposed thriller that happened in the last 20 pages was confusing and a little underwhelming.