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A review by annieeditor
Ain't She Sweet? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
4.0
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.