The Sugar Queen – review and giveaway

The Sugar Queen
Sarah Addison Allen
May 2008
276 pages

Last night my current book (The Palace of the Snow Queen) wasn’t sounding very appealing, so I moved on to another queen…The Sugar Queen. I’ve been looking forward to this book ever since I finished the author’s first book, Garden Spells.

Josey Cirrini is twenty-seven years old and stuck living at home with her elderly mother. Because Josey was a difficult child, she feels an obligation to stay and care for her mother. Her days are filled with driving her mother to all of her various appointments and social obligations, and raiding her secret closet for romances and sweets. And waiting for the cute mailman.

However, her life is interrupted when Della Lee appears in her closet. Della Lee is running from something…Josey can’t really figure her out, because Della Lee is better at bossing Josey around than she is at divulging her own story. Suddenly, Josey finds herself wearing make-up, eating sandwiches instead of sweets, hanging out with her new friend Chloe, and even talking to the cute mailman.

Chloe has her own troubles. She has problems with her boyfriend, and her identity, and books. Her books are one of my favorite parts of this story. Books magically appear for Chloe…the perfect book for everyone situation. Sometimes they even stalk her. I wish I had that problem.

My favorite passage is about books. Chloe is talking to George, the owner of a house Chloe has always loved (because it has a library). George says:

“Books can be possessive, can’t they? You’re walking around in a bookstore and a certain one will jump out at you, like it had moved there on its own, just to get your attention. Sometimes what’s inside will change your life, but sometimes you don’t even have to read it. Sometimes it’s a comfort just to have a book around. Many of these books haven’t even had their spines cracked. ‘Why do you buy books you don’t even read?’ our daughter asks us. That’s like asking someone who lives alone why they bought a cat. For company, of course. Here, come here. I want to show you something.” He stood and led her to the hallway and opened the coat closet. It was packed, absolutely crammed, with books. “Look at this. Howard, our realtor, told us we had to move all the stacks of books out of the bedrooms and hallway in order to stage the house. He said clutter distracted potential buyers. He called books clutter.”

I really enjoyed The Sugar Queen. In fact, I think I liked it more than Garden Spells. It’s an adorable little book. And a really quick read. I devoured it in a couple of hours. The chapter title are all names of candies that relate to what is happening in the chapter (Everlasting Gobstoppers, Life Savers, Lemon Drops), but I kept getting so caught up in the story, I’d forget to look at the title of the chapter. I had to go back and see what candies I had missed.

Since my friend Lisa was kind enough to send me her ARC of this book, I’d like to pass it on to someone else. Remember, this is an Advanced Reader Copy, so there are a few typos sprinkled through the book. But if you’re interested, please leave a comment telling me your favorite candy and your favorite book (it can be a current favorite or a lifetime favorite). I’ll pick a winner from the comments on Monday morning.