The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

I am literally giving you everything Sarah has to offer at this moment when it comes to published books. (Soon I will be reviewing Peach Keeper too). The Sugar Queen has captured me from the very first moment I laid eyes on the words. I am and have always been a big fan of Sarah Addison Allen and each book has its own charm, its own world and its own independent story with the same charm. She has a talent of creating characters that are absolutely unique and lovable. The characters feel real and it feels like you would cross paths with them anytime or at least you hope to.

Sugar Queen tells the story of Josey Cirrini who is a rich but chubby woman. She lives with her widowed mother in Bald Slope, a winter wonderland that has been popularized by her late father Marco Cirrini. Josey takes care of her mother Margaret because she recently had a hip surgery, but the real reason why she clings on her is because she hopes that Margaret will someday forgive Josey for her moods and bouts cruelty as a kid. Josey also has a secret stash in her closet full of sweets thus explaining the title.

One day Della Lee Baker pops up in her closet and decides to stay with Josey for a while. Della keeps on asking for a special sandwhich found in a little bistro in the courthouse, so eventually Josey visits the shop and gets to know Chloe. Chloe has inherited the little food stand from her diseased grandparents and has run it ever since. She has special relationship with books and they follow her wherever she goes, whether she likes it or not. Chloe recently broke up with her boyfriend Jake, because he cheated on her. When they are together their passion can engulf an object in fire or their passion makes water boil.

Josey is also in love. She loves the mailman Adam who also seems to carry a secret around that she unearths. The fate of the three women are constantly connected throughout the story and in the end they, in fact, do live happily ever after. It's just not the happily ever after everyone thinks of.

Sugar Queen keept me up reading for about 6 - 8 hours. I loved every bit of it and hope that you will too.

Excerpt The Sugar Queen:

Jake approached Chloe's shop the next day, Monday, her first day back at work after the holiday. After not being able to reach her by phone, he'd stopped just short of going to the apartment to see her. She was buying a house. She was slowly, surely, moving away from him, and he didn't know how to stop her. It was just after lunch, a slow time for her, and she was sittig at one of the cafe tables reading a book title The Complete Homeowner's Guide. Her hair was braided into one long plait down her back. She always wore it like that when they would go skiin or hiking. And sometimes she would stand in front of the bathroom mirror and sigh in the mornings, lifting her arms to brait it because she couldn't do anything else with it. He remembered how her breasts moved under her shirt when she braided it, how he would come up behind her at the sink and kiss her neck, cupping her breasts. Once they'd even made love that way, her arms lifted and in her hair, his hands on her breasts, watching each other in the mirror. Chloe took a deep breath, like there was something in the air she had picked up on. She looked up and saw him walking toward her. She immediately stood and hurried around to the other side of the counter. He counted his blessings that she didn't hide in the storeroom this time. He stopped a few feet from the counter when he saw she was backing into a corner. "You don't have to stand back," She pointed to the coffeemaker. "The water."
That surprised him, that she would still have the ability to sense his feelings, and that his feelings still had the ability to cause a passionate physical response in her. "Still?" "It didn't stop the moment you said you cheated on me. This might be a little easier if it did."

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

This is yet another enchanted novel by Sarah Addison Allen. I have enjoyed reading Garden Spells so much and I did enjoy this particular book even more. Every character had its quirks and secrets yet again and everything in that story seemed dipped in magic.

The story revolves around two women living in the town of Mullaby in North Carolina. Emily Benedict just moved into Mullaby hoping to uncover secrets her late mother seemingly had. She moves into her Grandfathers house who was litterally a giant at almost eight feet. Her room used to be that of her mother and the wallpapers change and adapt to the mood of the person within.

She soon meets Julia, who also just returned to Mullaby to restore her fathers grill. Her plan was to sell the grill because her father past away and take off to restart her life in the big city. She adds sweetness to the grill with her cakes and pastries. Julia hides yet another secret that she shares with her teenage love Sawyer.

Emily meets Win Coffey who is instantly attracted to her but who also hides another secret. Both Julia and Emily fall in love and discover themselves in the process. In the end, all is good where some secrets were grave mistakes that have been done in the past and other secrets are little magical traits shared by members of a family or a skill.

I really loved reading this book because it tickles my fantasy nerve and it still stays real. I can relate to the characters and the small town environment just made me feel like home. I am already looking forward to reading Peach Keeper.

Of course I didn't forget to include an excerpt for your guys:


The Girl Who Chased The Moon

'I've been thinking about you a lot this past week,' Emily said, and it came out a lot more moony than she intended. He lowered his gaze from the sky and met her eyes. His smile was mischievous. 'Oh?'
'Not like that,' she said, laughing. She stopped laughing when their seat swayed back and forth in the wind. She grabbed the safety bar in front of them. Of course he didn't seem afraid to be up this high. 'I just can't get my mind around something.'
'What is it?' 'You wouldn't happen to be a werewolf, would you?' 'Excuse me?' he said.
She slowly loosened her holds on the bar and sat back. 'There are only two reasons I can think of for why you don't come out at night: night blindness of werewolf.'
'And you decided to go with werewolf?'
'It was a toss-up.' Win didn't answer for a few moments. He finally said, 'It's tradition. It's gone on for centuries.'
'Why?'
'That's a good question. I guess because that's what traditions do.'