“I think Heaven will be like a first kiss.”
Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen
Overview:
Josie is used to hiding secrets; her travel brochures, snack supply and feelings for a certain mailman to name a few. But her biggest secret comes in the form of an acquaintance, Della Lee who she discovers hiding out in her closet.
Agreeing to allow the stowaway refuge, Josie inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will lead her to discovering who she wants to be and where she fits into her charming town.
My thoughts:
A story about why you need other people no matter how independent you think you are.
Small town magic is my favorite thing. Just sprinkling magic into a story and having the characters barely acknowledge it brings about an almost nostalgic feeling. I can’t really describe it but the magic and the winter scene evokes a lot of emotions.
The magic also frees the characters to do more. They know they are going in the right direction depending on what it is manifesting. This allows them to not overthink their circumstances and follow what fate has in store.
However, the magic could make you do something you really don’t want to but because it’s pushing you or preventing you from doing certain things. Therefore, the characters don’t actually have free will throughout the entire story.
For example, I have a very hard time accepting the fact that the magic that follows Chloe wants her to forgive her boyfriend. He complexly broke her trust and she can never look at him the same way again, but just the universe just wants her to get over it.
There are so many people in this world that you can make a life with, don’t settle for someone who thinks it’s no big deal to shatter you. Also, how would you ever forgive everyone else who knew about it? Just live your life knowing that none of those people have your back and you are supposed to rely on them later in life, no thank you.
I was really hoping that the books that appear in Chloe’s life were actually referring to her forgiving herself and not being afraid to start a new life alone. Unfortunately, the whole theme of this book is that you cannot be happy if you don’t have other people in your life.
That theme is great for Josie, who is internally screaming to have meaningful relationships for the first time but it doesn’t mean that all the other characters should follow the same pattern.
However, the magic of books finding Chloe exactly when she needs them, is easy to relate to. Books can completely change your mood or break your heart.
My least favorite character in the book was Julian. Not because he was a bad person but because I didn’t really see the point in including him in the story. He barely moved the plot forward and the situations that involved him could have easily been explained in using the more interesting characters. I get that the author needed a villain but the other characters had complicated relationships with each other that could have explained everything sufficiently.
Overall,
I love this author but this is probably my least favorite title. It is a good introduction to some of her other works as the winter scene is an easy way to create nostalgia with the reader.
Rating: 3/5 stars
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