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The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen was a sweet look at a woman hiding from herself. Josey Cirrini spends her days in the Mountains of North Carolina ferrying her mother to meetings and running her mother’s errands, trying to make up for a childhood of temper tantrums. She hides candy and sweets in her closet, along with romance books, catalogues and travel magazines. One day, a day like any other, she opens the door to her closet and there is Della Lee Baker. Della Lee blackmails Josey into letting her stay in Joseys closet until she helps Josey change her life.
Josey is scared to stop hiding. She’s loved the mailman from afar for three years and is afraid to allow change. And she knows that Adam, the mailman, has a secret. She just doesn’t know what it is. With Della Lee’s help, she meets Chloe, a woman also at a turn in her life who has books that find her whenever needed. Josey, Della Lee and Chloe share a secret, a secret that only one knows all the answers to; one that will draw these three women together. Each changes and grows, allowing relationships to enter their lives. There is a twist toward the end of the book, but one that the reader comes to suspect.
The secondary characters are actually a main part of the storyline as well. Josey’s mother, Margaret has her own secrets and Helena, the maid, is a riot with her superstitions and odd ways.
I have to say this book touched something in me. It’s not a complicated book, but one of freshness and a light way of seeing things. I truly enjoyed it and it was my first book by this particular author. I look forward reading more.
* This author has also written, Garden Spells.
