Vacation Read - The Sugar Queen

Generally, I gravitate towards more epic historical novels while on vacation like The World Without End by Ken Follet or Cane River by Lalita Tademy. I love having a thick book to really treasure during my endless hours of reading by the pool.

On my trip to St. Maarten however, there were a few roadblocks that caused me to veer from the usual.

• no book stores in Dominica to visit pre-trip
• no book stores past Customs in SXM
• no kindle (my iPad will never visit a pool deck)
• shorter vacation

Thank goodness for Clare, who had a stack of paperbacks at her apartment that had been handed down to her by various people. It was really picking bad from worse (sorry Clare.. I know they weren't your picks!), but I decided on The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. What "sold" me was the main character is 27 years old - Not the cover.

My Review:

Josey Cirrini lives at home with her aging mother. She drives her to the beauty salon, takes her to social events, and in every way obeys her mother. One evening as she goes to hide in her closet to munch sweets and read romance novels, she discovers a local woman - Della Lee - hiding there.

Unable to get Della Lee out without giving away her secret closet, Josey allows Della to lead her on a somewhat magical goose chase. Family secrets are spilled, Josey begins to gain independence, and even falls in love.

The whole time I was reading this book, I was about 60% into it. I didn't have anything better to read, and the story was sort of interesting, but it just didn't do it for me. Honestly, it was almost as depressing as the cover, even with the bits of magical goodness.



Sorry for the poor report, but better to be honest about these things & save you from several days of reading boredom. Thank goodness I had Fifty Shades Darker on the iPad to keep me company in the hotel room at night! {and yes, I did finish Fifty Shades of Grey!}

Today I'm linking up with Blonde.. Undercover Blonde and The Nerdy Katie for Book Club Friday, as well as Sweet Green Tangerine for Best Vacation Reads from her weekly Book Chat linkup. Thanks Ladies!