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    The Sugar Queen
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    The Sugar Queen
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    The Sugar Queen
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    The Sugar Queen

    Written by Sarah Addison Allen

    Narrated by Ariadne Meyers

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In this irresistible follow-up to her New York Times bestselling debut, Garden Spells, author Sarah Addison Allen tells the tale of a young woman whose family secrets-and secret passions-are about to change her life forever.

    Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she's a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother's house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis-and two parts fairy godmother…

    Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey's clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she's going to change Josey's life-because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee's tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding.

    Before long, Josey bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who makes the best sandwiches in town, is hounded by books that inexplicably appear whenever she needs them, and-most amazing of all-has a close connection to Josey's longtime crush.

    As little by little Josey dares to step outside herself, she discovers a world where the color red has astonishing power, passion can make eggs fry in their cartons, and romance can blossom at any time-even for her. It seems that Della Lee's work is done, and it's time for her to move on. But the truth about where she's going, why she showed up in the first place-and what Chloe has to do with it all-is about to add one more unexpected chapter to Josey's fast-changing life.

    Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love-and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 20, 2008
    ISBN9780739368671
    Unavailable
    The Sugar Queen
    Author

    Sarah Addison Allen

    Sarah Addison Allen lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where she is at work on her next novel.

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    Reviews for The Sugar Queen

    4/5

    1,244 ratings145 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Sarah Addison Allen is one of my favorite authors. Her book blend romance and magic perfectly.
      I loved this book! The characters and storyline are believable AND magical!
    • 5/5
      A little bit of a slow start, but I ended up really loving this book. It's a gentle story with some steel behind it; four women, lives intertwined in various ways, gradually discover themselves over the course of the book. There's just a hint of magic thrown in, but the characters, especially the main one, are well drawn -- I definitely cared about what happened to them. I love books about women finding their strengths, and this is a lovely one.

      One small complaint: I still have no idea why it's called The Sugar Queen. Unless I reeeally missed something, there's no queen, no sugar, no anything that resembles the title. That bothers me, because five years from now I'm going to remember this book and I'm going to have no idea what it was called because the title was so out of left field.
    • 2/5
      2.5 Stars

      The story opens with Josey, 27 years old and living under the demanding and critical thumb of her mother, as if she herself were hired help, opening her closet to find Della Mae camped out and refusing to leave. Della Mae is there to help Josey become her own person and live a free life of her choosing. Along the way Josey makes friends with Chloe (who has books just mysteriously appear where ever she happens to be) and Adam (the mail carrier)....she also uncovers secrets that prefer to remain buried in that small town that her father Marco (an Italian immigrant) helped turn into a ski resort all those years ago.

      This is the second book I have read by Sarah Addison Allen, and as in her first book "Garden Spells) there is magic, family tragedy, skeletons (sometimes ghosts) in the closets, love, & lessons. I do have to say, I did not like the many of the characters in this book...they seemed to have no redeeming characteristics a(no matter their past), Josey was, in my opinion, over done with self-depreciation and oppression....and this book just didn't have the delightful touch of magical lightness as "Garden Spells". I guess I found it to be an emotionally heavier read and not as whimsical. I'm not sorry I waited this long to read it, and had I known, I just might not have read it. For me it was Just Okay.
    • 4/5
      Pretty sweet, I liked Garden Spells better. I'd feared this would have a eating-disorder feel - that was before I'd read any of SAA's books tho. Will read the next, but in no rush, there's lot's on my bedside table.
      I'll save it for a pick-me-up :)
    • 4/5
      I suppose this is a chick-lit with magical realism story. It takes place somewhere in North Carolina and revolves around three women in their twenties and their struggles to break out of their cocoons.These stories of women from the South usually include some older women trying to bend the minds of the younger women to their wills. I hate that stuff. Yet I was able to read this to the end because of the light touches of fantasy and magic. It allowed you to wonder if it was really magic, or head games the girls played to cope with their lives. I found this quite predictable, but a nice cosy read perhaps because of that. If it had been a "modern Southern literary novel" written in the early part of the 1900s, it would have had quite a different feel, but this was written to be sugar and light, and that's what it was, even though it touched upon some very dark places of the human heart.
    • 4/5
      A great story reminescnet of Alice Hoffman, Allen uses magic realism to tell the story of several small-town women who are bound together by experiences they don't quite understand.
    • 4/5
      Dutiful daughter Josey loves the mailman, Adam and her red sweater; has Della Lee living in her closet and becomes the friend of Chloe who is besieged by books full of advice.
    • 3/5
      A sweet read but predictable. Not up to the standard set by "Garden Spells," but still likeable.
    • 3/5
      To sum this book up in one word I would have to go with, meh.The Sugar Queen is an easy read, very predictable, lighthearted with just a touch of whimsy. While it didn't wow me, and I don't feel like it will be winning any major literary awards anytime soon, I didn't feel it was a complete waste of time. This is the perfect beach book, or something to take along when you go on vacation. It doesn't require a lot of effort or thought, but entertaining enough to keep your attention. The book takes place in the mountains of North Carolina (shout out to the home state!) in a small ski town, Bald Slope. Josey Cirrini, 28 year old ski queen heiress lives with her disgruntled mother, jumping at her beck and call, forgoing living her own life to cater to her mothers whims and wishes. Josey's father passed away when she was young and Josey has glittering memories of him as a doting and caring father (she later comes to realize, her fathers reputation may not have been so sterling after all, hiding more than a few skeletons). Josey has no friends, no boyfriend (although she does pine after the mailman Adam), no job. She solely exists to take care of her mother; chauffeuring her to luncheons, picking up her groceries, giving all outward appearances of an obedient daughter. Every week is the same as the last, routine and structure the norm. Until one day Della Lee Baker, a no holds bar woman from town, shows up in Josey's closest and refuses to leave. The sudden appearance of Della turns Josey's world upside down. Things are changing, Josey is changing. Through the incessant urging and nagging of Della, Josey slowly ventures outside her comfort zone, makes a new friend Chloe Finely, encounters a charismatic dangerous foe, Julian, and boldly explores her romantic feelings with Adam. I did enjoy how each of the characters had their own hint of magic which was very subtle, adding a kind of whimsical lightness to the story, but the story was soooo painfully predictable, I knew the ending after reading the fist three chapters. Perfect book to read while traveling or if you just want something light and easy, if you are looking for something more complex and intriguing I'd pass.
    • 4/5
      The second book I've read by Sarah Addison Allen. I love her mix of romance, humor and magic.
    • 3/5
      if you are looking for a light and fluffy read.
    • 4/5
      I really appreciate how each of Allen's books is different. While they all have some kind of magical realism, there is more or less depending on the story and the stories are not cookie cutter stories. This was a great story of friendship and unlikely sisters and how privilege does not necessarily mean you've got it all.
    • 4/5
      This novel joins a rare collection of my fiction. Normally, when I picked up a fiction book, it's because someone recommended it, it's an author I already know or have heard about. This book, however, was one that "spoke" to me I picked it up, read the back, and knew it was a book I would adore. And it was. The characters intrigued me, and I was quickly twisted up into the story. The sugar-candy theme wove through out the story, and the magic - I loved it. The books appearing, the magic red sweater, the sweet romance, and the twist at the end - all made this book as satisfying as a warm cookie. Described as a Southern Gothic with a touch of Magic Realism, it truly lives up to those. A bit dark, a bit light, where secrets bind people together and keep them apparent, Allen writes a story worth reading.
    • 5/5
      A 27-year-old Josey Cirrini is suffocating under her mom's roof in Bald Slope, trying to redeem herself for her wickedness as a child. She has a secret place in her closet for candy. Candy makes Josey feel better, until one day she finds Della Lee Baker in her closet with her candy, and everything changes for Josey.

      [Sunday, December 25, 2011] In the beginning, I felt that Josy and her mom were Snow White and the Evil Queen. My favorite thing about this book is Chloe and her magical books! I wish I could have this gift, of books showing up when I need them.

      [Tuesday, December 27, 2011] I just finished the book, and I LOVED it! As always Sarah's world, words and characters enchant me! I laughed, fell in love and cried with them. Chloe and Adam's relationship is beautiful to read about, and forgiveness is beautiful to see. When I was younger, I always thought I would never stay with a guy who cheated on me, but now I see that our lives is not black and white, and people could make a mistake.

      *SPOILERS* I knew from the first moment that Della Lee was dead, and a ghost, what kind of surprised me, is the relationship between the three girls, they turned out to be sisters. It broke my heart how Josey's mother acts around her. To tell you the truth I don't feel sorry for her at all. I was happy to see her finally with the man [Adam] she was pinning for for three years! Adams words and action when her mom was acting like a step-mom on their first date brought tears to my eyes.
    • 4/5
      A quick read with a just the right touch of magical realism to keep the story fresh and interesting. I loved how books would "follow" Chloe. Oh, I wish I had that problem! The friendship that develops between Josey and Chloe was very special, too. It came at a time when the two women really needed the companionship and support. I enjoyed this very much
    • 3/5
      At least it was better than "The Girl Who Chased The Moon" but nowhere as enchanting as "Garden Spells".
    • 4/5
      This was an engaging enough story. Josie Cirrini lives at home and cares for her elderly mother and never has much fun. But one day, Della Lee Baker shows up in her closet and turns her world upside down. She makes a friend, whose boyfriend has just cheated on her, and see the mailman Adam (who she has a crush on) more than once a day. The conflicts pile up and then are resolved rather neatly. I've read Sarah Addison Allen before, so I knew that this would be a relatively simple story. I liked the touches of magical realism - especially the way that just the right book always shows up in Josie's friends life at the right time. However, I was forced to suspend disbelief a few too many times when the story came together a bit too neatly (for example, who lets a stranger stay in their closet for days on end). And the relationship between Josie and her mother was a bit one-dimensional and stereotypical. All of it added up to just a so-so read for me.
    • 5/5
      I love that this main character isn't the typical skinny perfect woman, she learns to forgive and accept herself in order to find her happiness. All the candy talk always makes me hungry when reading this one. Once again another fast paced wonderful read. The story and characters are so captivating I hate when I done and usually want to start over again
    • 5/5
      I love this sort of book and I fully admit my bias when it comes to grading it. I am a massive fan of Sarah Addison Allen and I think this book was even better than her first book, Garden Spells.

      Josie is a 27 year old woman who looks after her mother and is attempting to atone for a difficult phase when she was a child by conforming to exactly what her mother wants her to be, which is essentially nothing but an unpaid helper. Josey harbours 3 secrets - an infatuation with the mailman (Adam), a horde of travel magazines to places she'll never visit, and a stash of sweets hidden in her closet that she can't eat in public. One day she is woken up by a noise and discovers Della Lee Baker inside her closet. Della Lee makes herself at home and slowly, but surely begins to change Josey's life.

      I won't go into what happens, but I genuinely loved this. Josey is someone who it's easy to like - she's had her wings clipped so long that she almost doesn't know how to act, so to see her stumble and try and build relationships and friendships, you can't help but root for her.

      Chloe, a woman trying to understand why her boyfriend cheated, is a wonderfully conflicted character and her friendship with Josie is her one bright spot in the weeks following the revelation about her relationship. The funny thing is that her boyfriend, Jake, is easy to like. He's a great guy, who loves her more than words, who made a mistake and it was his own guilt that made him confess even though she would have never known otherwise. Throughout the book, and despite that fact you fully understand what Chloe is going through, you can't help but want her to forgive him. This is really unusual for me, as generally I have a zero tolerance policy to infidelity, but he was so genuine, that I couldn't help it.

      There is a hint of magic and the paranormal about the book, which appeals to me, and it obviously has romance and friendship. The drama isn't as dark as it was in Garden Spells, but it doesn't have to be.

      The only criticism I really have for the book is the fact that I almost wish it was a little longer. If not that then I would have loved a sequel. There's so much more I want to know about these characters and where their life takes them.
    • 4/5
      Loved this book as I have enjoyed the two previous book by Sarah Addison Allen. It is a great beach, summer and vacation read. It is pure fantasy and whimsy in a small town in North Carolina inhabited by quicky characters.Read it for fun and enjoy!
    • 3/5
      This book really struck a chord with me. Josey is a woman living with her mother in a small town. All anyone can ever remember about Josey is what a difficult child she was, even though now she has completely changed to the point of being totally submissive of all her mother's desires. One day she comes home to find Della Lee hiding in her closet, the place where Josey hides her true desires: sweets, romance novels and travel magazines. Della Lee has decided she needs to help Joesy fix her life. Just like in Allen's last novel there is a little bit of magic, whether it's knowing when someone's coming or books that follow you around.

      There is a huge twist, which is delicately hinted at and the book manages to be both fun and dark. I really enjoyed reading it and hope that Sarah Addison Allen continues to write.
    • 4/5
      Goodness, how I love Sarah Addison Allen books. She is real, whimsical, and mystical all at once. That's quite the combination! And I love books in which books are a main character. And the books in this book are hilarious!

      Main character Josey is strong, capable and a little damaged, just like most women in the world. She is a very likable character, and you are rooting for her from the first page.

      Surrounded by flawed characters, each person has a struggle to work through, and does so beautifully throughout the story. It's a book about love, overcoming fear, accepting fate, and letting go of the past. Wrap that up with a bow of magically appearing books and the hint of a murder, and you have a delicious reading treat!

      Recommended.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this, and couldn't put it down. It was one of those book club choices that completely fooled me, since I'd almost given up on the group. I admit to loving books about women in the south, since I've known so many of them (including many I'm related to), but this one was fine to read even if you're never been closer to North Carolina than Iowa.
    • 3/5
      I knew the second I saw this that it was pure 'Chick Lit'; everything about it screams the genre. For a mere $5 I figured it wouldn't hurt to have some fluff to pass time with. While it is Fluff, it surprised me by being far more profound than the cover blurb promised. The characters are all experts in being profoundly miserable, but this doesn't sour the story but instead makes it bittersweet. Allen's language may not be expert or eloquent but its simplicity makes her characters very easy to sympathize with and makes the pages fly by. I was put off by the writing in the first two pages or so, it sounded forced and hackneyed, but that is one of the few problems with this novel. Towards the end, the sense of time in the book kind of falls apart, since we are told in one sentence in the middle of a scene that a week or so has passed. I was also confused as to why Della Lee is still around at the end of the book. I also think, while the epistolar ending was a nice touch, the last chapter might have been the better place to end, just having so much more impact. Personally, I would like to have seen them molded together somehow while keeping Josey's revelation as the last sentence in the book. What I really enjoyed was the amount of "magic" in the story. Its never mentioned as such, it was more of an inherent quirky character of the setting that nobody seemed to question and took in stride. This gave a kind of sparkle to what might have only been a so-so read for me. What really caught me though, were Allen's characters, so fleshed out and wrapped up in their own private misery, so relatable in their efforts to find happiness. Not far into the book, I could not help but think that it was very similar to Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, and even though Allen's writing lacks the finesse of Hoffman, I enjoyed Sugar Queen so much more than Practical Magic because while I could appreciate the characters pains and joys, I wasn't made to wade though the muck of their personal issues. Sugar Queen is much lighter and refreshing and satisfying read, and didn't make me feel that I'd rotted my cranium with Brain Candy.
    • 4/5
      Liked this so much more than I anticipated. Whimsical and charming.
    • 3/5
      Folks who enjoyed Sarah Addison Allen's debut novel Garden Spells will find The Sugar Queen to be similar. Both are set in a small North Carolina town, quirky characters abound, food is prevalent, and there's an element of magical realism and fairy-tale woven throughout the story. In the beginning of the novel, these similarities kind of bothered me; I felt as if I was re-reading Garden Spells.

      Josey's story (and that of the other supporting characters) took over and made those distractions less so. Every character in The Sugar Queen has a secret, and all kinds of secrets (infidelity, unrequited love, shame) are being hidden in the figurative closets of Bald Slope, NC. Addison Allen's characters are well-developed and ones that the reader cares about. The writing is well-done, and the plot moves along nicely - particularly towards the ending, when the book truly becomes a page turner. Others reviews that I've read mention that they predicted the ending; I had an idea about part of it, but as I read, it wasn't enough of an overbearing thought to spoil the ending for me - which I also liked. It would have been easy for the ending to be trite and contrived, but it didn't seem so to me.

      I found myself enjoying this novel, both the audio and the print version. (I'm guessing I listened to approximately 3/4 of the book, then read the rest.) Karen White's narration on the audio is excellent. This is a fast read and an enjoyable one for fans of Southern fiction with a dash of magical realism.
    • 3/5
      I didn't enjoy this quite as much as her last one (Garden Spells) but it was still an enjoyable read. My biggest complaint is that some serious issues are glossed over as easily cured (such as secret eating), but that may be attributed to the vagaries of the magical realism genre. I'm looking forward to reading the authors next offering.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable read. Some interesting characters. A great read for anyone who likes magical realism.
    • 3/5
      Not convinced. It wasn't bad, but it felt like a bit of an avoidance of the difficult elements to resort to a ghost and magic.
      Josey is trapped in her childhood home by her feelings of obligation to caring for her mother - who she doesn't really get on with. Her whole life is consumed by looking after her mother in a guilt driven attempt to try and rectify her behaviour as a child. She has never really developed as a person - some might say she's never been allowed to develop a personality of her own by her parents - and her father's shadow is particularly long. Then there's the comfort eating and reading romance novels in her wardrobe - not a terribly healthy habit for either body or soul. One day she finds a woman in her wardrobe, and Della Lee slowly provokes Josey into some kind of action.

      Della almost forces Josey out into the real world and Josey makes friends with Chloe, who has relationship issues of her own. This includes a cheating boyfriend and the tendency for books to materialise out of thin air with titles that seem apt for her current mood and predicament. this could be viewed as an extension of the way a title can leap out and catch your eye from the bookshelf and be exactly what you need to read.

      There is an undeniable link between the three women, and the story could have stood perfectly well on that basis. However, the author then takes the easy way out (to my mind) by invoking a ghost and the magic appearing books. I'm not saying it was a bad book, in fact it was very engaging, but somewhat feather-light and instead of dealing honestly with the relationship issues that exist, it just sugar coated them and it all ends (relatively) happily, with no real depth.

      Not bad, but not sure I enjoyed it enough to try any others.
    • 3/5
      I was on a roll of four star books for awhile there, but I guess it had to end sometime. There's nothing actually wrong with this book, its a reasonably charming small romance with some hints of southern gothic and magical realism. A young woman lives a dull life waiting on her elderly mother, the social queen of a small North Carolina town, until a few supernatural interventions knock her out of her rut and she and many of the other people she interacts with start making some more satisfying choices.

      As I say, not a bad book, just not a great one. I like the characters well enough, and the story is fine but there isn't any great depth or passion here. Everyone has money and/or a good job, a reasonable education and some good friends and family - they just needed to clear up some misunderstandings. So, some stuck people decide to stop doing the things that made them get stuck - everybody pairs up and lives happily ever after in their nice, unexceptional safe world.

      There are worse ways to pass a few hours. But, at least for me, its not really magical.