The Sugar Queen, by Sarah Addison Allen

Reviewed by Cecilia Rotella

I came across some issues and strange ideas in The Sugar Queen that I thought I'd share with everyone. They're not necessarily good, mind you. The overall problem was the plot itself, which is kind of the whole basis of a book. I mean, without a plot it may as well be a book with blank pages. I'm sorry to say, this is how I pretty much would have preferred The Sugar Queen.

In a nutshell, it's about Josey who is a great lover of sugary foods (so much that she stashes it in a secret compartment in her closet) and  is the only daughter of Marco and Margaret Cirrini. Her family is considered "royalty" in the small town of Bald Slope, North Carolina. But unlike other rich kids, who live more for the art of scandal than anything else, Josey, 27, lives tied firmly to her mother's apron strings and can barely say boo, so she hides in her Willy Wonka-esque dream and eats to fill a gaping void.

This changes when the mysterious and scandalous Della Lee takes refuge in her closet and stubbornly refuses to leave. Josey's life is turned upside down, and this brings her into contact with Chloe, a girl with a strange attraction to books (or the books have an attraction to her), and into plain view of Adam, the sexy postman. Slowly, she begins to emerge from her mother's tightly controlled grip and learns more about herself and the strange connections with the people around her.

The Sugar Queen starts off with numerous confectionary metaphors, which seem kind of overdone after reading Joanne Harris's Chocolat. For such a small novel, it too often takes the point of view of every character that Josey comes into contact with. This makes it superficial, and feels like there is no real character development.

The shaky links between Josey, Della Lee and Chloe could have been better explored, as well as Josey's transformation, which seems like it happens way too quickly and without any real complications. Josey's reason for being so easily dominated is especially petty, and a real disappointment. And Chloe's strange, magically appearing books are just plain weird.

On the whole, The Sugar Queen had the potential to be a something better than what it was. It's a bit too erratic and feels like Sarah Addison Allen tried to cram in every plot point she could think of, without considering consistency. But if you're after an easy read, where you don't want to think about what you're reading, I'd recommend it.