I really enjoyed Garden Spells so I was wary of The Sugar Queen… second novels are often not as good as first novels. Even when Sassymonkey said The Sugar Queen was good, I wasn’t quite ready to believe it.
The Sugar Queen WAS good. It might even be better than Garden Spells, which bodes well for future novels from Sarah Addison Allen.
Loved the titles of the chapters, nice touch. Love the books that “find” Chloe. Love the cab driver who has to keep his promises. Love Helena err Marlena. Love them all.
Sheesh – you don’t like believing me when I say books are good do you? 😉 I loved the Chloe/books thing (and was perhaps a wee bit jealous of it).
My only minor complaint about it, because I really did enjoy it, is that the story arc was a bit too similar to Garden Spells. (I’m thinking of the climax.) I’m looking forward to her next book (coming out sometime in 2009 and has something to do with barbeque and cake) and I’m really hoping that it deviates from that pattern. I want to get lost in her books without thinking that I know exactly how it’s going to end.
Here’s to hoping it’s not a cursed third book! (I think we’re safe since they aren’t in a series.)
I really want to read these. Looks like I have to wait for Sugar Queen in paperback though. Thinking I’ll gift Garden Spells to one of my sisters for Christmas…