The Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen

I listened to this book on my iPod and I thought it was fantastic! It's another grown up book (I'm getting to the YA books though, I am, I promise!).

This story is by an author who wrote another book called Garden of Spells. I read that and I thought was pretty good, so when I read that she had a new book out, I decided to give it a try. This one is excellent. I was trying to decide what genre to call this, so I looked at another review and that person called it "magical realism romance." Now magic and realism don't really seem to go together, but that description does definitely seem to fit this fun novel. And although I certainly knew there were elements of magic in the story, books appearing at will, coffee pots boiling over when two people are together, a cold wind, etc., the full realization of the magic about knocked me over when it was revealed near the end of the book. Perhaps other readers might have figured it out sooner, but I was clueless. Interestingly, this other reviewer thought Allen's other book was stronger than this one, but I do not agree.

Character development is once again very strong in this book, even that of some characters who are more minor players, like bad boy Julian and the superstitious maid "Helena". Josey, the main character, still lives with her widowed mother who she is forever trying to please and forever failing. Josey's main comfort is candy, of which she has an entire closet full. Her other comfort is the mail. But it's not because of what's being delivered, it's the who in this case. Josey has fallen hard for the mailman, Adam, a man with deep secrets of his own. Then there's sleazy Della Lee who is hiding in Josey's closet full of advice, and Chloe who has books following her unbidden everywhere she goes and is in a desperate state about a break-up.

This was a great, light summer read/listen. Recommended to readers who enjoy light romance with an ability to suspend some disbelief. Available at Multnomah County Libraries.