Grab some sweets and relax

In the similar vein of Francesca Lia Block’s magical realism, we get The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. The character’s in Ms. Allen’s books are all pretty normal, except when they’re not. Like when a woman will be in need of a book, and it will just appear. Or a man who is completely bound by any promise he makes. From this world we get Josey, a reserved woman who lives to make her mom forgive her for being a terrible child, and who hides an impressive candy stash in her room for escape. Then one day, Della Lee enters Josey’s world and turns it upside down. Della Lee finds Josey’s closet (where she hides her candy) the perfect place to crash for a while as she deals with her life. As she’s figuring things out, she’s also helping Josey with her problems. In the end we get a very satisfying character driven story with a little sprinkling of fairy dust thrown in. A perfect getaway read on a quiet weekend.