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Ain't She Sweet?

by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Goodreads Author)

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 8,654 ratings · 445 reviews

Sugar Beth Carey's come back to Parrish, Mississippi, and she'sbrought her reputation for wreaking havoc with her. She's broke,desperate, and too proud to show it, even with her old enemieslining up for a chance to get even. Her former girlfriends havetheir eyebrow pencils sharpened into lethal points. Winnie Davis,her longtime rival, is fully armed with the money, power,...more

Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages

Published January 25th 2005 by Avon (first published 2004)

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Oct 28, 2010 Lady Valee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cont-romance

Well, I really liked this one, just not as much as the Chicago stars or Kissed by an Angel.

My problem was that even though we saw Sugar grow and Colin get what he needed, still the characters were not as appealing as the rest of SEP's characters. I liked more the others because they faced real traumas through their lives. Although once I realized how hard it had been for Sugar to get through a father like that I could sympathize with her a bit more, but not much because of all the terrible thing...more Well, I really liked this one, just not as much as the Chicago stars or Kissed by an Angel.

My problem was that even though we saw Sugar grow and Colin get what he needed, still the characters were not as appealing as the rest of SEP's characters. I liked more the others because they faced real traumas through their lives. Although once I realized how hard it had been for Sugar to get through a father like that I could sympathize with her a bit more, but not much because of all the terrible things she had done to everybody while she was at high school, specially to her step-sister. I mean it's fine she changed and all, but she still had done such horrible things that I could not forgive her, so I just could not get to love her as the rest of the heroines. Maybe bullies are common in the US but they are definitely not in my country. Things like that just don't happened in here, ever. How can someone do such vile things to anyone? I get it that she was the heroine and all and I really loved the new Sugar, but in my mind I just could not forget the things she did in her past.

Still as those things were just barely mentioned and did not take much space in the book, I still could love because SEP's writing was amazing as always. We get to know so much about a lot of characters that it is just not possible to not get into the book. You get to feel part of the town and related to the characters. You get to really care about them and how everything will end. As always the secondary story was amazing and perfectly related to the main story. I would have definitely given 5 stars to this one if it wasn't about such a dreadful topic. I really don't care about high school drama at all, but don't get me wrong, this book is not about teens and high schools. Maybe that is a big topic in the book because it's how all the characters are currently related but the story develops 15 years after that.

4 stars to this one from me. A great story, and it would have been perfect if we could erase those terrible actions from the heroine. Now you'll just have to read the book to know what I'm talking about,lol.(less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Ceecee rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: romance readers looking for a different kind of romance story

Shelves: favorites, 5-star, breath-of-fresh-air, love-to-reread, books-i-own, adorable-couples

The reason that this book is my favorite romance of all time is because it was totally different from the romances I read, back in the day when I really liked reading romances.

Heroines were not Mean Girls, like Sugar Beth was. Really. Heroines were goody-two-shoes, who had troubled pasts, but they were also spunky (who still says spunky?), and everybody just luurrrved them. Not Sugar Beth. And what kind of heroine's name is Sugar Beth? I almost didn't read this book for that, no kidding. Thank...more

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Feb 04, 2010 Rosina Lippi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, reviewed-here

First: I listened to this as an audiobook, and I’m going to evaluate the book separately from the reading.

The book is, for my money, probably going to be my favorite Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It’s funny and sweet, but it’s also quite thoughtful. It’s a twist on Cinderella and her stepsister — because you don’t know which one is which, and by the end, you’re still debating. In a good way. Can they both be Cinderella, with dashes of stepsister? Pretty much, because the main female characters (Sug...more First: I listened to this as an audiobook, and I’m going to evaluate the book separately from the reading.

The book is, for my money, probably going to be my favorite Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It’s funny and sweet, but it’s also quite thoughtful. It’s a twist on Cinderella and her stepsister — because you don’t know which one is which, and by the end, you’re still debating. In a good way. Can they both be Cinderella, with dashes of stepsister? Pretty much, because the main female characters (Sugar Beth, the former high school beauty queen of Parrish, Mississippi, now down on her luck) and Winifred (her half sister by her father’s open relationship to another woman) are complex in the way they see themselves, each other, and the world. In the end I liked Sugar Beth the best, because she comes a long way, learns a lot, but doesn’t lose her edge.

The novel is very atmospheric, full of southern smells and sights and sounds (I’ll get to more about this in a minute) and does a great job of capturing the good and bad of small town life. I highly recommend it for anybody who likes a well done love story. Unless you’ve got a lot of biased, preconceived notions about romance, you should read this book.

Now about the audio. The reader is Kate Flemming, and she knows her way around a variety of southern accents. Flemming reads Sugar Beth with just the right amount of vinegar; I don’t think I would have liked Sugar Beth quite so much if I had been reading rather than listening. Really.

The problem is Flemming’s reading of Colin Byrne, the main male character. A successful author, once Sugar Beth’s reviled high school English teacher — she got him fired by telling a lie after he proved that a man could be immune to her charms. Colin is supposed to be the son of an Irish mason, a boy with ambition who managed to get an education beyond his social standing and pulled himself up by the proverbial bootstraps. I don’t believe there’s ever a mention of where he went to university, but it’s clear that he worked for what he’s got, and re-cast himself. And then Kate Flemming goes and reads him with an outdated posh upper class accent.

There are lots of examples of current day upper-class English accents out there. Colin Firth in What a Girl Wants jumps to mind, along with a dozen other examples from modern movies. But this Colin Byrne talks like an overdone Basil Rathbone circa 1930, all glottal creak (which is, in fact, a technical term) and plummy vowels. I kept thinking it was a joke, that there would be some explanation in the story of why he affected such an outlandish accent, but nope. It was so overdone it almost stopped me from listening to the book, but the story pulled me along and I learned to ignore it. I think I would have liked the character Colin Byrne a lot more if he hadn’t sounded like such a dweeb of a throwback.

Please note that I do have some grounds for making such judgments — my husband is a Brit with the kind of educational background that Colin Byrne is supposed to have. I played a bit of the audiobook for him so he could hear the character, and he burst into laughter.

But. In the end Flemming does such a great job with the other characters, I have to give the audiobook a pass.(less)

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Kym Collar I agree with you about this being one of SEP's best. I read it in print 3 times in a row, with nothing in between. It is the reason I finally joined a...more I agree with you about this being one of SEP's best. I read it in print 3 times in a row, with nothing in between. It is the reason I finally joined audible.com. I wanted to hear those Southern accents, and Kate Flemming did a pretty good job of the accent, and i've listened to it at least 4 times. The problem I had with the audio version is that the non-speaking parts were also read in that Southern accent. Unless a book is first-person, I think it should be read in a "newscaster" accent, with the speaking parts done in character voice. I listen to a lot of Regency romances and the good ones read them that way, like a news reader who breaks into the appropriate voice at the right time. Even in upper Society, the characters come in from their country estates, which can be as far north as the Scottish border or as far south as Cornwall, and even with the Etonian and Cambridge education, some of the original accent can come through in the reading. Oh, if you really want audio dissonance, watch an old movie called Excalibur. You can tell there was no vocal coach on set, because Merlin sounds like he came from Liverpool, and the legend has him coming from the south of England, or some sort of magical netherworld. He was supposed to have built Stonehenge from stones he levitated from Ireland. Oh, but maybe the magical place IS Liverpool - it's where the Beatles originated! :)

Regarding your problem with the reading of the Colin Byrne part, I think the point is that he had re-invented himself. In fact, in his self-description of when he came to the Mississippi to teach, he described himself as playing the part of the tragic poet. The re-invention was shown by the difference between when he's building the wall and the face he portrays for everyone else. Sort of like the difference between Sugar Beth's public face and who she is on the inside. That's something the two have in common.

Overall, I agree with your assessment of this novel. I loved the characters, and how SEP showed the differences between HS and adulthood. It also does a good job of showing that, in the town, as far as Sugar Beth is concerned, time has stood still. Well, she's still conniving in some ways, but she has finally grown up and into who she could have been without such a dysfunctional family.(less)
Jan 25, 2013 09:35am

Aug 09, 2012 Brenda Margriet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really did NOT like Sugar Beth and Colin for much of the first part of this book. It is a testament to SEP's skill that I kept reading, regardless, and discovered, along with Sugar Beth and Colin, how wonderful they were.

Liked Winnie's storyline, too, even though I did feel they fixed the deep rooted issues of 14 years of marriage pretty quickly.

Sugar Beth is not likable, and in many ways it because she doesn't love herself. And Colin, while it is understandable he wants revenge, is incredibly...more

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May 12, 2013 Beverly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: amazing

Ah, I just love Susan Elizabeth Phillips so much. I am never reading reviews for her books ever again prior to reading the book myself. I was reading reviews about how some people hated it and it didn't live up to the expectations of her other books and I got worried that I wouldn't like it and my view of this author would be tainted, but it didn't turn out like that. I loved this book!

I know that what Sugar Beth did when she was in high school was terrible, but I never, not for a single moment...more Ah, I just love Susan Elizabeth Phillips so much. I am never reading reviews for her books ever again prior to reading the book myself. I was reading reviews about how some people hated it and it didn't live up to the expectations of her other books and I got worried that I wouldn't like it and my view of this author would be tainted, but it didn't turn out like that. I loved this book!

I know that what Sugar Beth did when she was in high school was terrible, but I never, not for a single moment, hated her. I cried so much during the scene where Sugar Beth finds out the terrible truth about her father. I just...I couldn't believe she had to endure that. At that moment, I hated Winnie too. It doesn't make much sense considering that Winnie had no say in the matter, but gosh darn it, Winnie shouldn't have existed to begin with! So the moment that Sugar Beth comes back and everyone is treating her like she is the scum of the earth, well, I wanted Sugar Beth to go back to how she used to be and show them all up again. Especially Colin. Ugh, the things Colin did to her. He made me so angry, but I was glad that his sentimental self got with the program quickly.

But I loved Sugar Beth. I liked how we could see her transitions and developments. I also loved the scenes where she proved that she wasn't the same person she was as a teenager anymore. She was so dignified, headstrong, and smart. No one could stand a chance against her. Her humor also helped in my loving her.

Now Colin was a guy I was wary about. He claims he doesn't hold a grudge, but his revenge on Sugar Beth was cruel. Luckily this was only during the first part of the book, so we were given a lot of time to fall in love with him. And I did. I fell in love with this dark, brooding, British man and his weird ways. The way he acts around Sugar Beth is interesting. With everyone else he's polite, distant, or indifferent to, but with Sugar Beth he's sarcastic, funny, mean, and charming. His propositions are great, too (view spoiler). It turns out that that stoic man is actually very creative and sentimental, and I loved him for it.

I didn't like the Galantine family. I hated Winnie. I hated Ryan - I thought he was so stupid. And I didn't care much for Gigi.

A character I did like, though, wad Diddie. Sure, she wasn't the greatest woman around, but my gosh, at least she was a loving mother. Her advice was also pretty terrible, but she ultimately made Sugar Beth who she is now and I can appreciate that.

(view spoiler)

I loved the story and I would recommend everyone to read it. It'll make you cry every now and then, and other parts will annoy you immensely, but you'll love the characters at the end. Also, that ending was awesome and I couldn't have asked for a better one.(less)

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Mar 25, 2013 Julija (Ju) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: anti-or-byronic-hero-heroine, chick-lit, contemporary-romance-is-not-for-me, redemption-and-forgiveness, my-cuddly-comfort-reads, girl-you-are-adorable, he-is-a-jerk-but-that-is-okay, from-hate-to-love-opposites-attract, friends-to-die-for, family-issues

4.5 stars

Basically, this is a very serious book.

“She was a woman of strong principles and sterling character, the kind of woman who, in days of yore, had driven ordinary men to scale castle walls or sent a prince door-to-door with a glass slipper in his pocket.”

Once upon a time, fifteen years ago to be precise, there were two girls. One - the queen of the school, selfish and self-centered. The other - a geek, shy and outcasted. The first has everything: beauty, popularity, money, best friends f...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Elizen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: laugh-my-ass-out, chick-lit, bad-girls-gone-nice, read-2013, mean-girls, susan-elizabeth-phillips

okay, Jennifer's Body is the first thing that came into my mind when I started reading Ain't She Sweet. Except that Sugar Beth's not a succubus. But, they've got a lot of similarities. Oh well...

This is my third book of SEP. First was Breathing Room and the second was Natural Born Charmer. So far she hadn't disappointed me yet. Anyway, let's go to the real deal...
I gave it 4 stars. The book made me laugh, it made me cry, giddy, annoyed (in a good way) etc...
all in all, it's a great book.

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Jan 06, 2013 Gaby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit

Este libro llegó a mis manos gracias a Carla (CarBra) y no puedo más que agradecerle el préstamo. (¡Gracias totales Carla!!!!)
Es el primero que leo de esta autora que ya venía escuchando nombrar desde hacía rato y tengo un par más para ponerme a tono con su obra.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (SEP) narra en tercera persona y a lo largo de 368 páginas el triste regreso de Sugar Beth a Parrish, luego de quince años.

La historia comienza con los primeros sentimientos de Sugar Beth al reencontrarse con su...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Muccamukk rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Oh man, I really didn't like how this book ended. The premise is bitch queen from High school comes back to small town and has to deal with the consequences of her actions, and she does, and it's going pretty good. I liked her inner strength and grace, and how she's obviously matured but still had the same core. The focus is a lot on the Ideals of Southern Womanhood and how they can either provide strength or screw you up, depending, forgiveness, mother-daughter and sister relationships and why...more Oh man, I really didn't like how this book ended. The premise is bitch queen from High school comes back to small town and has to deal with the consequences of her actions, and she does, and it's going pretty good. I liked her inner strength and grace, and how she's obviously matured but still had the same core. The focus is a lot on the Ideals of Southern Womanhood and how they can either provide strength or screw you up, depending, forgiveness, mother-daughter and sister relationships and why acting like a dick in highschool is bad, but continuing that behaviour into adulthood is the real problem. The romance plot is more push me pull me than I usually go for, but they two characters are so much emotional and intellectual equals that it felt more like a game then vindictive.

But then the hero, now a famous author, publishes a tell all about how her mother was a bitch and she screwed him over. Mitigating factors being that she did screw him over, he wrote it before she came back and they were reconciled, it was too far along in the publication process to change, and he did give her an ARC once they were reconciled as a heads up. STILL! Infuriated, she tries to dump him, or at least seriously put the breaks on their relationship, then decides to leave town to get away from him because he doesn't want to. He calls her a coward, then leaves town himself so she doesn't have to. When she wants to resume the relationship, having weathered the national media attention that the book brought by herself (since he's vanished), he says he'll only come back if she not only agrees to marry him, but is standing at the alter waiting. Everything has to be on his terms. And the worst part is, she agrees to this! The push me/pull me relationship ends with her putting up a white flag and doing what he tells her. Then it turns out he wrote a sequel to his book as a love letter to her, and everything's fine.

So basically he screws her over via public humiliation in a way that gets national media attention, then refuses to give her space, then will only give her space as a punishment, then wants her to live on his terms. Why the fuck would you marry this guy?(less)

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Sep 08, 2012 Wanderlust rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: baby-mama-drama

Cover & Title - four out of five.
Favorite line - “When he overheard the boys whispering that he was a queer, he said he regarded that as a compliment since so many of the world’s great men had been homosexual. Alas, I’ve been sentenced to a life mundane heterosexuality. I can only hope that a few of you will be more fortunate.
Favorite Character - Sugar.

Now this book had cheese factor in spades but i truly loved it anyway.
My favorite things -
1. Colin's humor, he had some really awesome lin...more

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Sep 07, 2012 VaultOfBooks rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

By Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Grade: A
Ain’t She Sweet? No, not really.
She’s the baddest girl in town…isn’t she?
Sugar Beth Carey’s come back to Parrish, Mississippi, and she’s brought her reputation for wreaking havoc with her. She’s broke, desperate, and too proud to show it, even with her old enemies lining up for a chance to get even. Her former girlfriends have their eyebrow pencils sharpened into lethal points. Winnie Davis, her longtime rival, is fully armed with the money, power, and presti...more By Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Grade: A
Ain’t She Sweet? No, not really.
She’s the baddest girl in town…isn’t she?
Sugar Beth Carey’s come back to Parrish, Mississippi, and she’s brought her reputation for wreaking havoc with her. She’s broke, desperate, and too proud to show it, even with her old enemies lining up for a chance to get even. Her former girlfriends have their eyebrow pencils sharpened into lethal points. Winnie Davis, her longtime rival, is fully armed with the money, power, and prestige that had once been Sugar Beth’s. But worst of all is Colin Byrne, the man whose career Sugar Beth had destroyed–and not exactly accidentally.
Now Colin’s a famous novelist living in Sugar Beth’s old mansion, and this modern day dark prince is using his writer’s imagination to figure out how to bring the town’s beautiful former princess to her knees. But despite her sassy mouth, feisty spirit, and hardheaded ways, Sugar Beth’s no longer the spoiled rich girl they all remember. No, now she’s a woman to be reckoned with…and a great big reckonin’ is about to happen, not least of all for one dark prince who might–just might–be thinking about falling in love with the wickedest girl in town.
Ain’t She Sweet? A funny, heartwarming, oh-so-spicy story of love, friendship, and the possibility of happily-ever-after.

I have a love-hate relationship with the novel. There were a lot of things I loved, and a lot of things I detested. The best part is the uniqueness. Phillips dares to step outside the romance cliches writing a heroine who is far from perfect, afraid of love for valid and human reasons, and even of a heroine who truly loved her (last) ex-husband.
SEP creates a powerfully emotional story of revenge, old grudges, southern literature, and people trying to come to terms with their mistakes and the consequences of their decisions.
Sugar Beth Carey was the trifecta of badness in high school: privileged, popular, and as vicious as a riled cotton mouth. When she blew out of Parrish, Mississippi, intent on taking life by the jugular and squeezing, she left a path of devastation in her wake. Before she carelessly blew off her best friends and cheated on her high school sweetheart, then dumped him, she’d tormented and emotionally tortured her illegitimate half sister and got her English teacher (Colin) fired and forced out of the country by lying about an attempt to molest her.
Life, though, doesn’t concern itself much with the callow attempts of the vain and shallow, the spoiled and venomous. It’s the great leveler. And with one abusive husband, one drunken husband, and a string of failures and mistakes prior to landing slightly more gently with a third husband several years her senior, only to end up virtually penniless upon his death, Sugar Beth Carey was more than adequately leveled.
Fifteen years later, has returned to Parrish to retrieve a valuable painting from the cottage her aunt has left to her. She is a bedraggled, down on her luck, but still beautiful heroine, who uses her sexuality like a shield and a weapon, returning to her home town, tail between her legs.
Colin, who now resides in the manor home Sugar Beth grew up in (on the same property as the cottage), plans to take revenge on the woman who once ruined his teaching career by falsely accusing him of sexual harassment. At the same time, Sugar Beth’s return exposes fault lines in the marriage of Winnie, Sugar Beth’s estranged half sister, and Ryan, the high school boyfriend Sugar Beth jilted, and creates drama and excitement for the rest of Sugar Beth’s old gang, still known as the Sea Willows.
I loved the heroine. I loved her, absolutely loved her, and I am yet to meet a person who agreed with me on this count. Sugar Beth was unlike any character in any book I’ve read before. This woman had done some really horrible things, especially to Colin and Winnie, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to like her. She was just a little on the trashy side, definitely not the perfect, sometimes virginal characters we read about so often.
She was smart, funny, and strong. SEP doesn’t minimize her awfulness as a teen, but helps us to understand how it arose. Sugar Beth was a spiteful, mean-spirited girl in her youth, most especially to Winnie, but SEP delves so deeply into Sugar Beth’s psyche that you understand why she acted the way she did. Her motivations are very clear. The Sugar Beth we meet at the beginning of the book has grown up and taken her fair share of lumps and she ends up taking several more before the book is through. But she doesn’t let any of it break her spirit.
You absolutely want to hate her, but you can’t. Everyone makes mistakes and she made more than her fair share! How can you hate a person for being human?
Ain’t She Sweet? is a complex and layered southern contemporary romance with more depth and tragedy than I was expecting. I give credit to Susan Elizabeth Phillips for managing to keep Sugar Beth sympathetic, despite some actions that were outrageously unforgivable. In fact, for all that Sugar Beth was a wretched, wretched child, there was enough cause given to balance out some pretty horrendous things, and enough redemption to keep her palatable as the female lead.
I had a harder time with Colin, actually. I liked him from the beginning, and by the end I loved him, but he wasn’t given as much development and backstory as I would have preferred. It made it a little hard sometimes to really put my finger on the motivations for some of his words and actions and kept him feeling a little like a stranger through the book.
The Seawillows, however, I genuinely hated. And their unrelenting pettiness rubbed me the wrong way from the start. Where I can fully understand why Sugar Beth and Winnie had valid, painful issues going back almost since birth, that group of harpies had little to warrant such grudges and reprehensible behavior in public, and had nothing at all redeeming about them. They so needed to get over events that happened fifteen years ago. They, and Ryan and Winnie’s story (NO secondary stories, Ms Phillips, for the last time!) were the only part of the book that I flat out didn’t like.
All in all, the story is very complex and not something everybody would like. Some parts had me laughing out loud and others just made me want to cry. I really liked it, but can’t say the same for the readers.

Originally reviewed at www.vaultofbooks.com (less)

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Aug 31, 2012 Juliet rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adorable, chick-lit, contemporary-romance, funny, hot, loved, made-me-happy, favorite-characters

I am on a Susan Elizabeth Phillips kick. This is the second book I've read by her, and while I loved Glitter Baby more, it's not by much. I loved this, loved the romance. From the beginning I loved Sugar Beth and her kick-ass attitude. The chemistry between her and Colin was smoking hot and I loved their arguing. Colin is just super sexy and I was cracking up at his wit and the very British sounding things he said. The love in this is so sweet, and I love how Colin acts. It develops so suddenly...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Ally Blake rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, romance, keeper, reading-romance-2012

I once heard another author say they struggled for years to read this Susan Elizabeth Phillips book because they couldn’t imagine enjoying a book about a heroine named Sugar Beth. I know how they feel! Every time I picked it up I thought, mmm, maybe later...

Oh my god. Really!!! This is one of those rare books that I spent the entire time thinking I WISH I’D WRITTEN THIS!!! This with a heroine who was the most popular girl in town, stepping on anyone who got in her path along the way, who now dow...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Iris Blobel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ain't She Sweet is one of those books where I was undecided on what rating to give this book. It was a great read, and nowadays I don't expect anything less from SEP, she's just one hell of a writer, but ... hmmm .... how to put it into words. The plot was good, funny, witty, great dialogue etc, but I had a hard time warming up to the characters.

Sugar Beth is coming back to Parrish after years away and three marriages later. She's not welcomed with open arms is an understatement, old feelings of...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Brie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ain't She Sweet? is a story full of conflict and drama, which makes it my kind of book. What I loved most about it was that both Colin and Sugar Beth were full of the dramatics. Reading the story was something like watching a play, where everything is deliciously overacted. But I'm partial to drama queens so these types of characters work for me. I did have some problems with the story, though. The reason's for Colin and Winnie's anger at Sugar Beth was understandable, she had done both of them...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

More complex than most romances - recommended. Sugar Beth comes back to her small town and suffers at the hands of people she scorned in high school. I loved Sugar Beth.

The question of the book is - how long do we have to pay for what happened in high school? I think Sugar Beth has to pay too much, which is why I give the book only 4 stars. No matter how the author piled it on, I don't think Winnie Davis was justified in what she does to exact revenge. The entire Winnie sub-plot was a misstep, b...more

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May 08, 2011 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-stars, contemporary-romance, fiction

A romance classic for a reason. I almost didn't want it to end.

Sugar Beth is an awesome character. She did horrible things and made terribly poor choices in her youth, and at the book's start, she's grown up a lot and is on the tail end of a redemption arc. Though her intention is a short and sweet homecoming (get in, get the painting her late aunt bequeathed her, and get out), life get complicated and she's forced to stay longer in a hometown where she is, very decidedly, not welcome. Despite S...more A romance classic for a reason. I almost didn't want it to end.

Sugar Beth is an awesome character. She did horrible things and made terribly poor choices in her youth, and at the book's start, she's grown up a lot and is on the tail end of a redemption arc. Though her intention is a short and sweet homecoming (get in, get the painting her late aunt bequeathed her, and get out), life get complicated and she's forced to stay longer in a hometown where she is, very decidedly, not welcome. Despite Sugar Beth's Mean Girl past, she now carries herself with dignity and not a small amount of mature sass. Her attitude (fun to read, easy to respect and like) made her vulnerability stand out in sharp, raw relief, too. Colin was less interesting to me, but I didn't have too many problems with him. His actions were understandable, if not always good or moral high-ground decisions.

Winnie and Jeff's marriage troubles were quite engaging to me, and I loved how realistic their daughter was, but Winnie herself was not always easy for me to comprehend. I couldn't completely buy that she was ignorant of the reason why Sugar Beth hated her in their youth. As for the Sea Willows, I liked their friendship, but I was annoyed by the cliquey-group-ish-ness that accompanied it (though, yeah, I know, that's often a side effect of a strong group of friends). It left me with the impression that this was a way they treated people in general, not just Sugar Beth.

This book is self-conscious as a romance. Pointedly relevant Georgette Heyer quotes start each chapter, and the hero and heroine read and reference romance novels in general. I can see how this might annoy some readers, but I found that this added to the book's value for me. Colin inflicts a "punishing kiss" on Sugar Beth early in the book, and unlike the punishing kisses one might find in a old-school romance, it's clear that this kiss was intended to be every ounce as skeevy as it comes across.

It's not a perfect book. It did, however, suck me in completely, kept me thinking and feeling, and I loved the deservedly legendary Sugar Beth. Neither she nor Colin were perfect, either, and their flaws and their missteps and their past made their romance a very memorable one. This is the third SEP I've read and the one I've liked the best--I thought the heroes in the others were jerks, whereas Colin's jerkish behavior was at least understandable to an extent if not always justifiable, and his flaws seemed intentional, and I could see why he and Sugar Beth would fall in love and be good partners for each other. And that's just what I want in a romance.(less)

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Mar 19, 2011 Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-romance, non-series-stand-alone-novels

Sugar Beth Carey was the trifecta of badness in high school: privileged, popular, and as vicious as a riled cotton mouth. When she blew out of Parrish, Mississippi, intent on taking life by the jugular and squeezing, she left a path of devastation in her wake. Before she carelessly blew off her best friends and cheated on her high school sweetheart, then dumped him, she'd tormented and emotionally tortured her illegitimate half sister and got her English teacher fired and forced out of the count...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Jessi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, 2011, appealing-characteristic-story, contemporary

I so totally adore Susan Elizabeth Phillips. She creates vivid characters who are just the right amount of flawed to be realistic but just colorful enough to make her books a joy to read over and over again.
Sugar Beth has been married three times since she turned her back on her hometown. When she left, she had not only cut all ties with her current friends, she had destroyed the employment opportunities of a twenty-two-year-old teacher by falsely accusing him of molesting her. Life has kicked h...more

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Feb 16, 2011 Sarah Eiseman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book, and I don’t normally go for the overly dramatic, but this one did it for me. It’s kinda funny–I actually thought Phillips was from the South when I started reading her works (she’s from Chicago), but I think she did a great job of writing a Southern romance without being a native.

This book followed Sugar Beth Carey and Colin Byrne. Colin is a brooding British author who moved to Mississippi when Sugar was a senior in highschool. He was only 4 years her senior and she made his...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Bronwyn Rykiert rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, romance

This book was a lot of fun, it was a happy and sad story and I even found myself laughing out loud at times with the interaction between Colin and Sugar Beth. I especially loved the accent used for Colin.

Sugar Beth Carey arrives back in her home town after turning her back on it to conquer the world 15 years before. She left behind her parents, her boyfriend (love me forever) Ryan Gallantine, her best friends and her much hated half sister Winnie Davis, and a whole lot of other people who she be...more

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Jun 02, 2010 Mom rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-during-2010

She’s the baddest girl in town…isn't she?
Sugar Beth Carey's come back to Parrish, Mississippi, and she's brought her reputation for wreaking havoc with her. She's broke, desperate, and too proud to show it, even with her old enemies lining up for a chance to get even. Her former girlfriends have their eyebrow pencils sharpened into lethal points. Winnie Davis, her longtime rival, is fully armed with the money, power, and prestige that had once been Sugar Beth's. But worst of all is Colin Byrne,...more

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May 29, 2010 KimKirt rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance-contemporary

Wow, Sugar Beth was one strong heroine. I like my heroines strong, don't get me wrong, because I really roll my eyes when reading helpless female books, but dang, this one really was to the other extreme. I actually felt annoyed with Sugar Beth at times, and then that annoyance would transgress to the other characters for being so mean spirited towards her, I mean, grow up, get over your high school grudges and move on. The vendettas in this book were a little over the top.

That said, my jury is...more

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Feb 01, 2010 Debbie Lester rated it 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis

Sugar Beth Carey's come back to Parrish, Mississippi, and she's brought her reputation for wreaking havoc with her. She's broke, desperate, and too proud to show it, even with her old enemies lining up for a chance to get even. Her former girlfriends have their eyebrow pencils sharpened into lethal points. Winnie Davis, her longtime rival, is fully armed with the money, power, and prestige that had once been Sugar Beth's. But worst of all is Colin Byrne, the man whose career Sugar Beth...more Synopsis

Sugar Beth Carey's come back to Parrish, Mississippi, and she's brought her reputation for wreaking havoc with her. She's broke, desperate, and too proud to show it, even with her old enemies lining up for a chance to get even. Her former girlfriends have their eyebrow pencils sharpened into lethal points. Winnie Davis, her longtime rival, is fully armed with the money, power, and prestige that had once been Sugar Beth's. But worst of all is Colin Byrne, the man whose career Sugar Beth had destroyed — and not exactly accidentally.

Now Colin's a famous novelist living in Sugar Beth's old mansion, and this modern day dark prince is using his writer's imagination to figure out how to bring the town's beautiful former princess to her knees. But despite her sassy mouth, feisty spirit, and hardheaded ways, Sugar Beth's no longer the spoiled rich girl they all remember. No, now she's a woman to be reckoned with ... and a great big reckonin' is about to happen, not least of all for one dark prince who might — just might — be thinking about falling in love with the wickedest girl in town.
Ain't She Sweet? A funny, heartwarming, oh-so-spicy story of love, friendship, and the possibility of happily-ever-after.

My Thoughts:

I would have to say, I was a bit skeptical when I first started reading Ain't She Sweet? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I had never read anything by the author before and from reading the back cover it sounded like a typical romance I might have read before... but was I ever wrong!

I truly enjoyed this book very much. I most identified with Winnie Davis the girl in high school that was made fun of, was perhaps a little too smart and didn't have a lot of confidence in herself. Her secret crush on the high school football team's star. Her struggles with friendships. She was a very endearing character. But, Sugar Beth really does take center stage.

This book was about growing up and becoming the person you didn't really think you were going to be. About how your choices in life shape your future, but they can't change your past. It was about not running away from who you were, but embracing it and showing who you've become.

I really liked the book. The characters were very well developed and the story is one that will resonant with a lot of women and young girls who are defining or redefining themselves.(less)

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Dec 27, 2009 Samantha rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my first SEP book and I had to admit it might just be my last. Where shall I begin? First of all I couldn't stand the heroine's name. It was infuriating. Once I got past that, I was disturbed at the fact that the people of this town were angry at her for childish reasons. There was her so called friends who held a huge grudge because she left town. I mean are you kidding? Let it go! She moved out of town...nobody said she was entitled to stay there forever. It was like they lost their Qu...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Jill Watson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So the female lead is the homecoming queen who was less than sweet that burned all her bridges leaving the small town she's from, leaving disaster she caused behind her. Now she comes home in the hope of finding a painting that is worth millions...EVERYONE hates her and can't wait to take thier 5 lbs. of flesh off of her. The question begs asking, are we the people we were when we were in high school? And is it really flattering to hold on to grudges for that long?...

My thoughts on those questio...more

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May 03, 2009 Kath rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just couldn't rate this as a 3 thought there were parts of this that I found very good. I just have to say that this is one of the sorriest bunch of characters that I have ever read about. I know many find this as one their favorite SEP favorites and SEP is one of my faves.....but this is just ick.

While I liked Sugar Beth as an adult and her sassiness, I was able to understand why she was such a horrible teenager and that was quite sad. On the other hand, her half sister Whinny is just patheti...more

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Oct 14, 2010 Jasmin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: aar-top-100-list, contemporary, contemporary-romance, five-stars, humor, reviewed-by-me, romance, chick-lit, tearjerker, favorites

Have you ever experienced reading and enjoying it, until the author says something, which is quite unforgiveable that it destroyed almost everything?

Well, I did. Susan Elizabeth Phillips had done that mistake.

One of the characters of the book described a pug, UGLY.

I love pugs.

How can this pug be ugly?

Pugsley, my pet dog, God bless his soul, is really adorable. How could anyone call him ugly?

And now, Pugsley is crying.

But despite my seething anger, I continued on, chanting She called a pug ugly...more

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Jun 24, 2009 Nisha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit, favorites, to-buy, contemporary-romance, revenge

I generally avoid bitchy heroines, but oddly, I understood Sugar Beth and actually started rooting for her, even before her redeeming qualities started showing. I tend to be a sucker for self-deprecating humor and Sugar Beth's regrets (and the alienation she was subjugated to). Rejection from love (any forms, parental, friends, lovers) always made me emotionally invest. Colin, to me, was really hard to imagine. I don't know why, but whenever there was a physical description, I imagined Guy Pierc...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Isabel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Listened to the audio tape. OK--hero's British accent a bit iffy.

Haven't read all SEP, but this one will likely be a favorite from a favorite author. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a wonderful writer. Her narratives are filled with humor and depth, her characters are fully developed, complex, interesting, unusual and her stories are funny, sexy, serious and very romantic. As others have noted, the heroine here was a genuine mean girl, and the story explores what that meant, how it plays out, and th...more

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About Susan Elizabeth Phillips

SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS

The Huffington Post says the books of Susan Elizabeth Phillips provide a “gateway drug to the whole [romance] genre,” which she assumes is a good thing. Bookpage magazine calls her “the crown jewel of romantic comedy writers,” which is definitely a good thing. Since she wrote her first novel on a typewriter in her kitchen, her books have been published in over 30 languages...more

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Books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Natural Born Charmer (Chicago Stars, #7)

Dream a Little Dream (Chicago Stars, #4)

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“When male authors write love stories, the heroine tends to end up dead.” — 137 people liked it

“It runs in the family. And don't expect me to be ashamed. Yankees lock away loony relatives, but down here, we prop 'em up on parade floats and march 'em through the middle of town.” — 35 people liked it

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