Hello, Hive Book Club community! Today, I'm excited to tell you all about the book that touched me so deeply I knew I had to write like that. I suddenly wanted the power to make someone smile and laugh just from words on papers. I wanted my characters to stay in the minds of my readers long after the last page. Because this is exactly what the book I'm about to talk about did to me.
I've always been imaginative from a very young age. I used to write really short stories with stick figure illustrations. Sometimes I rewrote movies to have certain parts align with how I wanted it to go. Even though I enjoyed writing,
I wasn't really happy because I knew everything I wrote was not really mine. When I grew up, I realized what I was doing was actually "fanfiction."
Mind you, I was a voracious reader as well. I've heard of most writers talking about how they got inspired to write by reading books. I can totally attest to that. I'll never forget the book Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
The book had me staring at my ceiling long after reading it. I even cried, because how can a human being be so talented? How did she get this idea? Just... how? I was moved so much I grabbed a book and a pen and just started writing, creating something that belonged to me.
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The story is set in Parrish, Mississippi, featuring the main female character, Sugar Beth Carey. Sugar Beth was a beautiful, spoiled rich girl who had everything except her father's love. Her half-sister, Winnie Davis, was a shy girl whom Sugar Beth shouldn't have envied at all. After all, everything Winnie wanted—beauty, popularity, the hottest boy in school—Sugar Beth had.
Except Winnie actually had one thing Sugar Beth could never have: she had Griffin Carey, their father's love.
Eventually, Sugar Beth left the town she grew up in behind, swearing to never come back. But life's funny, and now broke and desperate, she was forced to come back for a painting her late aunt left her so she could sell it and... survive. It should have been easy, except coming back to town meant she had to face the hatred of all the people she was mean to (a lot of people, by the way). And these people were waiting in line to pay Sugar Beth back.
Normally mean characters like Sugar Beth are hated. But you can't help but fall in love with this particular funny and sassy woman. She's so quirky, and her character development was insane! In fact, I loved her from the very beginning because her feelings were so valid, and I totally understood why she acted the way she did. When she grew up, she owned up to everything she did instead of playing blame games, even though she had every right to.
This book was so, so good. If I don't take care, I'll rant and rant and spoil everything. It made me laugh, made me cry, and the ending was so heartwarming. Nobody does romantic comedy better than Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Whenever I read this book, it's exactly like how I felt when I read it for the first time. The worldbuilding is so vivid and immersive I feel like I belong in the town with those memorable characters. I think about them whenever I turn the last page.
If you're into romantic comedy, I'm recommending this masterpiece! I want you to experience the beauty and love it as I love it. And if you've read this book already, I'd love to know about your thoughts in the comments!
Thanks for reading my review. See you in my next post!
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