Ain't She Sweet? (PHLLIPS, SUSAN ELIZABETH)
Ain't She Sweet? (PHLLIPS, SUSAN ELIZABETH) book cover

Ain't She Sweet? (PHLLIPS, SUSAN ELIZABETH)

Hardcover – Bargain Price, February 1, 2004

by
Price
$21.33
Format
Hardcover
Pages
400
Publisher
William Morrow
Publication Date
Weight
1.45 pounds

Description

Susan Elizabeth Phillips soared onto the New York Times bestseller list with Dream a Little Dream . She’s the only four-time recipient of the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Favorite Book of the Year Award. A resident of the Chicago suburbs, she is also a hiker, gardener, reader, wife, and mother of two grown sons. --This text refers to the paperback edition. From AudioFile A sassy novel sassily read. In this romantic comedy, Sugar Beth Carey returns, tail between her legs, to her Mississippi hometown, where she has, as a spoiled, rich, wild, and beautiful teen, alienated just about everybody. Now the tables are turned. How the chastened but still impertinent heroine turns her life around, makes amends, and finds love consumes the book's lighthearted pages. The award-winning Kate Fleming (a.k.a. Anna Fields) gives an uneven, albeit always absorbing, reading. She starts out with a dazzling bang before settling into a pleasant but slightly distant interpretation of the narrative. Her impersonation of Sugar Beth's arrogant love interest fails to convince us of his sex appeal. The sex scenes are flat. On the other hand, the dialogue sparkles delightfully. Y.R. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the paperback edition. From Publishers Weekly A small town's prodigal daughter returns to face her past in bestseller Phillips's latest cheeky, diverting fairy tale. Sugar Beth Carey, "the wild child of Parrish, Mississippi," was once the queen of all she surveyed, but after 15 years and three marriages, she's a broken (and broke) husk of her former self. Who's loving the schadenfreude? The Seawillows, for starters-the gaggle of Southern belles Sugar dumped years ago, plus Winnie Davis, the half-sister she treated like dirt. And there's more: not only did Sugar stomp on gorgeous Ryan Galantine's heart (luckily, Winnie caught him on the rebound), she also got Colin Byrne, the sexy British high school teacher, fired for ostensibly coming on to her. Colin now owns her family's manse, and she's inherited the carriage house on his property-along with a highly valuable painting, location unknown (might it be hiding in Colin's attic? Or is it right under her nose?). Phillips keeps the tension high, with Colin (now a successful writer and member of the town's "in" crowd) and all of the rest of Parrish looking to make Sugar pay for past misdeeds. Colin hires her to be his housekeeper, and soon their days are filled with bickering, backstabbing and lots of orgasmic sex. A subplot involving Gigi, Winnie and Ryan's rebellious teenage daughter, who somewhat improbably turns to Sugar Beth for advice, detracts from the primary drama. The novel is at its best when Phillips sticks with what she does best-fast-paced romps featuring two headstrong people who finally realize that they're soul mates.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the paperback edition. 'Witty, moving, passionate and tender...pure up-to-the-minute entertainment...well-written, funny, sexy, and altogether satisfying.' Publishers Weekly 'No one tops Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Jayne Anne Krentz 'Watch Susan Elizabeth Phillips go places!' LaVyrle Spencer 'Funny, sexy, funny, fast, funny, wonderful - and hilarious! If you can read Susan Elizabeth Phillips without laughing out loud, check for a pulse! What the world needs is more books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Elizabeth Lowell 'Lively steamy, light-hearted romance. Phillips has created a very modern and textured tale: witty, moving, passionate and tender' Amazon.com --This text refers to the paperback edition. From Booklist Fifteen years ago, Sugar Beth Carey reigned supreme over the small Mississippi town of Parrish, but now she's returning home a little bit shabby around the edges to claim a valuable painting left to her by her disapproving aunt. Fifteen years ago, Colin Byrne arrived in Parrish from England as a new teacher only to have his career destroyed by a spiteful young Sugar Beth. Fifteen years ago, Sugar Beth had everything Winnie Davis ever wanted, but because Winnie had the one thing Sugar Beth could never have, she turned Winnie's life into a perpetual hell. So now Colin, a best-selling author, and Winnie, Parrish's richest citizen, are determined to exact revenge for Sugar Beth's past sins, but much to their surprise, neither one finds revenge to taste quite as sweet as they expected once they get to know the new Sugar Beth. A hero who wouldn't be out of place in the pages of a Regency romance, a heroine who is equal parts grit and class, and a basset hound with a personality disorder are just a few of the memorable characters in Phillips' sassy, sexy contemporary romance. The simple perfection of her writing in this splendid tale will charm readers. John Charles Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the paperback edition. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • In high school Sugar Carey had reigned supreme. She alone had decided what or who was cool. Her spiral perm had been the perm against which all others were measured, and her opinion on which boys were acceptable to date the only one that counted. A beautiful, blonde - if not always benevolent - dictator, she had a reputation for being the wild child of Parrish, Mississippi, the girl most likely to set the world on fire, and leave a trail of destruction in her wake. When she left home she swore she'd never return. Only now, fifteen years and several husbands later, she's run out of money, luck and options...Only Sugar arrives in Parrish to discover that everyone else is living her life. Her half sister is married to Sugar's high school sweetheart, the teacher she schemed to get fired is now a successful novelist and owns her old home. She also discovers that the people of Parrish have long memories - especially where Sugar is concerned...

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(992)
★★★★
25%
(413)
★★★
15%
(248)
★★
7%
(116)
★
-7%
(-116)

Most Helpful Reviews

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I don't know why everyone loves this book so much.

It wasn't BAD (I don't think SEP is capable of writing a truly bad novel) but I felt like this book lacked many things.

My main disappointment was in the characters. Sugar Beth was not my favorite heroine- I felt like she lacked depth and vulnerability, and I never warmed up to her. Then there was Winnie Davis, who was too vulnerable to the point of seeming pathetic. I found myself HOPING things didn't work out with her and Ryan because she annoyed me so much. And why was she so quick to forgive the Seawillows when they were just like Sugar Beth in their youth?

Then there's the Seawillows themselves. They just seemed like self-righteous, hypocritical idiots.

Colin Byrne was a decent hero, but when he realizes his love for Sugar Beth, all I could think was "There is no WAY he would love her!"

Another problem I had was that the hero and heroine in this book had little to offer each other that they hadn't already shared with somebody, and that frequently bothers me in contemporary romance novels. I understand that it's more realistic for characters to have been in love and married dozens of times before and that the heroine is probably not going to be a vergin, but in romantic fiction I think the story is more satisfying when the hero and heroine are going through something together that they've never gone through before. I, for one, don't enjoy pages worth of ex-husband antecdotes and dead wife lamenting when I'm trying to concentrate on a love story (realistic or not).

The ending of this book is cute- I thought the chapters about Colin's ultimatum were well written and Winnie became a little more bearable after she settled her issues with Sugar Beth, but over all I would only give this book a C.
6 people found this helpful
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(4 1/2) Another Winner!

Sugar Beth Carey was once the wealthy spoiled princess of Parrish, Mississippi. But fifteen years later, she forced to return back to her birth town broke and desperate. She had hurt lots of people in this town and now it's pay back time. One of them is Colin Byrne , her high school teacher whose career Sugar Beth had destroyed.

But now the table is turn. Colin is a famous writer who had all the power in his hand. So low in cash, Sugar Beth had accept Colin offer to become his new maid, although she knew the man only had one reason to hire her. To get his long due revenge. But the line between love and hate is really thin.

Again, Susan Elizabeth Phillips demonstrated her skillfully writing. Very enjoyable. Its compel me to read and just kept reading. The characters will captured your heart. As always, like in other of her books, the sub characters ( i.e. Sugar Beth step sister) were interesting too. I recommend this book to everyone who love to read romance novel.

This is by far the best romance book with the plot where the heroine goes back to her hometown to stay. Lots of romance books with differrent authors try the same plot but no one can write as good as her.
2 people found this helpful
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Finally, a heroine redemption story!

Ain’t She Sweet is a powerful romance story of redemption. While most redemption themes are centered around the hero, Phillips, chooses to center around the heroine, Sugar Beth. And like most characters needing redemption, she is one readers most want to hate: a queen bee in high school, daughter of the town’s most powerful man, and a ruthless wielder of social power. During her reign, she terrorized her illegitimate half-sister, Winnie, and falsely accused a teacher (our hero), Colin of sexual harassment.
But now she’s back in town, broke and broken. Fifteen years may have faded her looks, but they haven’t faded the townspeople’s memories of her.
This story was also interesting because the heroine had already done most of the redeeming before the book started. Even though her third marriage was to a man much older than her, she seemed to genuinely love him and his step-daughter. Her step-daughter has a cognitive disability, lives in a private institution, and is the motivation for Sugar Beth’s prodigal return. She must find money to support her step-daughter’s long term financial needs. Her love for her step-daughter, Delilah, motivates her to suffer the slings and arrows from the town, yet when she finally does find the money (a.k.a the painting) she’s looking for, the resolution seemed rushed to me. I would have enjoyed a scene between her and her step-daughter. There were a few flashback conversations between the two of them that were poignant and touching.
I was a little confused about the ending. It seemed rushed to tie up all the loose ends, but left me frayed by a few plot questions. Towards the end of the book, she tells the hero that an ectopic pregnancy has left her sterile, but then she ends up pregnant. Sugar Beth didn’t seem the type of woman to be ignorant of her body and reproduction, so what gives? Also, the original motivation, Delilah, seemed to be forgotten and replaced by Sugar Beth’s new motivation to stay in town: opening up a children’s book store.

I loved the redemption story between Winnie and Ryan so much! But their romance stole the spotlight from Sugar Beth/Colin. All the minor characters stole my heart: Gigi and especially the flatulent basset hound, Gordon.
1 people found this helpful
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Feel good, fun book with a sizzling romance!

Wow - based on the book's description I was not really expecting to like this book that much. That being said, I fell utterly in love with Colin and Sugar Beth and Winnie and everyone... It was an amazingly written story as only SEP can write. A story of new beginnings and forgiveness and one of the best love stories I've read. The chemistry between Colin and Sugar Beth was super hot and very believeable. He wants to hate her and to get back at her for what she did to him in high school.. but he can't help falling for her. Absolutely wonderful!
1 people found this helpful
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SEP's best

This is my favorite SEP book. She has a great sense of humor and she writes quite well. I loved the heroine and hero. And there is plenty of conflict. I highly recommend this book for romance lovers.

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