I received a copy of Sugarfiend from author Caroline Burau in exchange for an honest review. I found this novel very interesting. This is the I think the third book I’ve read lately that has a unique format – more story-telling from the main character instead of a dialogue driven format. It worked for this book in my opinion. The heroine is Estelle Brown, a sugarfiend who just can’t say no to a box of chocolates…or syrup…or raw cookie dough. Her life starts to fall apart when her boyfriend dumps her for a bulimic model (again), her roommate and best friend leaves town suddenly, and her boss announces he is love with her. Estelle packs up everything and decides to chase after her best friend and bring her home but takes a detour, finds a hot mess duo of twin sisters who convince her to take a cruise with them, and hops aboard without looking back. While there, Estelle will learn lessons about life, love and if being skinny truly does mean being happy.
This book has a bit of everything – addiction, romance, sarcasm, love, and one woman being pretty darn confused in life. Sometimes it was a bit too all over for my taste; it was hard to keep up with everything that was happening. But Burau has a knack for story-telling, because even if I seemed a step behind Estelle, I still wanted to read fast to figure out what would happen next. If you don’t appreciate strong language or sexual scenes, this probably won’t be for you. But if you can find the lessons from the raw story that Burau gives us, I think you will enjoy this book too.
[Rating: 4]**Everyone who leaves a comment on Caroline’s tour page will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card! Anyone who purchases their copy of Sugarfiend before October 15 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, will get five bonus entries.**
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Great review, and completely agree that it really does have a bit of everything.
I’ve read a lot of books similar to Sugerfield but it was the first one that really clicked for me. Caroline has some interesting thoughts with a brand new perspective on love & life in general. Funny how I almost ended up not reading it 🙂
Who doesn’t like strong language and sexual references? Cmon! I agree with the review, it was a super fast read. Even though the story spans over months, it feels like a couple of days for this crazed woman. And that’s part of the lesson I think, if she ever just let life slow down a bit and called her frenetic mind, she would find that these addictions would maybe ease up, and she could find that love she’s been wanting and needing.