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...
I really enjoyed this one. Sugar Beth returns to her hometown to claim her inheritance. Although many years have passed, Sugar Beth is frozen in people's minds as a spoiled, spiteful teenager. She had one goal in mind when she comes back to town, but she gets so much more.
This book was a lot of fun. Sugar was witty and sarcastic. The banter was very amusing, and so were many of the book's events. Tears welled in my eyes when we had to relive some of her past, or when she spoke to her step daughter. I am a huge fan of redemption stories, and we get more than one redemption story in this book.
Sugar Beth is a definite star. She was everything you look for in good heroine: strong, smart, determined. She was someone you grew to love, and wanted to root for. I loved a lot of the side characters too.
