Name: Jennifer Dieter's review of Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall
Item: Sugar
Rating: 4
Author: Jennifer Dieter

Deirdre Riordan Hall

"I m the fat Puerto Rican Polish girl who doesn t feel like she belongs in her skin, or anywhere else for that matter. I ve always been too much and yet not enough." Sugar Legowski-Gracia wasn t always fat, but fat is what she is now at age seventeen. Not as fat as her mama, who is so big she hasn t gotten out of bed in months. Not as heavy as her brother, Skunk, who has more meanness in him than fat, which is saying something. But she s large enough to be the object of ridicule wherever she is: at the grocery store, walking down the street, at school. Sugar s life is dictated by taking care of Mama in their run-down home cooking, shopping, and, well, eating. A lot of eating, which Sugar hates as much as she loves. When Sugar meets Even (not Evan his nearly illiterate father misspelled his name on the birth certificate), she has the new experience of someone seeing "her" and not her body. As their unlikely friendship builds, Sugar allows herself to think about the future for the first time, a future not weighed down by her body or her mother. Soon Sugar will have to decide whether to become the girl that Even helps her see within herself or to sink into the darkness of the skin-deep role her family and her life have created for her."

Sugar

Ivan

Jennifer Dieter

I received this book for free through Amazon Prime. As I started the book, it felt like a combination of other young adult novels I've read in the past. Overweight girl with horrible home life meets nice, handsome boy who sees past her exterior to form a friendship. Even though it felt done, I still really enjoyed this book and it was a quick read. I felt tied to the characters, particularly Sugar, and cheered for her to triumph over her circumstances.

Cortnie

I am in tears as I sit here and soak in this book and how it ended. It withdrew from me so many feelings, that addressing all of them is difficult. We all have insecurities and fears and this book touched on a few of mine- although my situations have never been as serious as any of Sugar's.

First, I want to say that there are a lot of trigger warnings contained in this book. Abuse, bullying, eating disorders, self-loathing, sexual harassment... I think that covers the general basis. So do be careful if you choose to read this book.

I did not expect to feel so much, or love this, as much as I did. It was $1.99 in the Kindle store and I chose it because I thought the cover was pretty, but liked the synopsis as well. And boy was I shocked. This story careens you into a life that no one should have to live.

Sugar is an overweight teen living with her abusive mother and older brother. Bedridden and overweight herself, her mother is a very demanding person. She's rude, cruel, and thinks that everything is owed to her. She never wanted children and she continuously takes her hate out on them. Projecting her own dislike of her body and her self onto her children have left them all affected in one way or another. Sugar suffers from many issues- hating herself, feeling useless and pathetic. All her life she's been made fun of by the kids at school and their- along with her family's- comments have become insidious, deep-seeded hatred in her own mind.

Eventually, for the first time in her life, she becomes friends with Even Anderson, a boy who happened to be the cousin of one of the popular kids at her high school. Through their journey, he shows her that she's important and that she matters. She deserves to feel validated, she deserves to be happy, and she deserves to lover herself.

I love the character development that Sugar goes through in this book. And it isn't the type where a finger snaps and she's suddenly perfect. Deirdre does a really good job of showing that, even with strides in the right direction, you can still have backslides, you can still mess up and makes mistakes- and that's okay, as long as you realize that they're mistakes.

I adored this book so much, as unexpected as it was. There is one part that will illicit questionable sounds from your mouth. You have been warned. (And despite it being really sad, I also liked that it wasn't a predictable thing until the sentence right before.)

Anyway, I gave this a rating of five stars because of my love for the characters, the story, and the plot growth. Just, bravo.

Jess Houston

This was amazing. I finished it in one night!


I was given an ARC for review very sweetly by the author herself, but that does not effect my review. (Thank you!)

This book was very well written and something I think everyone should read once in their life. 

Mercy and Even's friendship was amazing. I will be writing a full review soon!

Ivan &
Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall

Reviews

Join the club

Ivan &Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall

Reviews

Join the club

Ivan &
Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall