Advertisement

Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies Book Review & Giveaway

This morning, I am sharing my review of a new romance / women's fiction novel from author Evy Journey.  While I am not always a huge fan of romance novels, this one offers a bit of suspense and psychological thrills that I enjoy.  What did I think of Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies by Evy Journey?  Check out my review & enter for a chance to win a prize in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post!

Book Title: Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies by Evy Journey
Category: Adult Fiction, 240 pages
Genre: Literary / Women's Fiction

About the Book

Cooking a wonderful meal is an act of love. An act of grace. A gift that affirms and gives life—not only does it nurture those who partake of a meal; it also feeds the soul of the person who creates it. These are lessons Gina learns from her mother.

Gina is a young woman born to poor parents; a nobody (her words) who wants to taste life outside the world she was born into and her passion for cooking is all she has to help her do so. She gets lucky when she’s chosen to cook at a Michelin-starred restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area where she finds a world of a privileged class with money to spare for dinners that cost hundreds of dollars. A world of new friends and new challenges—one that exposes her to fascinating people who’re also gripped by dark motives.

Amidst her culinary adventures, she becomes good friends with pastry chef Marcia, and falls in love, in different ways, with, two very different men: Leon, a rich regular client who has been dating Cristi, her friend from childhood, and Brent, a brooding homicide detective. This other world, it turns out, is also one of unexpected danger that eventually threatens her life.

Can the lessons she learned from her mother about cooking and life help Gina survive and thrive in this other world of privilege, pleasure and unexpected danger?

 My Review


Sugar and Spice Catches Readers with its Flawed Characters.  The characters in this novel range from immature and naive to self-centered, self-absorbed and brooding.  From the beginning pages, I did not particularly like any character in the story.  They each had faults and flaws and issues--but, there was an enduring hope that continued through to the end that each could somehow find love and a future.  While the storyline moves nicely and the scenes flow well from page to page; it is the characters and their never-ending faults, doubts, and inconsistencies that keep readers engaged from beginning to end.

Sugar and Spice Combines Soap Opera Romance with a Psychological Drama.  Fans of "love at first sight" romance novels with love triangles and trust issues will certainly enjoy this book.   If you are not a fan of soap opera romances where the words, "I love you," are dropped within minutes of the couple's first meeting--you may meet this novel with a bit of eye rolling.  I am not a fan of romance novels with superficial, love-at-first-sight encounters.  However; Evy Journey allows her characters to build on those silly, in-lust connections--and she creates relationships that will actually interest readers from those encounters.  There are some inconsistencies in the character interactions that lessen the potential effect of the psychological aspects the author presents--but, the author does a nice job combining that superficial soap opera world with a little, real-world, psychological suspense.

Would I recommend Sugar and Spice?  This novel holds the realism of a soap opera--but, the hope of real-world relationships.  While I didn't like the characters--they all had flaws and personality failures--I wanted to see the good in each of them--and I wanted them to find happiness.  If you enjoy love at first sight romances with flawed characters who wheedle their ways into your heart--this is a light, quick read that I would recommend.

To read more reviews, please visit Evy Journey's page on iRead Book Tours.
 
Buy the Book




Meet the Author



Evy Journey, writer, wannabe artist, and flâneuse (feminine of flâneur), wishes she lives in Paris where people have perfected the art of aimless roaming. Armed with a Ph.D., she used to research and help develop mental health programs.

She's a writer because beautiful prose seduces her and existential angst continues to plague her despite such preoccupations having gone out of fashion. She takes occasional refuge by invoking the spirit of Jane Austen to spin tales of love, loss, and finding one’s way—stories into which she weaves mystery or intrigue.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest

Join the Facebook Group: Thoughtful Romance Readers Love 


Enter the Giveaway!
Ends Feb 24, 2018


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Post a Comment

3 Comments

  1. I liked that the characters are flawed and not perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love to read love stories and flaws and all we all want one thing and that is to find love! I am like you sometimes when they start out saying they love one another it kinda makes me second guess it but I will take your word that it is better than just that. I will have to read for myself.

    ReplyDelete

Comments

The ZOO banner 3