Comments on: Review: Ain’t She Sweet, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

By: Randi

Randi — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:18:42 +0000

Kaetrin:

two first names is very common in the South East portion of the US, as well as Texas (see Bobby Tom Denton). And my understanding of Southern culture is that is it not unusual for groups of women to give themselves a name.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:08:47 +0000

Eva wrote:

One of my all time favorite books. My favorite scene? Where Sugar Beth waitresses for Colin’s party. That was the make it or break it scene for me. Had she grasped one ounce of ‘poor victim of childhood’ to her breast, I wouldn’t have respected her character as much. SEP made her own her sins and I loved the book because of it.

I agree with you 100%.

By: Eva

Eva — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:05:44 +0000

One of my all time favorite books. My favorite scene? Where Sugar Beth waitresses for Colin’s party. That was the make it or break it scene for me. Had she grasped one ounce of ‘poor victim of childhood’ to her breast, I wouldn’t have respected her character as much. SEP made her own her sins and I loved the book because of it.

By: Rosina Lippi

Rosina Lippi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:01:07 +0000

I like your review style, very detailed and thoughtful, and I agree absolutely about SEP in general and this book in particular. I really loved Sugar Beth and Colin both. One word of caution: do not listen to the audiobook. The narrator gives Colin a completely outdated and absolutely unrealistic high-brow, toffee-nosed English accent that makes him sound like a poser to anybody from England. I played a bit of it for my husband (who is a Brit) and he couldn’t stop laughing.
I put this book at the top of SEP’s work.

By: Meanne

Meanne — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:13:24 +0000

This was the first book of SEP that ‘wowed’ me. I suspect it may have had a lot to do with the fact that it was my very first foray into audiobooks early last year and the narrator just happend to be the late award-winning Kate Fleming/ Anna Fields who did a fabulous job. With this one book I became a SEP fan, an audiobook fan and a Kate Fleming fan as well..So it will always have a special place in my heart. I’ve also enjoyed the subsequent SEP books I’ve listened to: Dream A Little Dream, Lady Be Good and Kiss an Angel…

Incidentally, the only paperback that I read ( a few months before I listened to Ain’t She Sweet ) was a ‘meh’ for me. I bought This Dream of Mine because of all the great reviews and I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t moved by it like so many people were….

By: Kaetrin

Kaetrin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:25:46 +0000

I liked this book but not as much as other SEP’s. But then, I’m in the category that loved Dan Calebow and Bobby Tom Denton, as well as Ren from Breathing Room – albeit in different ways and for different reasons.
It is a testament to SEP’s writing that I could forgive Sugar Beth for the horrid things she did to Winnie – especially the scene in the women’s showers/change rooms when Winnie had her period. Having been on the receiving end of some of that mean girl behaviour in school (although, not that thank God!) it hits one of my hot buttons and Sugar Beth’s behaviour especially in that scene was atrocious.
As an Australian, I don’t know anyone actually called Sugar Beth or similar (is it actually all that common in the US??) but I went along with it as it fit with this book. Same thing with the Sea Willows. But, I did understand the dynamic of the group even if the group at my school didn’t have a name. There are plenty of cliquey women’s groups (men too probably) both in school and in adulthood that behave just like this so that kinda rang true.

The first “less-than-spectacular-to-them” sex scene I remember was Davy and Tilda from Faking It by Jenny Crusie – and (of course) it entirely fit with the theme of “faking” in the book.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:19:51 +0000

I would distinguish the issue of Colin being a dud (I didn’t think he was that flat, but you know what I mean) from the issue of the bad behavior of the Sea Willows. The former is a problem with the author’s writing (she should write a more compelling hero). The latter — assuming she meant them to be unsympathetic — actually shows how good her writing is: we hate those women, so SEP has done her job. It’s an issue of personal taste if a reader doesn’t like reading about immature mean girls, but I don’t think it’s a criticism of the book. Does that make sense? Am I off base?

And Sherry — I agree, MMIYC is the other SEP in my top 3 SEP books, largely because of Portia.

By: heidenkind

heidenkind — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:03:12 +0000

I liked this book, although I didn’t like it as much as you did. Like Sarah I thought Sugar Beth was an awesome character; but Colin’s kind of a dud.

By: Helen Burgess

Helen Burgess — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:57:51 +0000

Sugar Beth grows as a character but the people she left behind behave like whiney toddlers. I really loath that they damn near make Sugar Beth sweat blood to get their acceptance. Me, I’d have left them miles behind in their narrow stupid little world. You might guess this book raises my blood pressure a tad.

By: SarahT

SarahT — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:56:47 +0000

I loved Sugar Beth but was less enamored of Colin. At the end of the day, Sugar Beth was a kid when she did all that hateful stuff. Colin, Winnie, and co. are adults when they behave spitefully towards her. This bothered me quite a bit.