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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You'll want to lick the Spoon!, April 15, 2005
"She'd read a romantic book and thought maybe someday life would be like that, but it never seemed like women in books had jobs and families and worries -- things that made it hard to look around for somebody who might be fun, might want to see if where they were headed in life was the same destination." (p79)
This passage defines a theme in Karin Kallmaker's newest romance, Sugar. Kallmaker, arguably the bestselling writer of lesbian romances, contrasts images of a "traditional romance" (if such a thing can be said to be portrayed in lesbian writing) with the realities of love as it exists in everyday life. The lead character, Sugar Sorenson, is a talented, intelligent woman in her thirties struggling to establish her own specialty bakery business in Seattle's post-DotCom-boom. The action opens when Sugar's home is destroyed by fire and her plans for competing in a city-wide "Cook Off" contest, with its related monetary prize and boost in notoriety, are seriously threatened.
After months of no social life, Sugar suddenly finds herself under the romantic notice of not one, but three attractive, dynamic women. There is a gentle but strong social worker named "Tree," a tall, dark and handsome firefighter named "Charlie" Bronson, and the elegant and vivacious television producer named Emily. Their combined energy is almost more than Sugar can juggle after her long, self-imposed solitude, not to mention the stress of the fire. For a time, Sugar is confused because her apartment is not the only fire she is feeling. The sexual tension is palpable and Kallmaker serves readers a few deliciously hot scenes. Sugar tries to decide which woman really attracts her - and, more importantly she realizes -- which woman's life is headed in the same direction as Sugar's.
With nowhere to go Sugar finds herself returning to her maternal grandmother's house and braces for the onslaught of judging, preaching and meddling that characterized her grandmother while she was growing up. But something has changed dramatically and Sugar discovers that she perhaps didn't know her grandmother as well as she thought. There are assorted complications and miscommunications to occur in the weeks following the fire and Sugar's life does not turn out as she'd expected.
Food and baking flow through the novel in many ways. Descriptions of complex baking projects occur through much of Sugar's day as well as the steady, comfort baking of Sugar's grandmother. Further, Sugar's world view is often cooking related with Emily's eyes being "the blue of four drops of food coloring into a quarter-cup of sugar" (p7) and a woman is "hotter than Tabasco." (p132)
Sugar is a kind of "every lesbian" and the issues she and her friends deal with are those that most of us face in our day-to-day lives. Kallmaker's Sugar does not follow the "story book romance" formula; however, she plays with its themes. Even the cover art, which is reminiscent of a 1950s "happy home maker" image, tweaks at this "ideal."
Kallmaker's writing is charming entertainment. Her wry wit and gentle humor prompt smiles and quiet chuckles, as when Sugar dresses for her first date in months to discover "Good God in heaven, how long had that enormous black hair been growing out of her chin?" (p63) Or when Sugar mentions that she'd heard Charlie and Tree had dated for a time, and is told "We did not. We met at agreed upon places and argued." (p182)
In many ways, Sugar is a return to some of Kallmaker's earlier romances, like Painted Moon or Making up for Lost Time. However, if it is a return, it is not without the maturity that her writing continues to develop. Peopled with real women who are grounded in the realities of life and willing to accept the risk of love, Kallmaker's "romance" provides readers with simple, touching moments. As Sugar reflects, "The world seemed peacefully asleep. It was just her and the moon and the scent of Emily on her fingertips." (p111) Sugar is a lovely dessert of a book made with real eggs, butter, and no doubt, chocolate. Light and fun it is, yet it's not an artificial confection. Readers of the lesbian romance genre will want to lick the spoon.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet from Start to Finish, December 28, 2004
Like jam on toast done golden and crisp, this latest romantic tale from Karin Kallmaker was just right for me. I'd recommend it to any fan and certainly to anyone (if there *is* anyone who hasn't yet experienced her light, pleasing romantic touch) who likes a good read.
Like all of her novels, she avoids the formula even though in the purest dilution of the plot it reads like a classic formula. The reason it's not is that lesbian romances (unlike het ones) most often open with the presentation of two characters we know will get together before the last page. The pleasure is in reading how. Kallmaker )like Radclyffe, another favorite of mine) can take that simple outline and do wonderfully different things with it. In Substitute for Love, for example, Holly and Reyna don't actually meet until at least 3/4s of the way into the book, yet their collision course is clear from page 1. In Embrace in Motion, Sarah chooses Ms. Wrong for the first part of the book, then comes to realize Ms. Right has been under her nose all along.
In "Sugar," Kallmaker twists the usual lesbian romance beginning of two primary characters by giving us Sugar and three potential suitors for her affections. All three are charming, sexy, persuasive and very interested in Sugar. But only one will earn her love. Along the way Sugar -- like you and me and all the women we know -- has crud to cope with, a business to run, life to handle.
I loved the journey with Sugar, all the way. I loved her confusion when she felt real lust for a woman she wasn't yet sure she could like as a friend. The puzzlement of feeling affinity with someone but the lack of that spark that would create that first kiss. And finding herself feeling lust *and* affinity and then being completely tongue-tied and scared to make the first move -- and so is the woman who is trying awfully hard to say I love you but doesn't quite know how. These are women still forming, strong in their own sense of self but not yet deft at dealing with their own emotions. It made me full of wonder that at any point any of us ever figure out how love works. The romantic sentiments in this book are charming, all the way through.
If that story weren't enough, the plotline with Sugar and her grandmother is vintage Kallmmker and yet brand new. She set up Sugar's dread of living with the raving bible-thumping homophobe so I was dreading it just as much and then pulled the carpet out from under my expectations and own presumptions as she so often does. I scraped my jaw up off the floor at about the same time Sugar did. Sugar's three older (and bossy) sisters are delightfully drawn, as is her fascinating ex and still friend, Noor. I'd love to see a short story about Noor and her gf in a "Frosting on the Cake 2."
Which is the whole reason I'm writing this review -- how about it, Miz K? Can we have some more Frosting? I really want to know so many things! Did Shea and Anthea have their baby? Is Sydney President yet? And c'mon, Holly and Reyna need more story! More Frosting? Please???
I'll quit begging and end by saying that while Sugar herself is indecisive and founders a bit in trying to decide what love is and isn't, when it comes to what's right for her family, doing the right thing, she doesn't hesitate. She's a complicated young woman, getting by the best she knows how and I would be *proud* to be her big sister.
Thank you once again, Miz K, for a great read, worth every penny and every minute. Like all the others, I know I'll read it more than once.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyed it more than I thought I would!, April 10, 2005
I am not a romance fan and most of my lesbian focused reading has been erotica anthologies. Recently I ran across a hot hot hot story by this author in one. I had presumed she was basically vanilla and had never read any of her books. But the story was great and so I ordered a couple of her novels.
I didn't realize that she writes two styles and that I was ordering a "traditional" romance (if you can call a lesbian romance that). My mistake, but I thought I'd read this one anyway. (The other was All the Wrong Places, a romantic/erotic novel that I was so pleased with I still can't get my head around how to review it.)
I truly enjoyed this story, though romances aren't my cup of tea. It was funny, to start with, and touching at times. Other reviewers have pointed out that the main character could be your next door neighbor and it felt that way to me too. I liked it, to my surprise. Not the love story - though it was convincing and sweet - but the sense that this ordinary story of two women falling in love was NORMAL...what we all should have in our lives without denigration from Jesusland types.
I felt good when I finished and might even read another again sometime, and if you knew me, then you'd know that's a major compliment. The sex is indeed vanilla in this tale (not so in All the Wrong Places!) but still explicit enough to be steamy. I am giving it 5 stars because it is exactly what it's supposed to be, and well-written.
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