Ain't She Sweet?

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Summary: Ain't She Sweet?
Review: This is the first book by SEP, as she is called by her many long time fans, that I have had the pleasure of reading. "AIN'T SHE SWEET" is an interesting tale about what happens when a small southern towns bad girl returns home.
Sugar Beth Carey was the most hated girl in Parish, Mississippi. She was beautiful, rich and came from one of the town's most prominent families and now 15 years later she is forced to return home to Parish after a string of bad luck. But don't think that this is the story of a woman who has been humbled by the hardships befallen her and has returned home to make amends. Sugar Beth has lost none of her edge and is simply in need of some fast cash so she can hightail it right back out of her small Mississippi town. Unfortunately this is not as easy as she may have hope and she is force to come face to face with old enemies who still hold old grudges.
"AIN'T SHE SWEET" is not the funny romp that I expected when I purchased it, it does have it's more serious moments. I, however, enjoyed it nonetheless. I will definitely be purchasing more of SEP's works in the future!

Rating:
Summary: Another Winner
Review: Sugar Beth Carey was a terror growing up in Parrish. In high school she ruled, deciding who was in the in crowd, and who wasn't. Those that weren't, she tormented. Now three marriages later, Sugar Beth is all grown up and on her way home. She has ammends to make and a painting to find. What she discovers right off the bat is Colin Byrne. When she was younger she ruined his career and reputation, but he's come out on top. He has a chance for a bit of revenge...trouble is, revenge doesn't taste nearly as sweet as Sugar Beth does.

Two wounded souls come together in another winning story by Susan Elizabeth Phillips!

Rating:
Summary: There's no going back
Review: ...but Sugar Beth Carey is coming home to Parrish. There she rediscovers Colin Byrnes, a teacher she wronged years ago. Colin's out for revenge, but sometimes it's not quite as sweet as you'd imagine. Colin and Sugar Beth find more together than just a history...they find a future.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips has the ability to take not very likeable characters and make you fall in love with them! You feel their every nick and scrape as their story unfolds. In Ain't She Sweet, Phillips is at the top of her game!

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Summary: Wow!!
Review: Sugar Beth Carey is a bad girl reformed. And she's coming home to Parrish, Mississippi. But are the residents of Parrish ready? Former friends she blew off, former enemies who have every right to hate her. And Colin Byrnes, a man she wronged. Parrish takes everything the town dishes out. You see, she's there on a mission, a painting she has to find. But in the end she finds more than a painting...she reclaims the life she was always meant to have.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips once again wows with her ability to create characters who are real, with passion, quirks and hearts that just don't stop!

Rating:
Summary: Another Winner
Review: Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips introduces us to Sugar Beth Carey. When Sugar Beth left Parrish, Miss 15 years ago she was the pampered princess of the town. She doesn't come home that way at all. Former friends and enemies are dying to give her, her comeuppance.

Leading the pack wanting to get even is a former teacher Colin Byrne. Sugar Beth ruined the start of his teaching career and that has Colin wanting payback.

But Colin wasn't planning on the changed life had dealt to Sugar Beth or his growing feelings for her.

Ain't She Sweet is a sensational story, its funny, sexy and will touch your heart.

Rating:
Summary: good but....
Review: Overall I enjoyed the book but I also had a few problems with it. First, it was hard to read a book where everyone was so stuck in the past. I understood why Colin and Winnie would hold grudges but what was everyone elses problem? Maybe it's because I didn't grow up in a small town but I couldn't understand why anyone else would still have a problem with Sugar Beth. Especially the Seawillows, they were her partners in crime yet they don't seem to attach any blame to themselves! So she stopped hanging around them when she went off to college. Big deal! Why are they still hurt by that? Maybe if you grew up in a small town or community and you still live there this book would hit all the right notes. For me, there was a lot here I didn't get(I don't even remember who the rich b---ch in my high school was). I identified most with the character of Jewel who was the only one who seemed to be living in the present and not in the past.

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Summary: Funny
Review: This book was too funny. I found myself cracking out loud several times. SEP does a good job of depicting southern life. She manages to pick up on quirky southern elements that people might be put off by and spins it into something funny and positive. My only criticisms would be that she spends a lot of time discussing high school - almost in a way that makes me thinking I'm reading some teen novel. Also, Colin's Britishness is a little exagerated. ANd I wonder if SEP ever got a lawyer to read her manuscript. I find if kind of funny that Sugar Beth's mother didn't will anything to her daughter. Even if she died before Sugar Beth's father, they were married at the time in which case she would have a whole bundle of legal rights. So the Cinderella impoverishment strikes me as kind of funny. But what the heck, this is fantasy, run away with the mind kind of novel. It's still great! And funny too!

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Summary: Ain't She Terrific? Better Than the Ya-Yas!
Review: To answer the question, yes, author Susan Elizabeth Phillips is terrific indeed.

I don't read too many romances, but I eagerly await every new book by SEP.

Where does she get these plots? Without exception, her stories are riveting.

And her dialogue! No one, and I mean no one, writes dialogue like Mrs. Phillips does.

That's not to mention her sex scenes. Well, her sex scenes just are the best there are, and that's all I want to say. (I must admit that SWEET seems a bit...cooler...than some of her other novels, but these scenes still are better than any other author's work on the same topic.)

Also consistent with this author's style, when she has her heroine inhabit an environment, the reader finishes the book feeling as if she had grown up in that town herself. After reading AIN'T SHE SWEET, one has the sense of what it must be like to have been raised in a small town in the deep South. AIN'T SHE SWEET has aspects of other Southern novels, but the one that seems closest would be SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD. Simply put, AIN'T SHE SWEET is the better story.

Anyway, Mrs. Phillips does not let down her large number of existing fans, and she certainly will make new fans here of those reading one of her novels for the first time. AIN'T SHE SWEET is rollicking, touching and, altogether, fun.

Only Scooge could not enjoy AIN'T SHE SWEET.

Rating:
Summary: Sure was sweet...
Review: I am another long time fan of SEP. I enjoyed this book but it did have some shortcoming. I found the main characters great and could have done without some of the extras. I felt the last quarter of the book got bogged down with some very silly things such as Sugar, Winnie and the Seawillows running around outside nude. Bonding is great but somehow that was a stretch. While there is much in the book that is not very believable, it is always entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: A Smashing Read
Review: This was the third book I've read by SEP and I'm an absolute fan of hers. This book was great! Sugar is sassy and fun. The dialogue is chaulked full of biting wit. It's simply a fun, lively and energetic read.