Series: N/AAuthor: Deirdre Riordan Hall
Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
Published: June 1, 2015
Publisher: Skyscape
Purchase: Amazon
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.
* * *
Made me smile. Made me feel for Sugar so badly. Made me tear up. Made me cry so hard that I can't breath and looked
Mercy Legowski-Garcia, aka Sugar. A fat girl. Bullied. Repeated a grade. Has one friend. A fat mother who can't even get out of bed. A crappy brother who does nothing but laze around and cause trouble. Then Even moved in in the neighborhood. Nice and good looking Even. Even who could have been friends with the 'cool kids' (
I LOVE Sugar and how Hall wrote her. In some ways I can relate to her but most of the times not really yet I really felt for Sugar. The first half of the novel really brought out everything about Sugar - her struggles, why she's the way she is - and how Even changed her life - how he brings out the best in her, the slow and beautiful development of their relationship.
Even was a really nice and sweet guy. He immediately made friends with Sugar and I didn't understand why. I was questioning his intentions and eventually let it go because the guy seems so sincere. But all of my doubts about him was fully dismissed later on in the book. He revealed later on what how he saw Sugar right from the beginning and I cried. I cried so hard there.
Here's what goes in my mind as I read this:
first few fer chapters: uh-huh.. a fat girl.. she eats a lot.. not wonder she fat.. she does house work and her fat ass brother calls her fat. uh-huh.
Sugar meets Even: well he's nice. super nice. why? why? WHY?
Even being super nice. SUPER NICE: is there some underlying meaning in his kindness or is he genuinely a good guy?
Things started getting more difficult: Even is definitely there for her. I like him. But what's the twist?
*insert insanely heartbreaking moment*: OHMYGOD WHY!? WHY!? *cries insanely*
Sugar sulks: now what? *still crying* now what?
Things started getting better: *crying happy tears* ohmy, this is soooo my fave now. Sugar, I love you!!! All those things you went through.. You really moved and inspired me :)
(do I sound like I'm spoiling anything? hopefully not)
* * *
What I Like: (1) Sugar (she's beautifully written), (2) Even (dear sweet and nice Even), (3) the romance (it's one of those, no-labeling relationship right here! but you know it's there), (4) how much it moved me (made me cry so hard, gave me a book hangover, didn't want to pick up a contemporary novel for a couple of days), (5) how nicely and surely Sugar's character was developed, (6) the really beautiful ending (and the tear-jerking road towards it)
What I Didn’t Like: N/A
~I received this book in exchange for an honest review~
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