Sugar & Spice (Spicetopia Series) by Phoebe Alexander – Review by Shea Gilkerson 4/12/24

Sugar & Spice by Phoebe Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From page 1 this book reaches out and grabs you. Cy is the heir of of Sweetopia family fortune, an amusement park. He has learned of a few employees trying to organize a strike against his family and goes undercover as a new employee to get to the root of the issue and protect his future. He absolutely does not expect to find the employees so likeable and fun to be around. Jolie is a single mom working 2 jobs trying to keep things moving forward for her young boys (one of them has CF and requires extra care) and is “The Queen” of the theme park – the Red Velvet Queen. She is tired of killing herself for jobs that take and take from their employees instead of looking out for them and starts to reach out amongst her fellow theme park employees.

Her life feels desperate, but things are starting to look up as she creates a following…and then a very handsome fellow employee begins visiting her in her dressing room. Jolie has spent so long taking care of her kids and having that be her focus that she feels she has let herself go. She feels too insecure about what she has to offer, is uncomfortable with what the people in her past have made her feel about her life – her stretchmarks, her child who requires special care, her age, her ability to parent on her own and make good choices, and so much more. But Cy makes her feel strong and sure and desirable. And she makes Cy recognize how many good things there are in life that have nothing to do with his family legacy.
When Jolie learns who Cy really is, will how he made her feel make a difference about his identity? Will Cy be able to fall in love with her and still have a successful family legacy?

This book was so dang good. The characters are so well written and the author knew exactly how to blend them together to improve them. Jolie has so many “every woman” insecurities but knows her strength and ability to persevere. Cy has such a wonderful growth curve in this story and makes an “every woman” feel like the ONLY woman. I really wanted to have this book last me a couple of days but I couldn’t put it down and couldn’t sleep until I finished it. Heat, chemistry, great world building and relatability to the characters, the fun woven into the storyline – even with the “villians”. I can’t wait to meet the rest of the Sweet family!

View all my reviews