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GIVEAWAY!! Blog Tour: Sugarfiend by Caroline Burau with a guest post by the author
Sugarfiend
written by Caroline Burau
published by DragonStone Creative Group
find it here: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Goodreads
Why did I pick this book: I was fortunate enough to participate in the blog tour hosted by CLP Blog Tours. (I received a copy of this book for review purposes.)
Did I enjoy this book: I did enjoy this book. It had some great laugh out loud moments and lines.
Our leading lady is very sarcastic, straight forward, and downright funny at times. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Estelle. There were times that I did and other times where I really did not. But I think that’s what made her such a great character. Estelle is a normal person…as normal as addicts are…you want to help her but you want to wash your hands of her at the same time. I did like the fact that she blamed no one but herself for her addictions. That takes strong character in my opinion.
Estelle’s wit and sarcasm comes through in her dialogue and inner thoughts. My favorite line that brought tears from so much laughter was when Estelle was about to start her new detox plan. She says to Lauren, “If I shit anything wild…a Smurf, a foosball table, an I-pod..Jimmy Hoffa…you’ll be the first person I call.” (I’m even laughing now, typing and remembering this line and the circumstances that surround it.) My favorite inner thought of Estelle’s had to be when she was explaining how yoga and meditation help her. “It’s a good way to silence all the inner voices in my head that used to say things like ‘eat that’ or ‘drink that’ or ‘take your ping pong paddle and beat that redhead in the yellow thong to death with it.’ Things like that.” These are just two examples of Estelle’s wit that is throughout Sugarfiend. She is always sarcastic, unabashed, funny, and self-deprecating.
The supporting characters were wonderful. Heni was like a mom and a friend. Tweezer was sad. Lauren was a life saver on the cruise ship. Bill seems genuine and funny. Jack, Estelle’s former boss, tries so hard to be “normal” despite the tragedy that paralyzed him. Gloria, like Estelle, was lost and trying to find her way.
The ending was great…I loved it.
Would I recommend it: If you like chick lit, then read it. There were some great laugh out loud lines in this book.
Will I read it again: I will not.
About the book – from Goodreads: If her life is a box of chocolates, acid-tongued, sugar-obsessed Estelle Brown should learn how to pick them better. Her boyfriend’s left her for a bulimic hand model, her roomate’s skipped town, and her boss is in love with her. Fed up and In the middle of her latest of a lifetime of doomed diet attempts – cutting sugar cold turkey – Estelle decides to quit quitting for good, pack her bags, and lose herself on a 7-day Caribbean cruise. But even on a floating monument to binge eating, the diet industry follows her. Across from every buffet is a studio full of treadmills. Next to every plate of fried calamari is a large diet Coke. As a ship full of wary passengers ducks for cover, Hurricane Estelle wages her own personal war against moderation. But the consequences land her in the belly of the beast: broke, alone, and forced to take a job as –of all things– a detox consultant for the ship. Is Skinny the answer to Happy? Is Sweet n Low the new black? Is that Denise Austin chick … for real? No, no and yes, oddly. But for a Sugarfiend, it’s not the destination that matters, it’s all the cupcakes you get to eat along the way.
Every Free Chance Book Reviews would like to welcome Caroline Burau, author of Sugarfiend, to the blog today! She has written the following blog post about why she wrote Sugarfiend for all of you today.
When people ask me what Sugarfiend is about, I sometimes tell them: It’s like Bridget Jones’s Diary meets When Food is Love.
Most hardcore chick lit readers know Bridget Jones, and anyone who’s ever told herself “I’m only going to have six cookies,” has likely come across Geneen Roth’s series of self-help books, which includes Breaking Free From Compulsive Eating and many others. I read them all as a desperate 20-something, hoping against hope that there was a cure for my overly-aggressive sweet tooth and my constant body-image angst.
I truly believe it’s possible to be addicted to sugar, as Sugarfiend’s lead character Estelle is. And then what stems from sugar or food addictions comes a multi-million-dollar industry meant to offer us a cure in the form of detox diets, fitness DVDs, pills, shakes, and all manner of gadgets. Susan Powter wrote a book called Stop the Insanity in the 90s, and she sold millions because we all agreed that it was insanity. Then we all bought her DVDs, which oddly, didn’t seem ironic at the time.
With Estelle and Sugarfiend, I wanted to give fellow chronic dieters something to laugh about, and I wanted to throw a few eggs at the industry that takes advantage of them. Most of Estelle’s story takes place on a cruise ship, where she has the most awesome and frightening sugar relapse, ever. Anyone who’s ever cruised understands the irony of signing up for an all-you-can-eat vacation, then coming aboard to people trying to sell you diets plans and detoxes.
Estelle is a woman with multiple addictions. When I started writing her, I thought I had the makings of a really intense short story about her food issues. When I realized that her battle with weight could be even more funny than it was tragic, I realized I wanted to write a novel. It was an outlet for my frustrations with my own weight issues, a way to find humor in them, and even a way to put a few to rest.
Today, I’m a 30-mumble-mumble woman who still has a sweet tooth, but also has perspective and even (sometimes) moderation. Whatever happens with Sugarfiend I will always remember it as being the most fun I’ve had writing up to this point. I love Estelle, flaws and all. Which is good, because she’s basically … me.
About the author: Caroline Burau is a blogger, two-time author, and a 911 dispatcher. Her first book, Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat was a Reader’s Digest Editor’s Choice and a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award.
When she’s not writing or obsessing about writing, she’s spending her royalties on yoga classes, strappy sport tops, and used books. She lives with her husband, two geriatric cats, and an excitable yellow lab in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Find Ms. Burau here: web, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads
GIVEAWAY Time!!! Ms. Burau has offered one paperback copy of Sugarfiend to one lucky blog reader! (Open US and Canada only)
Happy reading wherever you are and whenever you get a free chance!!!
8 Comments
by Samantha
Thanks for being in the tour!
by The Every Free Chance Reader
It was my pleasure!
by Xi Pillins
The picture on the book caught my attention first. While I was reading your review, it got really interesting. I can’t wait to grab a copy.
by The Every Free Chance Reader
It is a great cover, isn’t it? Thanks for stopping by my blog!!
by Unknown
Thanks for the chance to win a funny book that I can relate to. The cover is eye catching!I want to read this book:)
Cyndee Thomas
cyndee(dot)thomas0(at)gmail(dot)com
by The Every Free Chance Reader
It really is a funny book! I laughed quite a bit.
Good luck, Cyndee!!! And thanks for stopping by!
by Donna Armstrong
Thanks for the giveaway.
by The Every Free Chance Reader
Good luck! Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you visit again!