I enjoyed this well enough. I wasn't sure about it at first - the main character, Sugar Beth, reminices from the very beginning about what a horrible bitch she was as a teenager, a fact that is backed up multiple times throughout the book by ALL the characters.

However, *of course* she had a reason for her evil, which is slowly revealed, and of which her "nemesis," Colin, soon becomes aware, although by the time he figures it out, the elaborate comeuppance he's planned for Sugar Beth has already begun.

This seemed overlong, although the romance was a bit boring, the love scenes were very sexy! ( )

There are no likeable characters in this book. Even the dog is a meanie! If you can deal with that, go for it. This is the same story line as Fancy Pants, but in this case, the characters do not come across as sympathetic.

Sugar Beth sinned as a child - and now her 'friends' make her pay and pay and pay.

I found this a very frustrating read. ( )

Unusual and fabulous plot line. A bit more of a psychological study than she's done before, and so good. A book most women can relate to as you will recognize these characters from your own lives. And it's a very satisfying love story, to boot. ( )

The prodigal daughter returns home to her small town in Mississippi. After fifteen years away she has 3 marriages behind her, is broke and is trying to retrieve a valuable painting left to her by an aunt. She discovers that not only has she changed but also the people she left behind. Interesting and quirky characters make this a fun read.

Once again, SEP has taken a very unlikely couple, put them together, and made it work. Not only that, but she takes a fairly unlikeable couple, puts them together, and makes it work.

Sugar Beth was a real bitch in high school. Daughter of the wealthiest family in town, she was also the prettiest and most popular. If someone wasn't in her clique, she either ignored them or made their lives hell. And if someone crossed her, the way young teacher Colin Byrne did, she destroyed them.

In Colin's case, she accused him of coming on to her, getting him fired and sending him back to his family in England in disgrace.

Now they're both back in town, and the tables are turned. Sugar Beth is broke and desperate for money. Her only hope is that her aunt left her the carriage house and a very valuable painting--if she can find it.

Colin is now a very successful author, and he owns the house Sugar Beth grew up in. When she needs a job to allow her the cash to stay in town long enough to find the painting, he sees the perfect opportunity for revenge, starting with hiring her as his housekeeper.

His revenge plot is abetted by Sugar Beth's half-sister Winnie, who has just as much reason to want revenge as Colin does.

While there are some very funny parts in the book, Ain't She Sweet? is not a light romantic comedy. Sugar Beth, Colin, Winnie, and Winnie's husband Ryan--who married Winnie on the rebound from Sugar Beth--all have some serious issues to work through, and they don't always deal with them admirably.

I'd discussed this book with a friend before reading it, and I was prepared to find Sugar Beth's former classmates a bit unbelievable in holding on to anger for so many years. My sense was that it was only Winnie and Colin who were still angry, and the other women succumbed to pack mentality. It seemed believable to me.

What I had to suspend disbelief for was the small town, which is very unlike the small town where I grew up. But then, it's like most other small towns in fiction, and the town I grew up in was not in the south, and I left it when I was barely an adult, so it's entirely possible that my small town is like that and I just never saw it. ( )