Review: Sugar Spun Sister by Anna Garner

Life isn’t exactly sweet for Cricket Whittier. Her boss hates her, her work is soul-destroying, and the sexy guy she’s hooking up with doesn’t want to date her. But this girl is far from hopeless. When Cricket’s in the kitchen with her ice cream maker and a few choice ingredients, her troubles slip away as she becomes a delectable dessert-designing powerhouse. She loves it so much, she dreams of opening her own ice cream shop one day.

As it turns out, “one day” just might be closer than she thinks. Propelled by the help and encouragement of her best friends, Lindsay and Nora, Cricket starts making plans to set up shop. Which is easier said than done what with the internal squabbling, the sky-high costs, her parents forecasting failure and her increasingly complicated love life. Despite all these hurdles, will Cricket be able to make her sweet dreams come true?

Review: wow! I loved Anna Garner's First novel, last year but I think I loved this one even more, and better than that, this is the first novel in a new series which she has written. I love the cover of this novel too, it would look gorgeous in paperback! I literally couldn't out this book down because it was such a fun easy read and yet at the same time a real page turner. The book deals with strong themes from friendship and entrepreneurship something which not many books I've read recently have really dealt with and so it was nice to read something about these themes for a change...

This book does come with a health warning: do not read this book unless you have easy access to ice cream. The main storyline deals with Cricket setting up her own ice cream business and experimenting with different flavours and they all so sound so co,platelet delicious, I was craving her yummy ice cream all the time! It's best to have some to hand or an ice cream shop nearby! I loved the storyline and thought it was such a good idea. It deals with her right from when she begins making it for fun in her little kitchen so when she finds a property to renovate and rent and finally, starting up the business itself. Real money and terms are used and I have great respect for the author for researching and including all of these details. 

Cricket is a great characters. She comes from hippy parents and so is fairly laid back when it comes to life. Her relationship with her friends is an interesting one. I'm not sure I found their complete closeness entirely believable, I wouldn't fancy going into business with any of my friends, but overall I loved cricket! Her boss was the real villain of the story, and he was a great character to love to hate. There are two potential love interests for cricket who are both great additions to the role call, although did find myself rooting for one over the other! The story is set in San Francisco, which is fast becoming a new favourite of mine as a setting. It was brilliant hearing about the different areas and I think the ice cream shop would fit in there perfectly! 

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was entertaining, fun and a nice quick storyline! I liked the characters and thought the whole concept was really good. Even though this is the start of a series I think this works really well as a stand alone novel as well, jus make sure you read it with some ice cream close at hand and plenty of time because you're not going to be able to out this one down!