Do You like book Sugar Rush (2005)?
You hear about this one a lot, possibly due to the TV show, so I had high hopes for it. Unfortunately, it just didn't meet those expectations for me. I wasn't really big on the style – while it was trying to be authentic, all the capslock started to get to me by the end – and I felt like the ending was completely unsupported by the text. (Actually, I felt like that with a lot of the plot.) More importantly, though, I found all of the characters (except for Kim's dad, perhaps) to be extremely unlikeable. These are the kinds of people I avoid IRL, and would really prefer to avoid in fiction as well.Oh, and to any teenagers reading this review – don't worry. As much as Sugar Rush presents drugs, alcoholism and gang bangs as normal fifteen-year-old behaviour, it's not normal. And a stack of the sexual experiences described within are extremely dubious on the consent factor. Disappointing, but an extra half star for the lesbian protagonist. 1.5 Stars.
—Tara Calaby
I can't help but feel a little disappointed with this. There was so much potential there for an amazing book - but I felt it was very 2D. Kim, a 15 year old girl having to move from a posh all girls school to a co-ed hell hole, meets Sugar AKA Maria Sweet and just 'falls in love' with her. I use the phrase lightly, as it came over as more obsessive infatuation. It just made me feel a bit, I don't know, awkward I think is the best word. I found the plot itself boring. Repetitive. Tedious. And any other word with similar meaning. Then it seemed to jump a lot - there was no indication as to why. There was also the fact that it may as well have been the same 2 chapters over and over - the story didn't change any. And as for the 'explicit content' I think Harry Potter contains more explicit content. Really, maybe I missed it but I couldn't see much explicit content [maybe I'm just a corrupted teenager:] but anyway - I think the warning was pretty pointless! Okay, so there was mentions of this and that but problem pages in magazines are more explicit.Overall, I think it's a book I could read again and maybe enjoy more. It wasn't awful but it just didn't seem to have enough 'filling' - there needed to be a bit more substance to it. It was dreadfully average; not great, not awful - just average. Good. Mediocre. If you want a juicy lesbian love story - not the right book.
—Ashleigh
15-year-old Kim gets transferred from a private girls school to the scrappy high school that has a rep for housing the bad kids. Leaving her old bitchy best friend behind, she is now in new territory and falls under the wing of the bewitching Maria "Sugar" Sweet. Well, she actually falls into a mad crush on Sugar, who is gorgeous, tough, flirtatious, and hard to pin down. Though the book is a girl-on-girl first love story, and it has a refreshing sexiness to it, the story is more about class commentary and the heirarchy among the popular kids vs the hangers-on. The story was made into a dynamic and funny British TV series on Channel 4.
—Coffeeboss
