TBR and Beyond Tours - Sugar and Spite

 

TITLE: Sugar and Spite

AUTHOR: Gail D. Villaneuva

PUBLISHER: Scholastic

PUBLISHING DATE: April 20, 2021

PAGES: 208

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: 

Jolina can’t take Claudine’s bullying any longer! 

The taunts and teasing are too much. Though Jolina is still learning her grandfather’s arbularyo magic and isn’t supposed to use any on her own, she sneaks into his potions lab to get her revenge. There she creates a batch of gayuma, a powerful love potion. 

And it works! The love potion conquers Claudine’s hateful nature. In fact, Claudine doesn’t just stop bullying Jolina—now she wants to be Jolina’s BFF, and does everything and anything Jolina asks. 

But magic comes with a cost, and bad intentions beget bad returns. Controlling another person’s ability to love—or hate—will certainly have consequences. The magic demands payment, and it is about to come for Jolina in the form of a terrible storm…

Magic and reality mingle in this brilliant new middle-grade novel about true friendship that asks whether it’s ever okay to take away someone’s free will.

MY THOUGHTS:  This is such an adorable MG novel and I can think of tons of people, both young and old, who might enjoy it.  Jolina and her family moved to help her grandfather following her grandmother's death.  Her father now runs the family restaurant and her mother gets a job in an up-scale ocean front resort.  Jolina spends her time between hanging out with her best canine pal Kidlat, her grandfather and school.  Her grandfather is teaching her arbularyo magic but Jolina can't quite get the hang of it.  When she sneaks and uses it to make the town's bully Claudine like her, will it work out the way she planned or have unintended consequences?

This book was super sweet.  I loved the family relationships, the pets and how important a role they play, and message it sends about friendship, being different, and bullying.  In fact, let me break it down.

THE TOP 5 REASON YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!

1.  Kidlat - he's super adorable and the bond between him and Jolina is priceless.

2.  You'll learn something - I had so much fun learning about Filipino culture from the food, the locale and the healing magic.

3. I ADORED the relationship between Jolina and her grandfather.

4.  It teaches a very important lesson about acceptance and bullying.

5.  It has such a fun and colorful cover!

So there you have it.  I do have to say there is an animal death in this book and you guys know how that effects me.  But other than that, Sugar and Spite is a fantastic read.

RATING: 4 PAWS

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gail D. Villanueva is a Filipino author born and based in the Philippines. She’s also a web designer and an entrepreneur. She loves pineapple pizza, seafood, and chocolate, but not in a single dish together (eww). Gail and her husband live in the outskirts of Manila with their dogs, ducks, turtles, cats, and one friendly but lonesome chicken. Her debut novel MY FATE ACCORDING TO THE BUTTERFLY (Scholastic, 2019) was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, an Amazon Best Book of the Month Editor’s Pick, and a NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. Gail’s next book, SUGAR AND SPITE, will be published by Scholastic in Spring 2021. Learn more at www.gaildvillanueva.com.