Sugar Wallace has just moved into an old apartment building in an charming, yet older neighborhood of Manhattan. The small penthouse on the fifth floor with a large terrace and gorgeous view which is perfect for her. This is the latest of an annual move she has made since fleeing her wedding at the altar. Some years ago, she had been a debutante and daughter of wealthy parents in Charleston preparing to marry a very handsome guy. However, his arrogant, bossy and violent personality had just come to a head which is the reason Sugar fled. As a child, Sugar had loved spending her time with her recently deceased, yet beloved grandfather from whom she gained her knowledge and love of beekeeping. When she left Charleston, she took her bee hive with her and it has been with her ever since. In each town she has lived in, she has made her living by selling honey and other bee-related products. In addition, her friendly, kind and helpful personality has won her many friends.
As Sugar gets to know her new neighbors, she uses her happy ways to bring them all together. The completely different personalities of her neighbors make for some lovely, funny and bittersweet stories. When Sugar meets Theo, a lawyer from Scotland, they are intrigued by each other, but incidents happen that make their relationship appear that it is not to be.
Sugar's bees play a huge part in this book and her current queen bee is named Elizabeth the Sixth, descended from her original queen, Elizabeth the First. The book imparts a fascinating lesson on bees: raising them, their personalities, what they do and do not like, and, of course, the delicious and highly versatile honey they produce.
I read The Wedding Bees in a day and found I couldn't put it down. The characters make you laugh, make you think and make you want to have them for your own friends. I highly recommend this book as one that will stay with the reader for a long time to come.
Thanks to Sarah-Kate Lynch for the book in exchange for an honest review.
Connie Fischer is a retired office manager from NASA. Loved books from the time she could read. Spent childhood summers in her front yard tree reading Nancy Drew books and biographies. Loves historical and contemporary romance novels, chick lit and anything British. Is a reviewer for the blog, bookworm2bookworm. Her goal for 2013 on Goodreads is to read and review 100 books and she's way ahead of schedule. Lived in Paris, France for a number of years. Living now in southwest Florida. Ahhh...life is good!
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I really enjoyed this "sweet" book and hope others will read it as well.
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