• BookSense Notable
• 2008 RT Reviewers' Choice Award winner for Best Women's Fiction
• 2009 SIBA Book Award nominee

... Allen's delectable follow-up to her sprightly best-selling debut (Garden Spells, 2007) is another tasty trek into a world where things are not quite as they seem. Like the most decadently addictive bonbons, once started, Allen's magically entrancing novel is impossible to put down.
Booklist (Starred review) - Carol Haggas

Allen’s second bewitching offering...is a candy jar of magical characters and mystical adventures. As in Allen’s previous work, there’s an element of the supernatural (self-help books that literally follow one around; tears that sprout mysterious tropical flowers), and again it works. Words such as sweet, charming and delightful are weak accolades for such a pleasurable book.
Publishers Weekly

In 13 candy-themed chapters, secrets from the past unravel, and old and new dreams and romances come to fruition. Allen's inspired descriptions of Della Lee's ex-boyfriend Julian wonderfully explain the power "bad boys" exert over even good women. (She) uses magic to captivating effect. Fans of Garden Spells will want this.
Library Journal - Rebecca Kelm

The Sugar Queen...offers sincere relationship insight. It's like a dessert you'd scorn for being too sweet but would devour anyway.
Entertainment Weekly