What do you think?
Rate this book
Sugar
Love, betrayal, murder, and witchcraft.
When 35-year-old Satara Stratton discovers her husband Dean’s treacherous affair with her best friend, Lilah, she plunges into familiar deceit and death. Having disposed of men before without a hitch, she finds a new thrill in this betrayal. But with Lilah on a crusade to expose her guilt, Satara must outpace everyone to keep her secrets safe. Her fate intertwines with a Love Witch whose tempting spells seem a perfect solution to Satara’s woes. With newfound power at her fingertips, she gleefully manipulates the affections of those around her. Yet, Satara's lust for love proves her ultimate vulnerability. She soon learns that while it’s easy to bend others to her will, controlling her own heart is a perilous art indeed. Prepare for a darkly compelling journey where the boundaries of desire and devastation blur, and the quest for love becomes Satara's most lethal game.
A mix between Big Little Lies and YOU; step into the twisted, psychedelic world of SUGAR, a story about a femme fatale hooked on love and acid in this gripping tale of 1970's suburban chaos where nothing is as it seems.
When 35-year-old Satara Stratton discovers her husband Dean’s treacherous affair with her best friend, Lilah, she plunges into familiar deceit and death. Having disposed of men before without a hitch, she finds a new thrill in this betrayal. But with Lilah on a crusade to expose her guilt, Satara must outpace everyone to keep her secrets safe. Her fate intertwines with a Love Witch whose tempting spells seem a perfect solution to Satara’s woes. With newfound power at her fingertips, she gleefully manipulates the affections of those around her. Yet, Satara's lust for love proves her ultimate vulnerability. She soon learns that while it’s easy to bend others to her will, controlling her own heart is a perilous art indeed. Prepare for a darkly compelling journey where the boundaries of desire and devastation blur, and the quest for love becomes Satara's most lethal game.
A mix between Big Little Lies and YOU; step into the twisted, psychedelic world of SUGAR, a story about a femme fatale hooked on love and acid in this gripping tale of 1970's suburban chaos where nothing is as it seems.
259 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 2024
About the author
Mia Ballard
3 books489 followersMia Ballard is an American poet and fiction writer. She loves all things horror and is passionate about writing stories focused on feminine rage. She lives with her partner and dog in Northern California.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 924 reviews
May 17, 2025
Well, this was a complete mess.
If you're the author, you might want to skip this review.
My friends, how to even start this? I'll just say, I was really looking forward to reading this book. If there was a stereotype for a reader who loves stories of female rage, horror, and revenge, with unreliable narrators, that's me, which is why I shelled out $4.99 to The Evil Everything Website to read it. I quickly realized that this book...is not it.
I wish I could just put it down and move on (sunk cost and all), but I cannot. For one, I've been cursed with the eyes of a copyeditor. For another, my profession is data science and I work with AI (LLMs) every day. I know about context windows, prompt engineering, and model hyperparameters. But, most importantly, I know how to detect AI-generated outputs. AI is not art. There's no soul to it. And this book is a husk of a body without a soul.
So, I'll split my review into two parts: the human writer, and the AI writer.
The human writer:
There are parts of this book clearly written by a person. AI doesn't make grammatical errors, but humans do. Fortunately for us, editors and publishers fix these before they ever reach our eyes. Unfortunately for those of us reading self-published work, we get a front row seat to everything with a red squiggly underlining it. Things like: sentences without subject-verb agreement ("Cynthia meeting and marrying Jeff Bailey were the stuff of fairy tales"), tenses changing every other sentence or sometimes in the same sentence ("I like Cheryl, but there is an arrogance to her that rubbed me the wrong way."), misspellings, etc.
Besides the grammar, we are missing important mechanics that make up a story—character motivations, natural-sounding dialogue, an overarching plot. To name a few.
To you, Mia, if you are reading against my previous advisement, you need formal writing courses. Start there and when you're ready, go to a publisher to take you the rest of the way.
The AI writer:
Obviously, these chapters flowed much more fluidly. Unlike the human-written pieces, my brain wasn't stumbling over every word, which was an improvement, but I had to ask myself, 'why would there be such a huge shift in the writing from one chapter to the next?' We're going from basic grammatical errors to semicolons and em dashes? Please. The problem is, it doesn't matter that this was easier to read than the drivel from before, if it's AI-generated, I don't want to read it. There's no value for me to art that a human didn't create. And there's no need to review the outputs from a model. But for readers, here are some things to look out for when you're reading books written after 2023 (big sigh that we have to even talk about this).
✅ Shifts in authorial voice / tone from chapter to chapter
✅ Repetition or redundancy, especially in longer texts
✅ Lacking depth to characters, plot, scene
✅ Chunks of text of approximately equal character count (7k-8k—yes, I counted)
✅ Accelerated publishing schedule (Sugar Oct 2024, We All Rot Eventually Dec 2024, Shy Girl Mar 2025)
✅ Overly polished or robotic prose
If you're still unsure, trying throwing some of the book into https://gptzero.me/. I tried the first chapter and, let's just say, there was little doubt as to the origin of the text.
If you're the author, you might want to skip this review.
My friends, how to even start this? I'll just say, I was really looking forward to reading this book. If there was a stereotype for a reader who loves stories of female rage, horror, and revenge, with unreliable narrators, that's me, which is why I shelled out $4.99 to The Evil Everything Website to read it. I quickly realized that this book...is not it.
I wish I could just put it down and move on (sunk cost and all), but I cannot. For one, I've been cursed with the eyes of a copyeditor. For another, my profession is data science and I work with AI (LLMs) every day. I know about context windows, prompt engineering, and model hyperparameters. But, most importantly, I know how to detect AI-generated outputs. AI is not art. There's no soul to it. And this book is a husk of a body without a soul.
So, I'll split my review into two parts: the human writer, and the AI writer.
The human writer:
There are parts of this book clearly written by a person. AI doesn't make grammatical errors, but humans do. Fortunately for us, editors and publishers fix these before they ever reach our eyes. Unfortunately for those of us reading self-published work, we get a front row seat to everything with a red squiggly underlining it. Things like: sentences without subject-verb agreement ("Cynthia meeting and marrying Jeff Bailey were the stuff of fairy tales"), tenses changing every other sentence or sometimes in the same sentence ("I like Cheryl, but there is an arrogance to her that rubbed me the wrong way."), misspellings, etc.
Besides the grammar, we are missing important mechanics that make up a story—character motivations, natural-sounding dialogue, an overarching plot. To name a few.
To you, Mia, if you are reading against my previous advisement, you need formal writing courses. Start there and when you're ready, go to a publisher to take you the rest of the way.
The AI writer:
Obviously, these chapters flowed much more fluidly. Unlike the human-written pieces, my brain wasn't stumbling over every word, which was an improvement, but I had to ask myself, 'why would there be such a huge shift in the writing from one chapter to the next?' We're going from basic grammatical errors to semicolons and em dashes? Please. The problem is, it doesn't matter that this was easier to read than the drivel from before, if it's AI-generated, I don't want to read it. There's no value for me to art that a human didn't create. And there's no need to review the outputs from a model. But for readers, here are some things to look out for when you're reading books written after 2023 (big sigh that we have to even talk about this).
✅ Shifts in authorial voice / tone from chapter to chapter
✅ Repetition or redundancy, especially in longer texts
✅ Lacking depth to characters, plot, scene
✅ Chunks of text of approximately equal character count (7k-8k—yes, I counted)
✅ Accelerated publishing schedule (Sugar Oct 2024, We All Rot Eventually Dec 2024, Shy Girl Mar 2025)
✅ Overly polished or robotic prose
If you're still unsure, trying throwing some of the book into https://gptzero.me/. I tried the first chapter and, let's just say, there was little doubt as to the origin of the text.
Want to Read
October 18, 2024 This could actually be a great thriller, but damn this cover sends me in the other direction lol. 🤸♀️🏃♀️💨🤢😬
January 5, 2026
I lowkey love being in the mind of an unhinged, men-killing woman who also happens to discover witchcraft and is absolutely losing the grip on reality.
October 12, 2024
⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭑
~
Okay this had me HOOKED 🤩
This was a fun psychological read (great for this time of year!) This book was compelling, immersing, twisted and captivating! The delusion, the rage, the revenge UGH!! This was such a good read highly recommend!!
~
Thanks to Netgalley and the author, Mia Ballard, for the ARC.
Publication date 29th October 2024 🫶🏼
~
Okay this had me HOOKED 🤩
This was a fun psychological read (great for this time of year!) This book was compelling, immersing, twisted and captivating! The delusion, the rage, the revenge UGH!! This was such a good read highly recommend!!
~
Thanks to Netgalley and the author, Mia Ballard, for the ARC.
Publication date 29th October 2024 🫶🏼
January 15, 2026
DNF: there's no way this isn't AI
July 7, 2025
unhinged from page one and never let up all the way through. I enjoyed every single twist and reveal. I gasped and swore out loud several times until the very end. I love a revenge story. I love women. I love horror. I love female horror authors. I love Mia fucking Ballard. she is 3 for 3 with 5 star books for me now, so I cannot wait to see what she does next!
December 19, 2025
Unhinged, fun, and deadly. I’m definitely easy to please with serial killer books
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrGpwfQf/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrGpwfQf/
September 21, 2024
I’m going to make this book my whole personality. Be prepared to be sick of me.
September 20, 2024
˗ˏˋ꒰ 🍒 ꒱ 𝟓-𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝
An enthralling and gripping tale of a woman’s empowerment, Sugar weaves together themes of love, despair, female empowerment, murder, betrayal, and witchcraft. Set in the 1970s—a time when systemic sexism was rampant and women faced significant challenges—this story unfolds in a world where men were often seen as superior, both professionally and in day-to-day life. This is where Satara, the protagonist, steps in. She rises with fierce feminine energy, defying societal norms to demonstrate her power and autonomy. The book is an exotic and enticing page-turner, as we journey with Satara through the hardships of her teenage years, presented as memories scattered throughout the chapters, to her current life as a 35-year-old woman. We are invited inside her mind, exploring her darkest thoughts and her passionate search for belonging—a deep yearning for a relationship and family, for someone who values her not just for her beauty but for the real connection she seeks.
The experience of reading this book was compelling, immersing me in its twisted, captivating world. I especially enjoyed the setting in the 70s, one of my favorite eras for its music and fashion, though not for the difficulties women endured—an issue the book thoughtfully addresses. Sensitive readers should note the trigger warnings, as some scenes are described with a rawness that grips your heart and mind. Overall, this was a blast to read, especially as I was looking for something to kickstart the spooky season. Mia Ballard’s use of dark, compelling prose, along with her skillful use of figures of speech, kept me glued to my seat, constantly craving more as the story unfolded.
This is definitely a 5-star read for me. I devoured it in just a few hours and can’t wait to dive into more of Mia Ballard’s works, which I’ll be following religiously from now on!
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for trusting me with the ARC for an honest review, I really do appreciate it! Looking forward to more of Mia Ballard’s works, that, as I said, I will be religiously paying attention to, from now on!
An enthralling and gripping tale of a woman’s empowerment, Sugar weaves together themes of love, despair, female empowerment, murder, betrayal, and witchcraft. Set in the 1970s—a time when systemic sexism was rampant and women faced significant challenges—this story unfolds in a world where men were often seen as superior, both professionally and in day-to-day life. This is where Satara, the protagonist, steps in. She rises with fierce feminine energy, defying societal norms to demonstrate her power and autonomy. The book is an exotic and enticing page-turner, as we journey with Satara through the hardships of her teenage years, presented as memories scattered throughout the chapters, to her current life as a 35-year-old woman. We are invited inside her mind, exploring her darkest thoughts and her passionate search for belonging—a deep yearning for a relationship and family, for someone who values her not just for her beauty but for the real connection she seeks.
The experience of reading this book was compelling, immersing me in its twisted, captivating world. I especially enjoyed the setting in the 70s, one of my favorite eras for its music and fashion, though not for the difficulties women endured—an issue the book thoughtfully addresses. Sensitive readers should note the trigger warnings, as some scenes are described with a rawness that grips your heart and mind. Overall, this was a blast to read, especially as I was looking for something to kickstart the spooky season. Mia Ballard’s use of dark, compelling prose, along with her skillful use of figures of speech, kept me glued to my seat, constantly craving more as the story unfolded.
This is definitely a 5-star read for me. I devoured it in just a few hours and can’t wait to dive into more of Mia Ballard’s works, which I’ll be following religiously from now on!
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for trusting me with the ARC for an honest review, I really do appreciate it! Looking forward to more of Mia Ballard’s works, that, as I said, I will be religiously paying attention to, from now on!
March 16, 2025
“There’s a perverse desire that grips me, a longing so visceral it feels like a wild animal trapped within my chest. I wanted to unhinge my jaw like a snake and swallow him whole.”
After discovering her husband is having an affair with her best friend, the unhinged desire and rage of Satara Stratton is unleashed. Once she has murdered her husband and buried him in the backyard, readers get a past and present look into her very turbulent life–yearning to be truly loved and wanted, getting tangled in various lusty affairs, leaving a trail of men’s bodies in her foot path, and occasionally filling her void with drugs and stalking. Satara is a beautiful mess. But the consequences of her actions are slowly catching up with her…and bodies can’t stay buried forever.
This book–while all over the place as far as the plot is concerned–was entertaining as hell for me personally. There’s no question author Mia Ballard is a talented writer on the rise. While race was not the focal point of this story at all, SUGAR scratched an itch that I’ve had for awhile—unhinged women of color doing stabby white women shenanigans. Yes, I want, I crave Black/WOC female anti-heroines acting on their rage and going on a murder spree. Satara as a protagonist is not likeable, but she’s manipulative, wrathful, seductive, lovesick, teetering on the edge of psychotic, practically a monster in human skin. I ate it up. My only other hang up was the twist at the end. It was a very bizarre twist that sort of made me just go “…huh???”
So while this wasn’t a perfect novel debut, I had a fun time and am actually looking forward to Ballard’s upcoming book Shy Girl ! Gimme me more please!
After discovering her husband is having an affair with her best friend, the unhinged desire and rage of Satara Stratton is unleashed. Once she has murdered her husband and buried him in the backyard, readers get a past and present look into her very turbulent life–yearning to be truly loved and wanted, getting tangled in various lusty affairs, leaving a trail of men’s bodies in her foot path, and occasionally filling her void with drugs and stalking. Satara is a beautiful mess. But the consequences of her actions are slowly catching up with her…and bodies can’t stay buried forever.
This book–while all over the place as far as the plot is concerned–was entertaining as hell for me personally. There’s no question author Mia Ballard is a talented writer on the rise. While race was not the focal point of this story at all, SUGAR scratched an itch that I’ve had for awhile—unhinged women of color doing stabby white women shenanigans. Yes, I want, I crave Black/WOC female anti-heroines acting on their rage and going on a murder spree. Satara as a protagonist is not likeable, but she’s manipulative, wrathful, seductive, lovesick, teetering on the edge of psychotic, practically a monster in human skin. I ate it up. My only other hang up was the twist at the end. It was a very bizarre twist that sort of made me just go “…huh???”
So while this wasn’t a perfect novel debut, I had a fun time and am actually looking forward to Ballard’s upcoming book Shy Girl ! Gimme me more please!
May 14, 2025
quite a painful read, because ballard's writing deserves a proficient editor, and it's clear that she didn't have one here. all the misused words and missing commas were killing me. not to mention the flip flopping tenses, sometimes even using both the past and present tense within the same sentence - i even found myself questioning whether the tense inconsistencies could be intentional. these are small things, but so distracting!
also distracting is the 1970s setting, with flashbacks into the 1950s and 1960s. i don't understand why ballard chose to set the story in the past, yet didn't bother to explore any gender or race implications or add any 20th century cultural resonance. the 70s vibes are hardly there, and the modern slang and other anachronisms took me out of the story again and again. please, voicemail wasn't a thing in the 70s!
HOWEVER, i love when a book can make me side-eye, cringe, gasp! if it provokes physical responses, it's a good read. i love a good delusional narrator, and stories about rage and revenge. excellent execution of subjugation and disempowerment transforming to unconventional (and very bloody) empowerment!
the is absolutely unreal, something i never intended to imagine in detail, but par for the course.
my attention started to flag around the midway point, but the wildly chaotic ending makes the whole book worthwhile. i love the way i can see why a lot of readers feel the ending is disappointing, but i think the trippy, unbelievable mess of it fits the book perfectly.
i'm unsure about the
so excited to read ballard's other works, but i sincerely hope she was able to secure an editor since this debut!
also distracting is the 1970s setting, with flashbacks into the 1950s and 1960s. i don't understand why ballard chose to set the story in the past, yet didn't bother to explore any gender or race implications or add any 20th century cultural resonance. the 70s vibes are hardly there, and the modern slang and other anachronisms took me out of the story again and again. please, voicemail wasn't a thing in the 70s!
HOWEVER, i love when a book can make me side-eye, cringe, gasp! if it provokes physical responses, it's a good read. i love a good delusional narrator, and stories about rage and revenge. excellent execution of subjugation and disempowerment transforming to unconventional (and very bloody) empowerment!
the is absolutely unreal, something i never intended to imagine in detail, but par for the course.
my attention started to flag around the midway point, but the wildly chaotic ending makes the whole book worthwhile. i love the way i can see why a lot of readers feel the ending is disappointing, but i think the trippy, unbelievable mess of it fits the book perfectly.
i'm unsure about the
so excited to read ballard's other works, but i sincerely hope she was able to secure an editor since this debut!
January 6, 2025
This book is grossly under-edited. There are so many errors that it got to a point where I was genuinely irritated and couldn’t focus well on the plot. The pages are littered with adjectives and metaphors attempting to be gorgeous and profound - this had me, often enough, twisting my face up in confusion at what the author was trying to say. Towards the end everything went from bad to absolutely terrible. All the twists that the author was trying to tie in fell absolutely flat, and were very forced/rushed. Despite my complaints, I did finish it and I did have fun at a few points.
August 6, 2025
“I wasn’t a murderer - I was just a woman wronged.”
Now this book captures unhinged female rage beautifully. This was such a wild ride and every plot twist had me shook.
Two 5 star books by Mia Ballard in a row - she’s going to be one of my favorite authors real quick if she keeps blowing my mind.
Now this book captures unhinged female rage beautifully. This was such a wild ride and every plot twist had me shook.
Two 5 star books by Mia Ballard in a row - she’s going to be one of my favorite authors real quick if she keeps blowing my mind.
February 6, 2026
I would love if this God-forsaken platform would stop recommending me “books” with AI covers, written by “authors” who use AI to write all of their work. I am not interested in what an “artist” with a ChatGPT legacy has to say. When Mia Ballard actually writes a book, I will read it, but this is not that, it is slop.
Just so we’re clear: regular consumers who have nothing to do with this book could be the ones who paid to produce it.
At least here in America, the AI data centers behind these LLM models use significantly more electricity than your average household. Because we live in a country ruled by the one true God, the profit motive, there are no regulations or laws requiring those power companies to charge the data centers fairly. Instead, the cost of that increased usage is routinely distributed to regular consumers. So if you live in an area with a data center, even if you use the exact same amount of electricity each month, your bill can and probably will rise as a consequence of folks using AI.
So if you live near this “author”, congratulations, she may have hiked your energy bill to spit out this soulless “content.” Fuck this practice, fuck this usage of the tech, fuck calling this “writing” or “art” at all. It’s theft, not just of intellectual property from actual artists but indirect financial theft. It’s gross and disturbing and you should never read a “book” created this way.
Just so we’re clear: regular consumers who have nothing to do with this book could be the ones who paid to produce it.
At least here in America, the AI data centers behind these LLM models use significantly more electricity than your average household. Because we live in a country ruled by the one true God, the profit motive, there are no regulations or laws requiring those power companies to charge the data centers fairly. Instead, the cost of that increased usage is routinely distributed to regular consumers. So if you live in an area with a data center, even if you use the exact same amount of electricity each month, your bill can and probably will rise as a consequence of folks using AI.
So if you live near this “author”, congratulations, she may have hiked your energy bill to spit out this soulless “content.” Fuck this practice, fuck this usage of the tech, fuck calling this “writing” or “art” at all. It’s theft, not just of intellectual property from actual artists but indirect financial theft. It’s gross and disturbing and you should never read a “book” created this way.
October 3, 2024
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
This started as a 5-star read, and then it just kept getting worse and worse. I'm giving it 2.5 stars. If you're looking for a book that feels like Sabrina Carpenter's Taste, Sugar is the way to go.
Let me start by saying this is a fun book about female rage. In this story, Satara finds out her husband Dean is cheating on her with her best friend, so she gets him in bed... and stabs him. Her life continues as usual: baking, going to the office along with her crush Chris, and her book club (with Chris' wife). The book follows Satara's life through different timelines, and we see her become the woman she is today.
I find this book will work for those of you who support women's rights and wrongs. I recently read two other books on female rage, The Trunk and Grey Dog. The Trunk intertwines female rage with sorority - women supporting each other. Sugar aligns with Grey Dog in the way they have a female main character who progressively gets angrier and more frustrated, and that leads the character to violence against everyone around them. I find my taste/moral compass aligns more with the 'women supporting women' side of female rage, and Sugar went the 'everyone gets a piece of the rage cake' direction which I personally don't enjoy.
While I get where this came from, it didn't work for me. I found Satara unlikable and I couldn't empathize with her, and the characters surrounding her were petty, stereotypical, and depthless. The story flows nicely for the first 40% of the book, and then it just drags and drags in what looks like the petty/office drama Olympics but in a way that I didn't find particularly exciting. And then, in the last 10% of the book, we're bombarded with twists that in my opinion were unnecessary (I'm calling it The Twist Fest). One or two twists are fine, but it was all very sudden and uncalled for (you know the thing 'too little, too late'? This was 'way too much, too late'). I wish some of the things (i.e., ) had been uncovered earlier rather than having it all come out in such a short time.
Besides the dragging in the middle and the twists, I empathize with some other reviews that mention confusing stuff/plotholes. I could follow the book perfectly fine, but some things just didn't make sense to me after The Twist Fest at the end (for example, ).
I am definitely going to read Mia Ballard's next books. This didn't work for me, but I did love the writing, it was a beautiful balance of exquisite and spicy, I highlighted half the book. I particularly loved this sentence:
"The promise of sex is a currency devalued by his infidelity, each dalliance a withdrawal from the bank of my patience, until now, when I'm overdrawn and bankrupt of fucks to give."
*ARC provided for free. This has not impacted my rating.
This started as a 5-star read, and then it just kept getting worse and worse. I'm giving it 2.5 stars. If you're looking for a book that feels like Sabrina Carpenter's Taste, Sugar is the way to go.
Let me start by saying this is a fun book about female rage. In this story, Satara finds out her husband Dean is cheating on her with her best friend, so she gets him in bed... and stabs him. Her life continues as usual: baking, going to the office along with her crush Chris, and her book club (with Chris' wife). The book follows Satara's life through different timelines, and we see her become the woman she is today.
I find this book will work for those of you who support women's rights and wrongs. I recently read two other books on female rage, The Trunk and Grey Dog. The Trunk intertwines female rage with sorority - women supporting each other. Sugar aligns with Grey Dog in the way they have a female main character who progressively gets angrier and more frustrated, and that leads the character to violence against everyone around them. I find my taste/moral compass aligns more with the 'women supporting women' side of female rage, and Sugar went the 'everyone gets a piece of the rage cake' direction which I personally don't enjoy.
While I get where this came from, it didn't work for me. I found Satara unlikable and I couldn't empathize with her, and the characters surrounding her were petty, stereotypical, and depthless. The story flows nicely for the first 40% of the book, and then it just drags and drags in what looks like the petty/office drama Olympics but in a way that I didn't find particularly exciting. And then, in the last 10% of the book, we're bombarded with twists that in my opinion were unnecessary (I'm calling it The Twist Fest). One or two twists are fine, but it was all very sudden and uncalled for (you know the thing 'too little, too late'? This was 'way too much, too late'). I wish some of the things (i.e., ) had been uncovered earlier rather than having it all come out in such a short time.
Besides the dragging in the middle and the twists, I empathize with some other reviews that mention confusing stuff/plotholes. I could follow the book perfectly fine, but some things just didn't make sense to me after The Twist Fest at the end (for example, ).
I am definitely going to read Mia Ballard's next books. This didn't work for me, but I did love the writing, it was a beautiful balance of exquisite and spicy, I highlighted half the book. I particularly loved this sentence:
"The promise of sex is a currency devalued by his infidelity, each dalliance a withdrawal from the bank of my patience, until now, when I'm overdrawn and bankrupt of fucks to give."
*ARC provided for free. This has not impacted my rating.
June 9, 2025
felt like i was reading a printed and bound wattpad novel
i can kind of forgive the botched editing and grammar inconsistencies (this would change tense often in the middle of paragraphs, or refer to characters by the wrong name and make certain scenes very confusing) since this is self-published - but the bad writing is beyond my threshold of grace. there is this particular subgenre of thriller-horrors about women killing men that is meant to be read as cathartic or even "feminist" depending on what intention the author is glossing their work with, but it is sooooo boring when books of this category also cannot help but be deeply misogynistic and evil about women as well.
the main character in sugar - satara - is clearly suffering from intense PTSD and some form of personality disorder largely brought on by being groomed by a pedophile as a teenager. all the men in her life have wronged her or taken advantage of her - which does nothing to curb her insatiable need for their approval and also see every other woman as competition that needs to be cleared. women are catty, are slutty, are bitches and We Hate Them! even characters that are sympathetic and kind to satara are spoken about and handled with such cruelty. it's really exhausting to read.
this is supposed to be set in the mid-70s with (many, MANY) flashbacks to the 60s but genuinely there is 0 reason for this and the book itself falls into so many anachronistic pitfalls that it truly would have been easier to just make this a modern story? the vernacular is straight up 2020s (albeit the dialogue in this is. Bad. regardless of that), gender/race/etc seem to have very little weight to any of the character's lives, and there is constant mentioning of things like voicemails! SUVs! so much tech that would not exist!
and i could forgive this all if it was campy and fun because that's what i wanted but it truly turned into such a snooze fest halfway through. every scene had the familiar cadence of satara thinks something delusional - satara calls another woman a bitch/slut/etc - satara lusts over a man - satara murders. maybe i just do not like reading about attraction to men this much lol
really sucks b/c i picked this up because i want to read shy girl by mia ballard and this was able to be picked up at the library faster but i have absolutely 0 interest in reading anything else by her now 3
i can kind of forgive the botched editing and grammar inconsistencies (this would change tense often in the middle of paragraphs, or refer to characters by the wrong name and make certain scenes very confusing) since this is self-published - but the bad writing is beyond my threshold of grace. there is this particular subgenre of thriller-horrors about women killing men that is meant to be read as cathartic or even "feminist" depending on what intention the author is glossing their work with, but it is sooooo boring when books of this category also cannot help but be deeply misogynistic and evil about women as well.
the main character in sugar - satara - is clearly suffering from intense PTSD and some form of personality disorder largely brought on by being groomed by a pedophile as a teenager. all the men in her life have wronged her or taken advantage of her - which does nothing to curb her insatiable need for their approval and also see every other woman as competition that needs to be cleared. women are catty, are slutty, are bitches and We Hate Them! even characters that are sympathetic and kind to satara are spoken about and handled with such cruelty. it's really exhausting to read.
this is supposed to be set in the mid-70s with (many, MANY) flashbacks to the 60s but genuinely there is 0 reason for this and the book itself falls into so many anachronistic pitfalls that it truly would have been easier to just make this a modern story? the vernacular is straight up 2020s (albeit the dialogue in this is. Bad. regardless of that), gender/race/etc seem to have very little weight to any of the character's lives, and there is constant mentioning of things like voicemails! SUVs! so much tech that would not exist!
and i could forgive this all if it was campy and fun because that's what i wanted but it truly turned into such a snooze fest halfway through. every scene had the familiar cadence of satara thinks something delusional - satara calls another woman a bitch/slut/etc - satara lusts over a man - satara murders. maybe i just do not like reading about attraction to men this much lol
really sucks b/c i picked this up because i want to read shy girl by mia ballard and this was able to be picked up at the library faster but i have absolutely 0 interest in reading anything else by her now 3
August 28, 2025
I’m shocked that this book has so many decent reviews, I feel like giving it one star is better than it deserves. Anyone interested in reading it please don’t waste your time!
Sugar is clearly written using AI; I’m not sure if the author had it rewrite sections or used it to generate the entire thing. Either way no one even bothered to edit Sugar before publishing. There is one point in the book where it flips out of Sataras POV and into another characters for a sentence. Never mind the grammatical errors.
Sugar is clearly written using AI; I’m not sure if the author had it rewrite sections or used it to generate the entire thing. Either way no one even bothered to edit Sugar before publishing. There is one point in the book where it flips out of Sataras POV and into another characters for a sentence. Never mind the grammatical errors.
October 4, 2024
The craziest feminine rage book of 2024.
November 10, 2024
Well that was a fun, twisty ride! An unhinged, unreliable narrator so desperate for love and female rage at its finest. 🍒🍒🍒
May 8, 2025
Disappointing.
Writing, pacing, plot, characters, this book is consistent. Consistently bad. The only thing that breaks the consistency is the ending, that brought the story from mildly tolerable to completely insufferable.
Comparing this to A Certain Hunger is a huge disservice to A Certain Hunger.
1 🌟
Writing, pacing, plot, characters, this book is consistent. Consistently bad. The only thing that breaks the consistency is the ending, that brought the story from mildly tolerable to completely insufferable.
Comparing this to A Certain Hunger is a huge disservice to A Certain Hunger.
1 🌟
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2025
the perfect feminine rage book exists!!!
October 9, 2024
OH MY DAYS!! The delusion, the revenge, the rage ... it's giving Pearl? A little American Psycho? I tore through this book in one evening, it was that engrossing. The twists! *chefs kiss* Thank you to Galaxy Press & NetGalley for the ARC. Give this a read when in publishes October 29, 2024!
May 15, 2026
0 stars
☆☆☆☆☆
──────── 🍰 ────────
Summary:
Sugar follows Satara, a sociopath with an empathy disorder, after she discovers her husband’s affair. She determines this from a ‘look’ he shared with her friend, Lilah… and somehow she’s correct. She decides to murder him with a kitchen knife, bury him in the backyard, and then find a new husband, enlisting the help of a Love Witch to get the attention of her married coworker. A lot of other dumb shit happens too, but who actually gives a fuck?
The book is called Sugar because for one random chapter she’s a sex worker (who lies about her race because apparently only white women are desirable…?) and she goes by Sugar. This is unrelated to anything else going on in the book and is never brought up again after that chapter.
I would recommend this book to:
Anyone learning to spot AI ‘writing’ tells
I would NOT recommend this book to:
Humans
Anyone who loves the arts
──────── 🍰 ────────
My thoughts:
Incredibly large portions of this book are clearly AI-generated. The writing is ridiculously repetitive and stuffed with AI boiler-plate sentences. ‘It’s the kind of X that X.’ ‘It’s not X, but X.’ Everything is ‘gnawing’. Everything is a ‘twisted tapestry’ or a ‘twisted tableau’ or a ‘twisted something’. Every breath and emotion is ‘palpable’.
Ideas are repeated over and over because the AI has nothing to say and no observations to make. In the same paragraph: “He stumbles up the stairs, looking back at me with his half-hearted attempts at seduction (…), a reminder of all the ways we’ve failed to truly know each other,” and “That goofy half-smile, an attempt at seduction, now only serves as a stark reminder of how far we have strayed from each other.”
The descriptions are often nonsensical. Example: Satara follows a couple home and we’re told she can “keep my distance, but (stay) close enough that when the man takes out his key to unlock the front door, I slip in before it softly closes, narrowly making it inside.”
So she keeps her distance to avoid being noticed, but also slips in behind them in the few moments that a door is open… without either of them noticing. How?
Later, tile walls absorb her tears… how?
Later still, a woman who is actively speaking aloud is described as giving ‘silent scrutiny’, and a man’s voice is both ‘soft’ and ‘slicing’.
Even when the writing isn’t logic-breaking, there’s no subtlety. Satara just says “I gave him sex because I wanted him to love me.” This is the perfect novel for people who hate thinking for themselves!
The story reads like it was written with no care for consequences. She’s stabbing men left, right, and centre with no regard for how she wouldn’t get immediately caught. There’s also no regard for how she’d overpower men who are much larger than her. There’s never any real struggle. She bites one man’s penis off during a blowjob and he just… sits back and lets her, apparently?
This is a book that desperately wants to be edgy. It talks constantly about masturbation, for example. It also sprinkles in a totally rushed stay in a mental health institution and a bit of CSA.
In a book that doesn’t consider its plot points at all, this is no longer just bad writing. It’s offensive and bordering on pedophilic.
Michael is 22 and she is 15 when he rapes her. This is not handled with any sensitivity at all. Ballard describes Satara’s curvy body and the rough sex, and lingers on Michael’s ‘electrifying’, ‘hungry’ touch. She paints Satara, a black-and-Native-American teenage girl (mentioned because there are vastly high rates of child abuse for minority children due to the belief they’re ‘fast’) as a sociopathic pursuer who just wants attention. And sometimes young girls do want attention, but this isn’t a careful exploration of a kid acting out. It reads like a pedophilic fantasy: she tempts an adult man as he tries his best to reject her (twice), until she pushes him to the point he just has to rape her, in “torturous pleasure” and explicit detail.
If there’s no regard for careful story beats, there’s certainly no regard for trauma. The rape doesn’t affect her or influence her opinion on sex. She never thinks about it. She gets raped for shock value and then the story moves on. Satara isn’t so much a character as a vehicle to say shocking things and weakly channel for ‘feminine rage’.
Actually, there isn’t a singular ‘character’ in this entire ‘novel’. Everyone has the same voice, the ChatGPT accent, and it’s sooo dull. Motivations change scene to scene. Satara starts the novel saying killing Dean is a form of self-preservation (framed as justified). Later she says she’s never killed in self-preservation before and she doesn’t like it.
The first chapter was fun as a hate read, but I was depressed by the time I got to 30%. How does this have multiple 5-star ratings? I couldn’t think of one good thing to say about this book with my life on the line. The fucking ending was an insult to any reader. There’s no chance it wasn’t cooked up on the fly. There’s no chance that any of this was planned. Holy fuck, it was the stupidest way to conclude this that I could possibly imagine.
To lend a turn of phrase, Mia Ballard’s books should be shown in a theology classroom as proof of the human soul’s existence, because this shows what ‘art’ looks like when the soul is not present.
I didn’t even pay for this book, but I still think someone needs to refund me.
☆☆☆☆☆
“I took a deep breath, the night air sharp and unforgiving, and pressed on. I wasn’t a murderer—I was just a woman wronged. The distinction blurred in my mind, the edges of morality softening under the weight of my obsession.”
──────── 🍰 ────────
Summary:
Sugar follows Satara, a sociopath with an empathy disorder, after she discovers her husband’s affair. She determines this from a ‘look’ he shared with her friend, Lilah… and somehow she’s correct. She decides to murder him with a kitchen knife, bury him in the backyard, and then find a new husband, enlisting the help of a Love Witch to get the attention of her married coworker. A lot of other dumb shit happens too, but who actually gives a fuck?
The book is called Sugar because for one random chapter she’s a sex worker (who lies about her race because apparently only white women are desirable…?) and she goes by Sugar. This is unrelated to anything else going on in the book and is never brought up again after that chapter.
I would recommend this book to:
Anyone learning to spot AI ‘writing’ tells
I would NOT recommend this book to:
Humans
Anyone who loves the arts
──────── 🍰 ────────
My thoughts:
Incredibly large portions of this book are clearly AI-generated. The writing is ridiculously repetitive and stuffed with AI boiler-plate sentences. ‘It’s the kind of X that X.’ ‘It’s not X, but X.’ Everything is ‘gnawing’. Everything is a ‘twisted tapestry’ or a ‘twisted tableau’ or a ‘twisted something’. Every breath and emotion is ‘palpable’.
Ideas are repeated over and over because the AI has nothing to say and no observations to make. In the same paragraph: “He stumbles up the stairs, looking back at me with his half-hearted attempts at seduction (…), a reminder of all the ways we’ve failed to truly know each other,” and “That goofy half-smile, an attempt at seduction, now only serves as a stark reminder of how far we have strayed from each other.”
The descriptions are often nonsensical. Example: Satara follows a couple home and we’re told she can “keep my distance, but (stay) close enough that when the man takes out his key to unlock the front door, I slip in before it softly closes, narrowly making it inside.”
So she keeps her distance to avoid being noticed, but also slips in behind them in the few moments that a door is open… without either of them noticing. How?
Later, tile walls absorb her tears… how?
Later still, a woman who is actively speaking aloud is described as giving ‘silent scrutiny’, and a man’s voice is both ‘soft’ and ‘slicing’.
Even when the writing isn’t logic-breaking, there’s no subtlety. Satara just says “I gave him sex because I wanted him to love me.” This is the perfect novel for people who hate thinking for themselves!
The story reads like it was written with no care for consequences. She’s stabbing men left, right, and centre with no regard for how she wouldn’t get immediately caught. There’s also no regard for how she’d overpower men who are much larger than her. There’s never any real struggle. She bites one man’s penis off during a blowjob and he just… sits back and lets her, apparently?
This is a book that desperately wants to be edgy. It talks constantly about masturbation, for example. It also sprinkles in a totally rushed stay in a mental health institution and a bit of CSA.
In a book that doesn’t consider its plot points at all, this is no longer just bad writing. It’s offensive and bordering on pedophilic.
Michael is 22 and she is 15 when he rapes her. This is not handled with any sensitivity at all. Ballard describes Satara’s curvy body and the rough sex, and lingers on Michael’s ‘electrifying’, ‘hungry’ touch. She paints Satara, a black-and-Native-American teenage girl (mentioned because there are vastly high rates of child abuse for minority children due to the belief they’re ‘fast’) as a sociopathic pursuer who just wants attention. And sometimes young girls do want attention, but this isn’t a careful exploration of a kid acting out. It reads like a pedophilic fantasy: she tempts an adult man as he tries his best to reject her (twice), until she pushes him to the point he just has to rape her, in “torturous pleasure” and explicit detail.
If there’s no regard for careful story beats, there’s certainly no regard for trauma. The rape doesn’t affect her or influence her opinion on sex. She never thinks about it. She gets raped for shock value and then the story moves on. Satara isn’t so much a character as a vehicle to say shocking things and weakly channel for ‘feminine rage’.
Actually, there isn’t a singular ‘character’ in this entire ‘novel’. Everyone has the same voice, the ChatGPT accent, and it’s sooo dull. Motivations change scene to scene. Satara starts the novel saying killing Dean is a form of self-preservation (framed as justified). Later she says she’s never killed in self-preservation before and she doesn’t like it.
The first chapter was fun as a hate read, but I was depressed by the time I got to 30%. How does this have multiple 5-star ratings? I couldn’t think of one good thing to say about this book with my life on the line. The fucking ending was an insult to any reader. There’s no chance it wasn’t cooked up on the fly. There’s no chance that any of this was planned. Holy fuck, it was the stupidest way to conclude this that I could possibly imagine.
To lend a turn of phrase, Mia Ballard’s books should be shown in a theology classroom as proof of the human soul’s existence, because this shows what ‘art’ looks like when the soul is not present.
I didn’t even pay for this book, but I still think someone needs to refund me.
October 22, 2024
Hi there! This is the author of SUGAR. I want to give a big thank you to all of you who have read and enjoyed my story so far. Just want to clear up something-if you received a copy through NetGalley VERY early on it’s possible you read the unfinished unpolished version of the book. If there are any misspelled words or discrepancies with the tense changing, rest assured that it has all been fixed for the final copy. Oh and I know you all do not follow me on Social media so you might not know that I released it early on Oct 17th! So SUGAR is available now on paperback, hardcover, and kindle right now! (Also Barnes and noble.com) thank you so much and I cannot wait to show you guys what I come out with next! 🥲🍭🔪❤️🔥
October 6, 2024
this was a weird read. it felt like it wanted to tackle a lot of topics without giving each of them enough depth, and the writing felt inconsistent. it went from being all poetic to lacking commas. the plot wasn't entertaining enough for me to overlook the glaring issues.
thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc
thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc
October 15, 2024
Sugar is a full throttled novel about a female serial killer. But she kills for "love".
I love a book that starts out with a bloody bang, and in the very first chapter, Satara kills her husband of six years when she discovers he's cheating on her with her best friend. This is going to lead to more brutal deaths. But as we get glimpses into her past, there's a pattern evident. A pattern of love, rejection, and ultimately, murder.
Told mainly from her perspective, Satara is a truly functioning psychopath. Her crimes are never discovered and she plays the part of grieving widow and innocent bystander perfectly.
But this book is so much more. It was a horrific pleasure getting to know this character and seeing her life unfold as things begin to weave together with her crush on her boss, book club members, and several romantic/sexual encounters which lead mostly to bloodshed.
But the ending.... chef's kiss. No spoilers but there are two huge twists at the end which are mind blowing and cements this novel as a must read in my opinion.
This author writes about Satara's compulsive need for affection and acknowledgement so well. You almost feel sorry for her. In fact, something which happened to her at the age of fifteen will maybe have you siding with her decision to gain retribution.
The story is compelling, engaging, and leaves a gory mark. I highly recommend it.
I love a book that starts out with a bloody bang, and in the very first chapter, Satara kills her husband of six years when she discovers he's cheating on her with her best friend. This is going to lead to more brutal deaths. But as we get glimpses into her past, there's a pattern evident. A pattern of love, rejection, and ultimately, murder.
Told mainly from her perspective, Satara is a truly functioning psychopath. Her crimes are never discovered and she plays the part of grieving widow and innocent bystander perfectly.
But this book is so much more. It was a horrific pleasure getting to know this character and seeing her life unfold as things begin to weave together with her crush on her boss, book club members, and several romantic/sexual encounters which lead mostly to bloodshed.
But the ending.... chef's kiss. No spoilers but there are two huge twists at the end which are mind blowing and cements this novel as a must read in my opinion.
This author writes about Satara's compulsive need for affection and acknowledgement so well. You almost feel sorry for her. In fact, something which happened to her at the age of fifteen will maybe have you siding with her decision to gain retribution.
The story is compelling, engaging, and leaves a gory mark. I highly recommend it.
September 26, 2024
Though this book was a page turner I felt that a lot of plot points were jammed in there for shock value that took no root in anything. While it was set in the late 70s there seemed to be a lot of anachronisms and the 70s setting was purely there for the vibe. Characters' motivations were super unclear and unbelievable. The writing was gorgeous and gripping but overall couldn't get over the issues presented within the plot.
January 12, 2025
This story was pure chaos and I loved it! It didn't take long for me to get swept into Satara's batshit delusions and (oddly enough) find myself rooting for her. Not sure what that says about me, but here we are 😅
4.25 ⭐ There was a slight overuse of metaphors and imagery, which sometimes resulted in wordiness. But this was Ballard's debut and the story kept me entertained from start to finish, so it's easily overlooked!
4.25 ⭐ There was a slight overuse of metaphors and imagery, which sometimes resulted in wordiness. But this was Ballard's debut and the story kept me entertained from start to finish, so it's easily overlooked!
December 27, 2024
i’m a sucker for a horror story about an unhinged woman. this had me HOOKED!! i couldn’t put it down. it was unique, interesting, and fast paced. it even had a witchcraft subplot and the ending genuinely took me by surprise! plus the epilogue, i was shook
January 2, 2025
3.75 ⭐️ This was a rollercoaster, I did not see that ending coming. Satara is a housewife in the late 60s early 70s with an acid addiction and a penchant for murder. Her delusions and self-righteousness end up being her downfall. You will hate satara, I do not think she was written to be liked.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 924 reviews