Sugar & Gold Book Review

good objects

[I received a free advance review copy in exchange for an honest review]

This book was pretty intense, to say the least. It’s been a while since I’ve come across a good contemporary with a worthy plot-line. The characters were beautifully woven, and their pasts were wonderfully heartbreaking.
Nikolai’s ability was one I didn’t really find that peculiar. I’ve watched a documentary once, on Discovery Science, I think, about a European woman who has Chromesthesia; she sees certain colors when hearing certain sounds. It’s still very different from Nik’s ability, his ken. But it’s science, so I don’t think what Nikolai has is that creepy/weird.
But it didn’t fail to fascinate me. I found it very interesting, actually. His dark past and tormented childhood broke my heart and shattered it to pieces. I couldn’t imagine how a mother would bully her own son, telling him that he has the devil in him, taking him to a hospital and allowing the doctors to torture him and shock him. WHO DOES THAT?! If your own mother isn’t there to accept the flaws you have as a child, I can’t imagine how Nik was able to survive each day, when a mother was all he had.
His relationship with Fiona was wonderful. How he’d see the pink in her every time he’s near her, and the fact that he associated that particular color to kindness. But then when they talked about Gold, I couldn’t with all the feels :

Fi: “Gold is the color of love. Not the love between family members, or mothers and their children. I mean fairytale love, where the prince would do anything for the princess, even if it meant his own life. And the princess would sacrifice herself to the dragon if it would save the prince. The kind of love that transcends…”
[Nik] My thoughts drifted back to Fiona’s color poems. It doesn’t mean anything… It’s just a coincidence.
Except that pink was exactly as she’d described: how the ken translated kindness.
And gold?
I’d never seen gold.

I was at the verge of tears at that point…
It was all very devastatingly romantic.
But those were my thoughts only before this happened:

But the longing I felt to be with Fiona had nothing to do with what she gave me and everything to do with who she was.

That was when all hell broke loose.. because I literally fell in love with Nikolai Young *dreamy eyes*
I loved Fiona’s motto, I’m stronger than I look
Especially when she went out to meet Steve who, by the way, is the shittiest meathead ever. He’s definitely crazy in the head. I would’ve liked some closure, like Nik breaking his nose or something. Because he would’ve totally deserved it. I’m not usually this savage, but dammit.
This was probably my favorite quote:

Fiona: “Not all punches come from fists. Not all cuts break the skin but I bruised and bled on the inside for what you did to me.”

The plot twist in the book actually took me by surprise; something that hasn’t happened to me in ages. And I love that.
Griff and Nate were amazing. I loved the couple to pieces.
This book had me on a roller coaster of emotions. It was equal parts sweet and intense. A well woven plot-line, developed characters, a hot hot hot book boyfriend with a dark past and a weirdly romantic gift… I really enjoyed it.

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Sugar & Gold by Emma Scott

***A new adult STANDALONE from the author of Full Tilt and The Butterfly Project*** Nikolai Alexei Young was born with a special gift…one he’d do anything to lose. The heart and soul of every person he comes into contact with is an open book to his heightened senses. Colorful emotions, whispers of thoughts, the sour tastes of old memories…He feels them all. The sci-fi books would call him an empath. For Nikolai, his ability has made him an exile. He roams the U.S. alone, avoiding the glut of life in big cities, and using his innate talents to win money in underground poker games. Just enough to keep going, one town to the next. He has no hope that his life can be anything else, until he meets her… At nineteen, Fiona Starling was trapped in an ugly, desperate situation until she freed herself the only way she knew how. Now three years later, living outside Savannah, Georgia, she is rebuilding her life on her own terms; seizing every moment and saving every penny so that she might fulfill her dream of moving to the raw wilderness of Costa Rica. But behind her carefree smile beats the heart of a lonely young woman haunted by her past, until a chance encounter with a tattooed stranger changes everything… Fiona takes Nikolai under her roof for three sultry nights, waiting out the rain of a summer storm. She grows more and more fascinated by this brooding stranger with whom she shares an intense physical connection—a connection so strong, she wonders if there is something between them beyond lust and passion. Nikolai is shocked to discover that Fiona calms the raging turmoil in his heart. She alone silences the din of other people’s lives, and envelops him in the sweet beauty of her inner self. Every moment he’s with her—every touch of her skin—brings him closer to the peace that’s been eluding him his entire life. But Fiona harbors secrets that she is too terrified to reveal. After Nikolai confesses his unique ability, she is caught between wanting to believe him and fearing he’ll eventually unearth her own dark past. When the unthinkable happens, Fiona’s plans come crashing down, and Nikolai discovers his hated ability might be the only thing that can save the woman he loves. Sugar & Gold is a new adult romance with shades of the paranormal and is the second book in the Dreamcatcher novels, a series of interconnected STANDALONES. It is NOT necessary to have read How to Save a Life (Dreamcatcher #1) first in order to follow the story, but characters will appear across all novels. Intended for readers 18 and up.