Sugar Tree series by Nick Wilgus

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ★★★★★

Years have gone by since the death of Noah, his special needs son, and Wiley Cantrell realizes it’s time to move on. He and his husband, Jackson Ledbetter, try to adopt little Tony Gorzola, a deaf boy with HIV who is emotionally traumatized.

Difficulties quickly set in. Tony is a sweet boy but very damaged by abuse and neglect. And Tony’s mother, in prison, is unwilling to relinquish her parental rights. No sooner do they get the go ahead to foster Tony when another child they had considered becomes available—the daughter Jackson always wanted.

With two children on their hands, life is complicated—wonderfully so. But just as things begin to settle down, Tony, his immune system compromised, falls ill with pneumonia—and Wiley and Jackson find their little family faced with crisis once again.

A portion of the proceeds from this book are being donated to the Kentucky Youth Law Project (www.kylpinc.org), whose goal is to reduce homelessness and promote legal protections for LGBT youth in the state of Kentucky.

I fell in love with this author’s stories since I read Shaking the Sugar Tree, the first book in the Sugar Tree series by Nick Wilgus. Although all his books left me a mess, they are addictive and I always wanted more. If you haven’t read the series yet and you are planning to do it, please do not go on with my review, you don’t want to know what happens in the third book now.

That said, as you can read from the blurb, this story takes place years after Stones in the Road, years after the death of my beloved Noah. I can admit it was a huge shock, I wasn’t expecting the author to go where its forbidden to go. Before reading it, I thought I would have preferred a third book in this series was not written. Not because I don’t love the author’s works, just because I would have preferred wondering about what would have happened to Noah and not actually know. I thought for a moment I was going to skip this book cause I wouldn’t like it. But I couldn’t. I’m too much into these characters’ lives and so I had to put aside my beliefs. I appreciated the author gave me just some glimpse of the time when Noah was dying. My heart couldn’t have taken it all.

The first chapter opens with Wiley and Jackson ready to adopt a seven years old deaf boy with HIV. They already meet other children but Tony is special and Wiley knows he can be the only parent to that kid. His stubbornness and courage will lead them in a beautiful journey to a possible happiness.

And when the sweet Amelia will join their new family, the circle will be completed. The story is full of obstacles and trauma to discover and try to overcome with the only thing all these characters need, love.

I was happy to meet Wiley and Jackson again and find out Wiley is still Wiley. They are still funny together, bantering and making fun of each other, and six years after the death of Noah they are at a point in their lives where they are still recovering yes but can maybe see a family again in the future.

Let’s be honest and say I cried a lot, maybe too much; some scenes, like the ones at the cemetery, were very emotional and too hard to take. Wiley is not ready to let Noah go, he’s still hurting, grieving. I cried through all the story till the last word. And it was okay. I cried for Noah, for Wiley, for Tony, for Amelia, for all the love I breathed from the pages, for the braveness of these flawed persons.

Go Tell it on the Mountain is a beautifully written book, as always the author was able to let me feel every good and bad emotion the characters felt. That’s one of the reasons why I read his books even if they break my heart. IMO Sugar Tree is one of the best series I read so far. I have no idea if this is going to be the last book in the series or there will be more. If it is, I will of course be sad but it’s the perfect conclusion for a series like that.

Go Tell It on the Mountains is a love story, powerful and touching. I wish I could give it two thousand stars. My words are not good enough to really express my feelings about this book and I think it’s not easy to do it. I just want to highly recommended it. Just a warning: the series is not a light one. If you’re looking for romance, you’ll find it somewhere else, but if you’re looking for love, Sugar Tree is the right place, you’ll get every shade of love to fill your heart.

The COVER ART by Anne Cain follows the style of the covers of the previous books, well done.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 336 pages
Published February 22nd 2016 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN139781634769075
Edition LanguageEnglish

SERIES Sugar Tree

Shaking the Sugar Tree

Stones in the Road

Go Tell It on the Mountains

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Sequel to Shaking the Sugar Tree  . When his snobbish future in-laws travel all the way from Boston to visit, wise-cracking Southerner Wiley Cantrell learns that gay marriage is not without its disadvantages. Occupied by concerns over the health of his special needs son Noah, a meth baby who was not expected to live and who is now on the cusp of puberty, the antics of Wiley’s outrageous would-be mother-in-law and severely conservative father-in-law strain his relationship with Jackson Ledbetter, a pediatric nurse who poses problems of his own. As their respective families meet and greet, each just as meddlesome and inflexible as the other, North meets South and the fireworks and cultural misunderstandings are plenty.

A tornado blows through the small Mississippi town where Wiley’s mother lives, wrecking his mother’s house and leaving their lives in disarray. Then Jackson’s secret drug addiction comes to light, and Wiley and Noah are devastated. With so many stones in the road, Wiley and Jackson find their dream of becoming a real family falling apart. Though Wiley relies on humor to cope, he’ll need something more to keep his happily ever after from slipping away.

Nick Wilgus made it again!

I can confess I was eager and at the same time scared to read Stones In The Road cause I loved the first one and I was afraid this second installment couldn’t live it up.

I was so wrong! This book is amazing, I loved it more that Shaking The Sugar Tree. This series will stay in my heart for long and I’m so happy to know there will be a third book. I was willing to beg for it. Let’s just hope to read it really soon.

The hard part with books like this one is writing a worthy review and I don’t even know where to start. I should simply say to buy this series and read it.

First, you have to be ready for some gun fire, tornado and pie throwing, but most of all you have to be ready for a story full of love (in every way love can be shown).

I know I’m an emotional person but it was really hard to read. At the end I was in my bed crying all the tears I had, trying to read more, listening to a twelve years old boy breaking my heart.

This is not a book to read when you’re looking for some fun and light reading, but surely it will not boring you for one second. There are no pauses, it’s a continuous of engaging and funny dialogues (sometimes incomprehensible to me since I’m Italian) and so addictive I can’t put the story down for a minute. Some dialogues between Noah and Wiley are hilarious, others heartbreaking. Everything is so real, sometimes it’s almost surreal. Every sentence is serious and at the same time full of humor.

This is exactly the kind of book I love to read, emotional, funny, heartbreaking, full of characters with a lot of background and a huge cast of great second characters. I discovered some dark sides of the (not so) perfect Jackson. I met Jack’s mom and I hated her during all the story and then at the end I loved her so much, because I understood she came to WiIey and his son to rescue all of them. I wanted to have her in my life.

Wiley is our usual Wiley and he is so full of guilt right now it was hard to just look at him in some parts and don’t hug him. He needs to deal with all his fears but his guilt for Noah’s disabilities brings him to almost lose himself and his son. But as Tonya said Wiley is the Superdad of the World. Till the end I asked to myself if Wiley would be able to forgive Jackson and first of all himself.

Shortly Stones In The Road is never boring, always entertaining and so well written I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended!

Cover artist Anne Cain.I liked the artist followed the idea chosen for the cover of the first book and most of all she followed this story. You can look at the cover and understand exactly what will happen in the book. Perfect but melancholic cause the three Mcs aren’t all together.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press All Romance (ARe) Amazon Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 350 pages
Published January 30th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press LLC
ISBN139781632167309
edition languageEnglish
url http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
seriesSugar Tree #2

Sugar Tree series
Shaking The Sugar Tree #1
Stones In The Road #2

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Reading, LIstening, and Reviewing LGBTQIA Books!

A Stella Review: Go Tell It on the Mountains (Sugar Tree #3) by Nick Wilgus

A Stella Review: Stones in the Road (Sugar Tree #2) by Nick Wilgus

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