Sugarcoated

Sophie’s sweet plan is about to get complicated.

Bad things come in threes, right? Apparently not for Sophie. It seems like everything in her life is turning sour. Her family’s crumbling, her creative spark has fizzled, and school’s unbearable now that her ex-boyfriend and best friend are sweet on each other.

So when Sophie lands a summer job at Seaside Candy Co, she doesn’t mind swapping beach days for lollipops and jellybeans. She has a plan: earn enough for a plane ticket to her dad in New Zealand and reboot her sixteenth year somewhere new.

But the Sweetest Store on the Coast soon becomes a mixed bag of complications. Like Simon, the buttoned-up work rival she can’t seem to get out of her head. Like trying to figure out if her boss’s extra attention is professional or inappropriate. And what exactly does a co-worker know about Sophie’s family that might just upend everything?

Welcome to the Australian coastal town of Leftover Bay, where residents are navigating friendships and family, first love, and figuring out where they fit in the world.

Sugarcoated is Book 1 in the Leftovers series.

Author Biography

Sarah Epstein is an award-winning Australian author who resides in Melbourne with her family. Her first two young adult novels, Small Spaces and Deep Water, have been translated into multiple languages, and Small Spaces has also been optioned for film. Sarah’s writing has been nominated for numerous literary awards, and she has been the recipient of the Adelaide Festival Young Adult Fiction Award, the Davitt Award for Best YA Crime Novel, and Honour Book from the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Sarah’s short fiction is featured in the Hometown Haunts anthology, and she has launched a contemporary YA series, Leftovers, and a new YA thriller, Night Lights, under her own imprint.