3.5 stars

Matthew Batt and his wife Jenae are in Salt Lake City and looking to buy a home. Unfortunately, they can’t afford what they really want, so they end up with a (huge!) fixer-upper. It is only after they are renovating they find out that the house used to be a crackhouse. Oh, and they aren’t particularly handy people, but do the bulk of the work themselves.

Interspersed with their house dilemmas, Matt’s grandmother passes away, so Matt and his mom have to help out Matt’s grandfather, a playboy who really just wants to be with Tonya, the home care nurse who took care of his wife when she was alive.

It maybe doesn’t sound like the more interesting part of the story, but I liked the renovating of the house portions of the story better. I’m actually not quite sure how the two stories fit together, except I suppose that the things that happened with Matt’s family really were happening at the time. There were plenty of humourous bits, maybe more humourous because super-non-handy me could relate. I’m sure they managed to do a heck of a lot more than I ever could have, even with help from friends! Overall, I liked it. ( )

Matt and his wife Jenae buy a house. It is a fixer upper of the first order. Everything needs work, from the octopus furnace to the popcorn ceilings to the 7 layers of linoleum. Neither Matt nor Jenae have experience with homeownership, so they read all the books and rely on the experts - Glendon from Home Depot, Jenae's Grandpa George and their friends Erik and Michael. This book was serious, and funny and has a lot of heart. I loved the descriptions of the work that needed to get done and the way these two enthusiastic yet untrained DIYers tackled making this crack house into a home.

October 2012 ( )

A possibly intriguing and amusing story does not live up to its potential. There is no community backstory, no great change. It is the story about a house and that is all. Perhaps that would be a fine enough story if only the title were different--"turning the neighborhood crack house into our home sweet home" seems to promise a deeper story that is no delivered. ( )

I picked up this book because of the promise of a story about rehabbing a house and a relationship one project at a time. Unfortunately, the book just isn't really that focused on house projects which was disappointing for me. There is a lot of backstory, and a lot of details about Matt's dysfunctional family, which though interesting, didn't seem to relate at all to the story I thought I would be reading. Most of the house projects are glossed right over (apart from Matt's attempts to self-justify at Home Depot) which I found disappointing.

The book is funny but the narrative uneven, and ultimately this isn't a story about a house which is why I wanted to read it. It also isn't a story about a relationship because there is a lot more here about Matt's grandfather than his wife. The book was a quick read but ultimately unsatisfying read. ( )

'Sugar House' by Matthew Batt is the true life tale of a couple buying a former crack house In Salt Lake City and renovating it. The couple, Matt and Jenae had no previous experience in home ownership and none in fixing one up. I must say that I was a smidge disappointed that none of the crack customers showed up for a buy. But that aside, there were several times that I could do nothing but laugh out loud at their experiences.

This book begins with a description of what it is like for a non-Mormon to live in Salt Lake City. I did learn a lot, I had no idea that there were that many differences in the culture. Also, I surprised that Salt Lake City is so hot in the summer.

The author was in graduate school and his wife already had a job there. It is a big step from apartment living to home ownership and they had decided that now is the time. This is not just a story of house hunting and later renovation but also of family problems and quirky relatives. Of all the characters, I loved Jenae the most and was amazed at her patience especially when it came to her grandfather's antics.

What I didn't like was the detailed description of buying, cutting and laying the slate floors. I would recommend this book to anyone planning on that project though. I must say that my husband and I have had the experience to fixing up two houses. We would have never bought a house that smelled of cat urine because we had a sneaking idea of the work involved in getting rid of smell. There were some surprising experiences connected with that. Reading that makes me very glad that we that had decided not to buy a "smoky" house" that was so beautiful but stunk.

What I loved the most about this book was the different characters like the cheap and not too bright about repairs, seller Dennis, the realtor who fell into different accents as he talked, the gallivanting widowed grandfather. The book shines with the building of characters and the relationship between Matt, his wife and their relatives. I did not get bored but there were a few times that I thought to myself, "yes, I know, been there and done that".

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in buying and renovating a house.

I received this book as my choice from the Amazon Vine Program and that in no way influenced my review. ( )