Publisher: Egmont USA, May 2011
Pages: 337 ARC softcover
Tags: Young Adult, Debut Author, Contemporary
First Lines:
I make cakes. It's what I do. It's what I love.
Why the Mad Scientist Read this Book:
The Mad Scientist picked up this book because it was my turn to read the ARC from Star Book Tours. Sometimes I can show some patience tendencies.
Concoction of a Review:
I picked up The Sweetest Thing not knowing what to expect in the least. Ok, the wonderful cover and first lines gives a huge part of the book away. Sheridan is a young awkward 15 year old known as Cake Girl, much to the obvious but she loves to decorate elaborate cakes. The cakes you can only dream up or see in articles. The premise was very intriguing…
Christina Mandelski has Sheridan, blundering through adolescents and her trifling selfish decisions that she made throughout the story made it a tad bit of a long story. She spends much of her time working and decorating cakes in the bakery that her Nanny owned. She lives with her father, chef and owner of a splendid restaurant.
Sheridan was abandoned by her mother and it has been years since she has heard from her besides from a few birthday cards and broken promises. For some reason she can't let her mother go, thinking that she knows deep down in her heart that her mother still loves her & really wants to come back to her but she is too afraid. Armed with this powerful thoughts she spends much of her time looking for her mother with the help of a best friend, Jack.
The relationship between her and her father is not strong at all. It seems like just coexistence instead of a family relationship. She moans about her father not acting fatherly & lovey at all but the Mad Scientist wanted to shake her and say... your a big girl you could be the one to reach out to him. Now that her father is on his way to getting his own TV show on a food network channel that would take them to New York City. She feels hurt. Sheridan feels like she would be abandoning her hometown, her life & friends, and would most likely miss her mother coming to find her if she left. Everyone in town is so happy and proud that her father is about to become famous. Except… Sheridan.
What would this little tryst of a young adult novel be without a romance? It seems that she was never seen before but all of a sudden the "hottest" guy at school, Ethan, now has eyes for her. Sheridan turns into melted piles of goo when he kisses her and it seems like most of her common sense also is lacking. The Mad Scientist seen right through his motivation. Grr… I wanted to climb into the book for the second time and shake that girl out of her knee shaken boy coma. Of course, the new common occurrence including a twist of having to choose between another has not passed up The Sweetest Thing. Her beloved best friend Jack has a crush on her which has just recently come to her attention. She is completely confused in this department. Her friend of all friends now wants more & the most popular guy is now her boyfriend.
Overall, The Sweetest Thing was cute in a sweet kind of way. Sheridan didn't develop much throughout the book but towards the end you could see the life light bulb turn on in her head. It will take some time to warm up to Sheridan. I only wish that I could have seen some of those cakes that Sheridan spent so much time decorating. Christina Mandelski did do a wonderful job with the cake imagery but I'm not a cake person so my minds images are probably way off. Don't get the Mad Scientist wrong. I feel like I'm not making my point correctly. There are flaws in this book but I couldn't put it down. I did want to know what bad choice she would make next, about the cake she was making, and what would happen not only with her mother and father. The Mad Scientist finished it quickly, however, what was presented in the book could of been in less pages and it could of probably turned out to be more interesting.
The selfish decisions and narcissist attitude made for a longer read then needed.
I love your honest review :)
ReplyDeleteYour honesty makes me tick - books are not always as easy as they seem. The most important thing is to know what you are looking for in a book. If it doesn't work for you something must be missing.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. The cover would have caught my eye too.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted you to know I gave you an award on this post.
Jessica @ Laugh Love Write
So Mad Scientist tell us what you really thought.
ReplyDeleteLoved your summation "The selfish decisions and narcissist attitude made for a longer read then needed."
A very honest review... New follower also! and planning to spread the word about your 1000 follower giveaway!^^
ReplyDelete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteThe summation told me everything I needed to know! It's too bad, though, because the cover and first lines are as promising as you say they are.
Do they cakes get to be meaningful, or are they just "window dressing" so that Sheridan can have a quirk?