In the world of Sheridan Wells, life is perfect when she’s decorating a cake. Unfortunately, everything else is a complete mess: her mom ran off years ago, her dad is more interested in his restaurant, and the idea of a boyfriend is laughable.But Sheridan is convinced finding her mom will solve all her problems—only her dad’s about to get a cooking show in New York, which means her dream of a perfect family will be dashed.Using just the right amount of romance, family drama, and cute boys,The Sweetest Thing will entice fans with its perfect mixture of girl-friendly ingredients.
Review:
The Sweetest Thing by Cristina Mandelski has been on my to be read list for a while now, because not only was the cover and title simply adorable, but the premise sounded amazing as well as Sarah Dessen like- which is ALWAYS a big win in my book. Luckily, I recently had the chance to read it, and even though it contained a few slight flaws, I found it to be just as sweet and endearing as it appeared!
The Sweetest Thing introduces the character of Sheridan Wells aka "Cake Girl." Sheridan has always taken great pride her in cakes because (a) she enjoys creating them and (b) it brings her closer to her MIA mother. Recently, though, the cakes have been the only constant good thing in her life, as not only did her father just spring a huge surprise on her-one that may change her life forever- but she's also dealing with friend as well as boy problems. However, Sheridan knows how she will fix this all: she will find her mother and ask for her to come back home. A win-win for all, right? Well, as Sheridan is soon to learn you can't have always have your cake and eat it too...
The Sweetest Thing has a lot of good things going for it, and one of them was definitely the plot. It wasn't the most original and suspenseful one out there, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. First, I liked seeing Sheridan's cake hobby. I don't thing I've ever read a YA book where the main character loved making cakes, so it was fun to see why Sheridan enjoyed making her cakes as well as the yummy descriptions of them. The mother-daughter drama in this one, though, got on my nerves from time to time. It was just a bit too cliched and compliant-filled for me to really get invested in it, and to be honest, I never really saw what Sheridan saw in her mother, because in all truth, her mother was a grade-a jerk for most of the book, especially towards the end. However, as they say, you live and you learn and that was without a doubt the case for Sheridan in this. The boy drama was also a little overdone, especially since it was easy to predict who Sheridan would end up with in the end, but I did enjoy seeing the different problems and twists that appeared up throughout Sheridan's path to her future boyfriend.
Sheridan herself was a character I had love-hate feelings toward, because while I did find her to be a funny and sweet girl for the most part, her constant whining as well as dependency on her mother got the best of me sometimes. I still enjoyed seeing her journey develop on the page, because she did evolve greatly as a character by the end. I really enjoyed the side characters in this one, though. I loved Lori's wisdom as well as her hilarious little one-lines, and Jack, Sheridan's other BFF, was just as great and lovebable! I also enjoyed seeing Sheridan's grandma.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the writing in this one. Christina created a very readable and addicting plot, even though I wasn't also the biggest fan of all the characters and plot lines. I also really enjoyed the titles for each chapter- they really managed to grab my attention.
Sweet as well as sugary, The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski is a decent debut. Not a "MUST-read" but certainly a great pick for a lazy day. I looked forward to reading more by Ms. Mandelski.
Grade: B
Source: Publisher via Netgalley (Thanks Egmont!)
I am glad you enjoyed this, it sounds really sweet! I look forward to reading it in the future :) Great review
ReplyDeleteI didn't really like this book. Haha, I wasn't as generous with my rating. I felt like it was too cliche and cheesy for me. But I did really like that Sheridan had the hobby of making cakes. Awesome review, Lauren, as usual! :)
ReplyDeleteI had pretty similar opinions as you although I really didn't like the romance. The fact that the guy who liked her wasn't going to say anything until she was happily dating another guy pissed me off. He should have had more guts!
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