Review: Dalya Moon - Practice Cake

Dalya Moon - Practice Cake

• Pub Date: October 24, 2011
• Publisher: Dalya Moon
• Format: eBook, 232 pages
• Age Range: Young Adult

There’s one thing Maddie finds more tempting than red velvet cake: her coworker, Drew. All it takes is one of his sly winks or a playful hip-check by the cooler, and she’s incinerating the cookies. Her boyfriend would not approve.

When a reality TV crew descends upon the bakery, her simple summer job gets even more complicated. Maddie could become the Bakery Network’s next breakout star, if she can handle the heat of being cast as a show villain. Drew has an alternate idea: run away from everything, with him and his sexy tousled hair. She decides to take the leap, but when she finds out Drew’s been hiding a shocking secret, Maddie looks down at her packed suitcase and takes a moment to think. Should she fly off to Australia with a guy she hardly knows, or should she pick up her suitcase and hit him with it?

Chock full of imperfect people behaving badly, Practice Cake is for readers who enjoy a good laugh.

I received this book from the author, and here is my honest review:

I really enjoyed reading this one. I read it pretty quickly, and I was always looking forward to picking it back up. I loved the fact that the story wasn't thoroughly predictable and the characters weren't so typical and were very random. Maddie is a fun MC, and getting inside her head is certainly an adventure. She grows quite a bit during this novel, and it's a frustrating but fun journey.

Maddie is dating Parker at the beginning of this novel. He's heinous. He's the worst excuse of a boyfriend. While he doesn't physically hurt her, he's mean and oblivious. I absolutely HATED him. I was on the fence about Chloe, and Jaslene is fun but too jealous and irksome sometimes. Melanie, Maddie's sister, is a bit wishy-washy, especially with Snackboy, who is also heinous. (Does Dalya Moon hate men? lol) Jaslene's cousin, Hudson, is pretty adorable but mostly absent. And the bakery gang is just strange. Drew always made me suspicious. Echo and Angelo are completely opposites, and Echo isn't completely explained. Then they have Robin, their daughter, who only makes a couple appearances.

Soon after Maddie starts working at Angelo's Bakery, she comes up with a new cookie idea. It catches the attention of a TV crew and before she knows it, they're filming a TV show at the bakery. Her life gets turned upside down with that, and then there are the boys. I don't feel like the story gets flushed out all the way, but it's still very satisfying. I would definitely read more by this author, mostly because I loved the randomness and creativity of this contemporary novel. Her characters made me laugh a bunch of times, so it's easy to enjoy this novel.

Bottom line: Check this book out if you want an amusing, quick YA novel. I enjoyed it!

Rating:

3.5 / 5 book sharks