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?
Dalya Moon was one of the first authors to contact me for a review about half a year ago to ask me to review her middle-grade book Charlie Woodchuck is a Minor Niner, and she did an awesome interview for me back then, so I was really excited to read Practice Cake, which is YA book. I didn't enjoy this one as much as Charlie, but it was fun nonetheless.
I struggled to get into this book at the beginning, and I really do mean struggled so at one point I forced myself to sit down and get further in and then I began to enjoy it. the story isn't gripping but Maddie's romantic escapades are entertaining to read, despite me shouting the obvious at her for most of the book. Yes, our Maddie is pretty dense and shallow, but she's a realistic character to read and I think every teenage girl can relate to her on some level. I will admit that I was annoyed at her dense-ness because certain characters were obviously not who they said they were, but I was also fooled by certain characters along with Maddie.
I think that the TV show side of things wasn't developed enough, it was there as a plot point but very in the background in comparison to Maddie's love life which got pretty repetitive at times. The blurb makes it sound like that is what most of the book was about, rather than it mostly being about the emotional escapades of a young adult.
Overall, an enjoyable read, though it was a disappointment to me as I was expecting so much from this author.
Overall Rating: C+
Book received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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