There are only three things that can get seventeen-year-old Molly Byrne out of bed these days: her job at FishTopia, the promise of endless episodes of Golden Girls, and some delicious lo mien. You see, for the past two years, Molly’s been struggling with something more than your usual teenage angst. Her shrink, Dr. Brooks isn’t helping much, and neither is her mom who is convinced that baking the perfect cake will cure Molly of her depression—as if cake can magically make her rejoin the swim team, get along with her promiscuous sister, or care about the SATs.
Um, no. Never going to happen.
But Molly plays along, stomaching her mother’s failed culinary experiments, because, whatever—as long as it makes someone happy, right? Besides, as far as Molly’s concerned, hanging out with Alex at the rundown exotic fish store makes life tolerable enough. Even if he does ask her out every…single…day. But—sarcastic drum roll, please—nothing can stay the same forever. When Molly finds out FishTopia is turning into a bleak country diner, her whole life seems to fall apart at once. Soon she has to figure out what—if anything—is worth fighting for.
I am so sad.
I am sad because cake. Because this book promised cake and the result was like that time I forgot to put the eggs in the cake mix and they came out like tiny little biscuits that were absolutely unpalatable. This book was like that - it just didn't work for me.
The first thing that I have to say, and the only thing that saved this book from being a DNF was the fact that Molly's depression and anxiety issues as so well represented in this book and I am all for great portrayal of these soul crushing illnesses. I loved that Molly had a great friend and that Alex was always there for her despite the fact that she is really going through a bad time - I love great YA friends.
But the rest of the book just lost me - I was pretty meh about the whole FishTopia storyline, which didn't help, but there were some parts of the book which I just downright hated. Mainly, the parts regarding Molly and her counsellor, who she has a crush on and got drunk with and yeah... I definitely spent a whole lot of that just wanting to launch my kindle across the room at the wall because no, that is not something I am entirely comfortable reading.
Overall, 100 Days of Cake just did not work for me, because I felt disconnected from the plot. the depression was portrayed well, but I felt that the whole thing with regards to Molly and her counsellor was very disturbing and really didn't serve the book well. i wouldn't personally recommend this book.
Book released May 17th by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review
Oh no! The blurb sounded so promising too :(
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