Reviews for The Cupcake Queen

The average rating for The Cupcake Queen based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-09 00:00:00 Lisa Bonet I have a confession to make. It was the cupcakes on the cover that got me. I mean don't they look so delicious? I could just feel my mouth water by just looking at them. It's no wonder lately I've been craving cupcakes... Penny Lane feels out of place since she has moved to middle of nowhere Hogs Hollow. Her mother has opened up a cupcake shop and Penny's parents are taking a "break". Penny just want things to get back to how they use to be but she finds out quickly that things don't always work out how you want them to. That maybe she just is going to have to figure out things as she goes. I'm having a hard time explaining why I enjoyed this book so much. I loved the RPS (Rock Paper Scissors) Society, the theory of how a Jolly Rancher can tell you a lot about your personality, or how magical the beach really is. Again the beach is just so key in this book. It makes me want to live near one, and never go back. Marcus (ie the "guy" in the book) is so adorable but has much more to him than what meets the eye. The dynamic between Tally and Blake (friends of Penny) is just so awesome. I laughed numerous times and couldn't help but think that Penny was so mature for her age. She finds that she isn't the only one with problems and that maybe just maybe Hogs Hollow may not be all that bad. Art plays a huge role in the story, and it was interesting to see the many forms of art there was. I was glad to see that the whole book did not concentrate on the revenge against Charity (Penny's bully from day one). I have read Dream Factory by her and Brad Barkley, but I very much prefer this one. I'm not sure if it's because she did The Cupcake Queen alone, or that there wasn't a change of narrators but this one did it for me. Though in the end things seemed a little rushed, it was fine because sometimes in real life things happen at break neck speed without you noticing. As always I have to nitpick at something. At school Marcus doesn't seem to pay much attention to Penny and when we find out what it is it's just seemed like it doesn't fit. It's just doesn't explain everything in my opinion. Nevertheless this book was just what I needed. It made me think of how much everyone has to deal with but somehow things seem to work out if you just let people in.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-05-25 00:00:00 David Baird You know, life's too short, and when I don't like a book in chapter two I'm really probably just not going to like it. I tried to power through after getting offended in the first chapter (more on that soon) but when the tale of parental separation and move to a small town sounded so cliched I could have just filled in all the blanks for Hepler, I put this one down. Hey, so, writers? I am many things: loudmouth and opinionated and really into musical theatre and also: I am whatever you want to call it, fat or plus-size or chubby or curvy or whatever your favorite euphemism is. I shop at Torrid, OK? I'm not saying this to excuse or explain or to make you grossed out or to garner your sympathy or for you to say something like "but laaaaaaaaames you are so cute anyway!" because, whatever. But here is the thing: I know what it is like to live in a society where the ideal is something much smaller. I know what it's like to already be a lady in a culture that already doesn't want me to take up any space, and here I am taking more than my supposedly allotted share. So, writers. If you want to pepper your books with wacky and supposed-to-be-funny hijinx where those goofy fat people are so fat and aren't they fat and hi ho ho ho so fat and they just have noooo idea how fat they are and of COURSE they'd lean against something causing everything to fly through the air because har har har so fat! Look: we know. I know I tiptoe around not drawing attention to my size. I certainly don't go literally throwing myself around causing pastries to rain down on events. And I don't think I'm some lone exception who's figured out how to, you know, be a normal person. People are normal people, regardless of how thin or fat they are. So let's just not do this anymore, OK? Let's be better, especially when we write for kids. Let's not make people be jerks or jesters or anything so one-dimensional based on appearance. People are so much more than that, and I think we should be too.