Bittersweet ~ Sarah Ockler review

Bittersweet
Simon Pulse
January 3, 2012
378 pages
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There was a time when Hudson Avery knew exactly what her future looked like. She was a brilliant figure skated and her dreams revolved around that . . . and something destroyed it all.

Now, she spends her time being the Cupcake Queen of Watonka - there was even an article about her and her delicious cupcakes in the paper. Her amazing cupcakes have helped her mother's diner, Hurley's, though. When Hudson isn't baking cupcakes, she's either at school or looking after her little brother Bug. There's not much time (or money) left for skating - even if she hadn't given it all up.

But when an opportunity presents itself and Hudson might just be able to go for her dreams again, will she take the chance? What about the adorable and so sweet guy who's been hanging around, but also sending some mixed signals?

It's time for Hudson to decide what she wants - and how to get it. Second chances don't hang around forever.


It would be irresponsible to not start this review with a bit of a warning: if you read Bittersweet you're going to want - maybe even need - to eat a cupcake - or cupcakes. It's pretty much impossible to read the whole book, (nearly) every chapter starting with the description of a downright scrumptious cupcake and then not want one yourself. I pretty much dare you to finish the book and not hit up you local bakery - or your own kitchen!

As Hudson makes cupcakes at her mother's diner and it's what she's become known for at school, in the town - and to a lesser extent within her family and to herself, the cupcakes descriptions are not only tempting but also fitting. Hudson's left behind one life that defined her - skating - only to fall into another one - Cupcake Queen of Watonka. Now she just has to figure out whether either of them is really her . . . or if she's a mix of the two or something else entirely.

Bittersweet is a very good book and written by anyone else I maybe would have enjoyed it but I think I
was holding it to higher standards because it was Sarah Ockler and not someone else. Hudson does have a great relationship with her little brother Bug, who is adorable, and a complicated one with her mother. With the cupcakes that she makes such a huge part of the diner's business, what Hudson wants isn't just her decision, it also affects her mother's business and their family which adds a layer to how she interacts with her mother.

After reading Twenty Boy Summer and especially Fixing Delilah I've really appreciated the family relationships that Ockler can write. Bittersweet was lacking a bit of that amazing extra oomph in the relationships between Hudson and her mother and Hudson and her brother that I was hoping for.



Rating: 7/10