Get Your Cupcakes!

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler (Simon Pulse, 1/3/2012) 
Review by Bailey Kelsey

Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances, a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been.

So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified. Of course, this is also the moment a cute, sweet guy walks into her life—and starts serving up some seriously mixed signals. She’s got a lot on her plate, and for a girl who’s been burned before, risking it all is easier said than done.

It’s time for Hudson to ask herself what she really wants, and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it. Because in a place where opportunities are fleeting, she knows this chance may very well be her last....*


This is not a novel to be read without an adequate (and by adequate, I mean approximately 3 dozen) cupcakes on hand. Why? Because each chapter begins with a very delicious cupcake description, a cupcake for every possible problem life throws your way. If you don’t have access to delicious, cupcake goodness, you’ll be in agony for the rest of your reading experience.  

THE PLOT

The first fifty pages of this book packs in quite the back story, and it’s one of the few books I’ve read with a prologue that is completely necessary. And let me let you in on what the synopsis doesn’t tell you (and don’t worry, it’s all right there in the prologue): Hudson’s dashed dream is Olympic-level figure skating and the big betrayal is her father cheating on her mother, which ends in divorce. 


In a series of fortunate events, Hudson’s life collides with Josh’s, a high school hockey player who desperately wants her help on the ice. But instead of coaching  just  Josh, Hudson ends up teaching all the Wolves how to skate better, the linchpin in their ten-year losing streak. In return, she asks for undisturbed ice time so she can put a routine together for a skate competition that comes with the higher prize of a $50,000 college scholarship. 


While bits and pieces of this plot seemed entirely convenient, I’m old enough to know that life does have a tendency to throw what one wants or needs into the mix at eerily precise moments. Of course, what one wants or needs isn’t always compatible. While reading, I found myself continuously doubting which path Hudson should take. 

THE NARRATOR

Hudson is a high school girl, the local Cupcake Queen, and under the bizarre impression she can hold the aforementioned title and remain under the radar of her peers.  Her voice, as a first-person narrator, was typical of most other female first-person narratives I’ve read in YA. The action carried more of the story than her narration did. 


I must admit to being continuously frustrated by Hudson’s party line: I am not selfish. Or rather, her tendency to change the subject / offer excuses when other characters made a point to mention to Hudson her increasingly selfish behavior throughout the story-arc. This isn’t to say this particular characterization is not spot-on, and there is a very good Moment of Self Realization towards the end that I enjoyed immensely because of this characterization. But still, it’s annoying and a reader should be prepared to want to smash a few of Hudson’s cupcakes in her face. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Much of this book references back to Hester Prynne, and I have no idea why. Yes, Hudson is reading The Scarlet Letter in her English class; yes, plenty of high school girls have felt condemned and ostracized by their peers. But those connections are weak, and often actually missing several larger Points of The Scarlett Letter, and doing nothing to add depth to either the plot of this novel nor to the character of Hudson. There were a few moments where the out-of-place Hester references almost made me stop reading. I feel a need to admit to that here.


The ending (the final two chapters, specifically) made the entire read worthwhile, though. Ockler leaves certain plot lines unfinished.  These plot lines represent realities that Hudson must accept, as they are, for her to make a giant leap in personal growth. I won’t spoil whether Hudson does or doesn’t understand what she’s facing at the end, but that the option is left up to the character, and not easily solved by the author, was especially meaningful. 

*Plot synopsis taken from BarnesandNoble.com

Hand Over the Maple Candies, and Nobody Gets Hurt

Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler (Publish Date: December 1, 2010; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

A review, by Laura Beutler

Guess what? Lately, I’ve had Christmas once a month—at least. I mean it. Honest-to-goodness Christmas, right here in Indiana. And all because I happened to respond to an e-mail from Little, Brown and Company offering ARCs (Advanced Review Copies) to book-obsessed YA librarians like me. I leapt at the chance. What? Would you say no to free books delivered to your door? Would you say no to reading books before anyone else gets to read them? I didn’t think so. Still, I was sure they’d filled the quota of librarians before they reached my miserable, pathetic, needy little e-mail.

But I was wrong.

The latest shipment? Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler. I had just reread Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer after it was challenged in Republic, MO. The timing was perfect. I promise to tread a careful, spoiler-free line, because this book has not yet hit shelves (thus making me feel all-powerful and fueling my Drive to Acquire ARCs).

I was fated to love Fixing Delilah. It has the best things a book can have: family secrets; old, forgotten diaries; maple sugar candy; and knitting! What could be better? Sure, the knitting part is with dog hair—but it’s knitting all the same. Just…don’t walk around in the rain wearing a dog-hair sweater, is all I’m saying.

Delilah Hannaford won me over in the first chapter. She has a wicked sense of humor: her quips about the little town she’s thrown into for the summer made me laugh throughout the book. When you get to the FOO NASTY part, you’ll understand. I think the fact that I’m from a very, very small town makes the FOO NASTY all the funnier, because I can understand what might lead a business to never, ever replace the burnt-out lights in their storefront sign. If the whole town knows the name of your business, why waste money on electricity? You laugh, but this happens.

Despite my instant Delilah-love, her life is an utter wreck. She’s angry at her workaholic mother; angry at her father for dying before she was born (complicated by the fact he never knew she existed); angry at her school “friends” who choose to humiliate her under the banner of free-press; angry at her non-boyfriend, who is a total sleaze. Often I found myself yelling advice at her through the pages, which is complicated by the fact that I work in a library (And yes, Bailey. I was really yelling. Bailey thinks convention hinders me, forcing me to be quiet in libraries. That’s just because she hasn’t come to visit my library. Yet). People stared. Still, I think Delilah heard me.

After Delilah’s estranged grandmother dies, she and her mother travel to Red Falls, Vermont (home of the glorious maple sugar candies you can’t get in Indiana unless you have black market connections) to settle the estate. Delilah’s mother and Aunt Rachel resolve to sell their family home, and Delilah’s mother enlists Delilah’s help in preparing the house for sale, and yes, that includes cleaning the gutters. Delilah is trapped in Red Falls for her entire summer, which doesn’t turn out half bad, despite her initial reluctance (I think the maple candies won her over).

Of course, as we all know from reality television, nothing brings people together faster than marathon home renovation (and forcing estranged family members to live in close quarters can’t hurt).

As Delilah’s mother and aunt grow closer, Delilah becomes reacquainted with her childhood friend, Patrick. Whom I adore. Because he is a guy who reads—IN PUBLIC. This is a big deal where I come from (Is it a big deal everywhere? Do parts of the world exist where men buy books? If so, tell me where you live and I will move there.) Once, my dad was buying a book at our local “bookstore,” and the cashier stared at him in a mixture of awe and disbelief, saying, “You’re the first man I’ve ever seen buy a book!” (Seriously, that is where I live. You can’t make this stuff up.)

With Patrick’s help, Delilah begins to explore the secrets from her mother’s past, finally learning that family is harder to tear apart than she once thought. Fixing Delilah is a captivating story of loss and love that I couldn’t put down.

(Want to read an excerpt now? Sarah Ockler has posted one on her website—Go read!)