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A review by katejones
Cupcake by Rachel Cohn
4.0
Meet CC. A self-absorbed, young...well, I wouldn't say lady...but at least knows what she wants.
After breaking up with Shrimp and letting him `escape' to New Zealand with his parents, CC moves from San Francisco to New York to start a new exciting life on her own.
Except that right away things go wrong (she falls down the stairs and breaks her leg, leaving her stuck in her brother's apartment - no elevator - until her it is healed).
Her brother has better things to do than to listen to her whining. He's got a cupcake business that, after his breakup with Aaron, he's running on his own. So she grabs some binoculars and explores the neighborhood.
CC sort of promised that she would go to culinary school, but since she doesn't feel like doing so, she instead takes a job as a barista at Johnny's L U _ C H _ O N E _ T E (in a later chapter the letters get fixed) and helps her brother out with the frosting when he's making cupcakes.
She has a few one-night-stands and a fling with Luis.
But is she really over Shrimp or does she want him back? That's what she has to decide when he suddenly shows up, New Zealand tan and all.
And will the new Buddhist Shrimp be ready for what she decides? At the moment, all Shrimp seemingly wants to do is draw and surf.
Cyd is overconfident, definitely acts first and thinks later, and although she thinks differently - she is not a grown-up yet, but still quite immature. Her parents don't know what's good for her, and are merely annoying. She takes pride in getting drunk. If she doesn't feel like doing something, she just doesn't do it. The problem of having unprotected sex and not wanting another abortion is easily fixed with a morning-after pill.
She's reminiscing with her friend (one of many pregnant characters in the book) about what happened to them that made them no longer such rebels. She's on her way to maturity, but she's definitely not there yet.
This is a very fast-paced book, jumping quickly from one situation or thought to the next.
I didn't read the first two books in the series, but I think that only one important part of background information was missing. Namely why lisBETH is spelled in such an odd manner.
Besides lisBETH, there are other interesting style elements in the book as well, though at times it feels like the author is trying little too hard to be unique. (I skipped the chapter that was written almost like a movie script.)
Shrimp's Haiku (spell checked by Danny, because Shrimp is severely dyslexic) and the author `trying to be hip' (for lack of a hipper term) become a bit annoying at times, but I guess that's what teenagers will like most about it.
As someone who doesn't drink coffee, I didn't really get CC's obsession with `the search for the perfect cappuccino'. I also found the book a bit too long. I went from being quite enthusiastic about it and speeding through the chapters, to getting stuck at about three-fourth of the way through, thinking "I really have to finish this". But I'm glad I stuck with it, because it got better again in the end.
Overall this is a fun, very fast-paced, read that's perfect for summer holidays on the beach (or any other occasion where short chapters like this are a plus). You can easily pick the book up and start where you left off, even after weeks have passed.
After breaking up with Shrimp and letting him `escape' to New Zealand with his parents, CC moves from San Francisco to New York to start a new exciting life on her own.
Except that right away things go wrong (she falls down the stairs and breaks her leg, leaving her stuck in her brother's apartment - no elevator - until her it is healed).
Her brother has better things to do than to listen to her whining. He's got a cupcake business that, after his breakup with Aaron, he's running on his own. So she grabs some binoculars and explores the neighborhood.
CC sort of promised that she would go to culinary school, but since she doesn't feel like doing so, she instead takes a job as a barista at Johnny's L U _ C H _ O N E _ T E (in a later chapter the letters get fixed) and helps her brother out with the frosting when he's making cupcakes.
She has a few one-night-stands and a fling with Luis.
But is she really over Shrimp or does she want him back? That's what she has to decide when he suddenly shows up, New Zealand tan and all.
And will the new Buddhist Shrimp be ready for what she decides? At the moment, all Shrimp seemingly wants to do is draw and surf.
Cyd is overconfident, definitely acts first and thinks later, and although she thinks differently - she is not a grown-up yet, but still quite immature. Her parents don't know what's good for her, and are merely annoying. She takes pride in getting drunk. If she doesn't feel like doing something, she just doesn't do it. The problem of having unprotected sex and not wanting another abortion is easily fixed with a morning-after pill.
She's reminiscing with her friend (one of many pregnant characters in the book) about what happened to them that made them no longer such rebels. She's on her way to maturity, but she's definitely not there yet.
This is a very fast-paced book, jumping quickly from one situation or thought to the next.
I didn't read the first two books in the series, but I think that only one important part of background information was missing. Namely why lisBETH is spelled in such an odd manner.
Besides lisBETH, there are other interesting style elements in the book as well, though at times it feels like the author is trying little too hard to be unique. (I skipped the chapter that was written almost like a movie script.)
Shrimp's Haiku (spell checked by Danny, because Shrimp is severely dyslexic) and the author `trying to be hip' (for lack of a hipper term) become a bit annoying at times, but I guess that's what teenagers will like most about it.
As someone who doesn't drink coffee, I didn't really get CC's obsession with `the search for the perfect cappuccino'. I also found the book a bit too long. I went from being quite enthusiastic about it and speeding through the chapters, to getting stuck at about three-fourth of the way through, thinking "I really have to finish this". But I'm glad I stuck with it, because it got better again in the end.
Overall this is a fun, very fast-paced, read that's perfect for summer holidays on the beach (or any other occasion where short chapters like this are a plus). You can easily pick the book up and start where you left off, even after weeks have passed.