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trisha_thomas's review against another edition
4.0
cute, sweet and exactly what I needed.
This book is just a quick snapshot in the life of Avery Hudson. Previous superstar ice skater, now Cupcake Queen of a very small town. She's coasting through life, not really happy and not really sad. Just...coasting.
I loved all the supporting characters. They were so well done they were truly main characters too. Avery was more flushed out just by the help of Dani, Josh and Will - they helped show outside of her mind and her view of the situation and shed light on things said and done that possibly weren't what Avery thought they were.
This book is just a quick snapshot in the life of Avery Hudson. Previous superstar ice skater, now Cupcake Queen of a very small town. She's coasting through life, not really happy and not really sad. Just...coasting.
I loved all the supporting characters. They were so well done they were truly main characters too. Avery was more flushed out just by the help of Dani, Josh and Will - they helped show outside of her mind and her view of the situation and shed light on things said and done that possibly weren't what Avery thought they were.
michreadsmanybooks's review against another edition
4.0
Sarah Ockler is a wonderful author; this novel is a wonderful book. I've been reading Sarah's novels since the publication of her first book, Twenty Boy Summer back in 2009 which was a fantastic surprise in the best way. Since that time, I've waited patiently and looked forward to all of Ockler's novels, none of which have disappointed. If any of you love contemporary YA as much as I do then Sarah Ockler is definitely someone you should be reading.
Bittersweet is a story about discovering dreams and coming into your own. It tracks the life of Hudson and follows her through a period in her life where a lot of different things are happening and where change is imminent. With this comes a lot of chaos, tender moments, and well, cute boys. This book encapsulates all the milestones that I appreciate in contemporary novels: there are realistic characters which experience growth, true to life situations and moments which everyone can understand and possibly even relate to.
The hockey element I loved. I read so many novels where there's football and other warm climate sports but never really hockey. As someone who grew up around the sport and the culture that comes with it, I found this aspect extremely enjoyable and nice to read about. Plus having Hudson interacting with a team full of hockey boys was a fun aspect to read about also as it paved the way for a lot of fun scenes and entertaining dialogue.
The romance aspect of this novel was sweet. It was definitely more of a sub-plot which I appreciated as Hudson's story was extremely redeemable and important on its own. Romance sub-plots however are always welcome and appreciated on my end. While I don't mind a romance plot being the main attribute and device of any YA novel, it is nice to experience change every now and then and have it take a sort of backseat. Having it be a slightly subdued characteristic is not a bad thing, especially not when the protagonist's story has a lot of depth on its own.
So much of our life is shaped by relationships of all sorts including those besides romantic. Bittersweet also manages to incorporate other important relationships that are for many an important constant, these being family and friendship. The relationship between Hudson and her brother was extremely nice and enjoyable not to mention sweet. I also enjoyed the chaotic relationship between Hudson and her father. This book traces what their relationship once was and its current manifestation. Hudson's mother is also equally important as are Hudson's friends, both old and new.
Overall: Bittersweet is a great contemporary read. If you love Sarah Ockler's past novels then you definitely don't need me to tell you to pick this one up. Lovers and appreciators of contemporary YA should place Ockler on their radar.
Bittersweet is a story about discovering dreams and coming into your own. It tracks the life of Hudson and follows her through a period in her life where a lot of different things are happening and where change is imminent. With this comes a lot of chaos, tender moments, and well, cute boys. This book encapsulates all the milestones that I appreciate in contemporary novels: there are realistic characters which experience growth, true to life situations and moments which everyone can understand and possibly even relate to.
The hockey element I loved. I read so many novels where there's football and other warm climate sports but never really hockey. As someone who grew up around the sport and the culture that comes with it, I found this aspect extremely enjoyable and nice to read about. Plus having Hudson interacting with a team full of hockey boys was a fun aspect to read about also as it paved the way for a lot of fun scenes and entertaining dialogue.
The romance aspect of this novel was sweet. It was definitely more of a sub-plot which I appreciated as Hudson's story was extremely redeemable and important on its own. Romance sub-plots however are always welcome and appreciated on my end. While I don't mind a romance plot being the main attribute and device of any YA novel, it is nice to experience change every now and then and have it take a sort of backseat. Having it be a slightly subdued characteristic is not a bad thing, especially not when the protagonist's story has a lot of depth on its own.
So much of our life is shaped by relationships of all sorts including those besides romantic. Bittersweet also manages to incorporate other important relationships that are for many an important constant, these being family and friendship. The relationship between Hudson and her brother was extremely nice and enjoyable not to mention sweet. I also enjoyed the chaotic relationship between Hudson and her father. This book traces what their relationship once was and its current manifestation. Hudson's mother is also equally important as are Hudson's friends, both old and new.
Overall: Bittersweet is a great contemporary read. If you love Sarah Ockler's past novels then you definitely don't need me to tell you to pick this one up. Lovers and appreciators of contemporary YA should place Ockler on their radar.
maggiemaggio's review against another edition
4.0
Bittersweet totally snuck up on me and, for much of the book, just left me feeling so charmed. Hudson Avery, the main character, is exactly the type of main character I look for. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s sarcastic, and she’s so real. Plus she’s got some issues. Hudson is a former figure skating prodigy who, after finding out that her dad cheated on her mom the morning of a big competition, threw the competition and promptly retired from skating. Her parents ended up getting divorced; she, her mom, and her brother had to move into a small apartment; and her mom is barely making ends meet with the diner she owns where Hudson is the Cupcake Queen. What is the Cupcake Queen you ask? Well, to cope with her parents divorce Hudson turned to baking and her unique (each chapter opens with a cupcake description), apparently delicious cupcakes have taken their town by storm.
Being the Cupcake Queen isn’t enough for Hudson and several years after that disastrous competition (the story starts at the competition and then skips ahead to the present day) she receives an invitation to participate in a skating competition where she could win $50,000, aka her ticket out of her dead end town. But it isn’t quite so easy. Hudson has obligations to her family and to her friends and she’s worried about what they’ll think if they find out she wants to skate again so she decides to train for the competition in secret. Meanwhile she has more and more responsibilities at the diner, she starts to make new friends, and takes on an additional skating commitment.
As the story goes on Hudson has to deal with more and more stress and things start to fall by the wayside. Every time she forgot about a school assignment or cancelled plans with her best friend, Dani, I cringed. Her mother put a lot of pressure on her to help with the diner and with her younger brother (who I loved) and that clearly wasn’t fair to Hudson, but as her mother says, life isn’t fair. The title of the book comes from a song that Hudson used for one of her figure skating programs, but “bittersweet” does such a good job of encompassing the feel of the book. It’s not a sad book, but it’s a real book that’s filled with difficult choices and lots of real world trade-offs.
There is a lot going on in this book and I don’t want it to cancel out everything nice I said or sound like I didn’t enjoy this book, I did, immensely, but after a while I thought Hudson’s problems became kind of repetitive and the length of the book, 478 pages, kind of wore me down. Also, the farther I got the less winning I found Hudson’s personality, probably because she was being swallowed up by all the stress in her life. There’s also a love triangle that thankfully wasn’t annoying or dramatic, but I never felt invested in either of the guys.
Bottom Line: Even though I thought the story tended to wander a little I still wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this one. I totally fell in love with Hudson and, even though she was dealing with the same problems over and over again, I really rooted for her and wanted her to succeed. Plus, with the figure skating and blustery upstate NY setting this is the perfect winter book.
This review first appeared on my blog.
Being the Cupcake Queen isn’t enough for Hudson and several years after that disastrous competition (the story starts at the competition and then skips ahead to the present day) she receives an invitation to participate in a skating competition where she could win $50,000, aka her ticket out of her dead end town. But it isn’t quite so easy. Hudson has obligations to her family and to her friends and she’s worried about what they’ll think if they find out she wants to skate again so she decides to train for the competition in secret. Meanwhile she has more and more responsibilities at the diner, she starts to make new friends, and takes on an additional skating commitment.
As the story goes on Hudson has to deal with more and more stress and things start to fall by the wayside. Every time she forgot about a school assignment or cancelled plans with her best friend, Dani, I cringed. Her mother put a lot of pressure on her to help with the diner and with her younger brother (who I loved) and that clearly wasn’t fair to Hudson, but as her mother says, life isn’t fair. The title of the book comes from a song that Hudson used for one of her figure skating programs, but “bittersweet” does such a good job of encompassing the feel of the book. It’s not a sad book, but it’s a real book that’s filled with difficult choices and lots of real world trade-offs.
There is a lot going on in this book and I don’t want it to cancel out everything nice I said or sound like I didn’t enjoy this book, I did, immensely, but after a while I thought Hudson’s problems became kind of repetitive and the length of the book, 478 pages, kind of wore me down. Also, the farther I got the less winning I found Hudson’s personality, probably because she was being swallowed up by all the stress in her life. There’s also a love triangle that thankfully wasn’t annoying or dramatic, but I never felt invested in either of the guys.
Bottom Line: Even though I thought the story tended to wander a little I still wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this one. I totally fell in love with Hudson and, even though she was dealing with the same problems over and over again, I really rooted for her and wanted her to succeed. Plus, with the figure skating and blustery upstate NY setting this is the perfect winter book.
This review first appeared on my blog.
whatanerdgirlsays's review against another edition
4.0
To see a full, complete, spoiler free review at What A Nerd Girl Says blog:
http://whatanerdgirlsays.com/2013/05/23/book-of-the-week-bittersweet/
http://whatanerdgirlsays.com/2013/05/23/book-of-the-week-bittersweet/
poorashleu's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted here
My first Sarah Ockler book did not work out for me well for various reasons, but after seeing how many of my friends enjoyed Bittersweet I was willing to give her a second chance. What I was not expecting was Bittersweet to start out with a C-Cup lacy bra that did not belong to Hudson, or her mother, or how much pain I would feel because Hudson, in the middle of an ice-skating competition was dying. Not literally, but she caught her father cheating and her family is breaking apart.
Three years later, Hudson has left competitive skating and is making custom made cupcakes for her mother. She’s harder though, she’s not the girl she was in the prologue. Through bits and pieces of information we learn what has happened to her parents. They got divorced (obviously), her mom went through a deep depression (but is better now!), her father moved to Las Vegas (and is currently with lady of the month as Hudson tells us). Life isn’t exactly easy for Hudson, her mom, and her family, but it is what it is and she’s accepted her new..harder life. Because of this, the last thing Hudson expects is a letter in the mail telling her about a competition. She wants to stay the “cupcake queen” and behind the counter, but not everything works out how you want it to and Bittersweet shows that.
My heart went out for Hudson throughout Bittersweet. As a fully formed, flawed teen girl, I couldn’t help but want to hug her. She isn’t sure who she is supposed to be. Is she the Hudson that her family and friends expect her to be, or the one she wants to be. Does she let go of the past or hold on to it a little more? Does she speak up? Or just hide behind the counter making cupcakes? Of course there are no obvious answers because Hudson has to do her growth herself.
What she also didn’t expect was Josh to collide with her on the ice and start talking to her. Because she’s Hudson and she stays behind the counter. Hudson’s BFF, Dani, however won’t let Hudson get away with this. In part because she reads a lot of paperback romances and wants Hudson to be happy. My heart went out to Hudson a lot, because Hudson just wants to survive. She wants to survive high school, and her job and she really wants her mom to get out of as much debt as she is currently in. It’s honestly impressive that Hudson is able to keep her shit together as long as she did. I would have lost it probably on page one.
Through helping the high school hockey team, we see more about Hudson and the adorable Josh and how they work together. What was unexpected was how Will was also featured throughout the book, which shouldn’t have shocked me as Will is co-captain of the hockey team and Ockler was able to write a realistic story where things aren’t as neat and straight forward as you expect them to be. Because the mundane that so many authors fear writing about are the little, realistic things that are relate-able.
While I enjoyed Hudson’s growth throughout the novel, high school, trying to fit in, family, trying to fit in, herself, and trying to be comfortable in her own skin. Of course, because I am predictable, I loved the love story. It was flawed, painful, but it was real and I loved it. What I loved more than the love story was the friendship aspect of the novel. I am very into teenage girl friendships and this was so authentic to me. It wasn’t perfect, and it was often painful when they had their first blow up of the friendship because I wanted them to be back to having each other’s back and enjoying each other. But Dani sees that Hudson is spreading herself far too thin and wants Hudson back. Hudson though has begun to question, if she hadn’t found that bra a few years ago, where would her life be? Would she still have ended up there? Was it worth putting them all second?
The amount of growth and feels that I felt in this novel was honestly amazing. I enjoyed this book so much. Also, Ockler, you’re so hilariously funny with your book chapter titles with delicious cupcakes that I cannot eat because it is in a book and not in front of me.
My first Sarah Ockler book did not work out for me well for various reasons, but after seeing how many of my friends enjoyed Bittersweet I was willing to give her a second chance. What I was not expecting was Bittersweet to start out with a C-Cup lacy bra that did not belong to Hudson, or her mother, or how much pain I would feel because Hudson, in the middle of an ice-skating competition was dying. Not literally, but she caught her father cheating and her family is breaking apart.
Three years later, Hudson has left competitive skating and is making custom made cupcakes for her mother. She’s harder though, she’s not the girl she was in the prologue. Through bits and pieces of information we learn what has happened to her parents. They got divorced (obviously), her mom went through a deep depression (but is better now!), her father moved to Las Vegas (and is currently with lady of the month as Hudson tells us). Life isn’t exactly easy for Hudson, her mom, and her family, but it is what it is and she’s accepted her new..harder life. Because of this, the last thing Hudson expects is a letter in the mail telling her about a competition. She wants to stay the “cupcake queen” and behind the counter, but not everything works out how you want it to and Bittersweet shows that.
My heart went out for Hudson throughout Bittersweet. As a fully formed, flawed teen girl, I couldn’t help but want to hug her. She isn’t sure who she is supposed to be. Is she the Hudson that her family and friends expect her to be, or the one she wants to be. Does she let go of the past or hold on to it a little more? Does she speak up? Or just hide behind the counter making cupcakes? Of course there are no obvious answers because Hudson has to do her growth herself.
What she also didn’t expect was Josh to collide with her on the ice and start talking to her. Because she’s Hudson and she stays behind the counter. Hudson’s BFF, Dani, however won’t let Hudson get away with this. In part because she reads a lot of paperback romances and wants Hudson to be happy. My heart went out to Hudson a lot, because Hudson just wants to survive. She wants to survive high school, and her job and she really wants her mom to get out of as much debt as she is currently in. It’s honestly impressive that Hudson is able to keep her shit together as long as she did. I would have lost it probably on page one.
Through helping the high school hockey team, we see more about Hudson and the adorable Josh and how they work together. What was unexpected was how Will was also featured throughout the book, which shouldn’t have shocked me as Will is co-captain of the hockey team and Ockler was able to write a realistic story where things aren’t as neat and straight forward as you expect them to be. Because the mundane that so many authors fear writing about are the little, realistic things that are relate-able.
While I enjoyed Hudson’s growth throughout the novel, high school, trying to fit in, family, trying to fit in, herself, and trying to be comfortable in her own skin. Of course, because I am predictable, I loved the love story. It was flawed, painful, but it was real and I loved it. What I loved more than the love story was the friendship aspect of the novel. I am very into teenage girl friendships and this was so authentic to me. It wasn’t perfect, and it was often painful when they had their first blow up of the friendship because I wanted them to be back to having each other’s back and enjoying each other. But Dani sees that Hudson is spreading herself far too thin and wants Hudson back. Hudson though has begun to question, if she hadn’t found that bra a few years ago, where would her life be? Would she still have ended up there? Was it worth putting them all second?
The amount of growth and feels that I felt in this novel was honestly amazing. I enjoyed this book so much. Also, Ockler, you’re so hilariously funny with your book chapter titles with delicious cupcakes that I cannot eat because it is in a book and not in front of me.
sculptureofanythinggoes's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
brendaclay's review against another edition
4.0
Three years ago, Hudson Avery, rising figure skating star, gave up the ultimate big break after discovering that her dad was cheating on her mom. Since her parents split, she's helped her mom at their family diner, creating one fantastic cupcake after another and trying to forget the old days. Then a letter arrives inviting her to a skating competition with a huge scholarship prize. Seizing her only chance to get out of her dead-end small town, she starts skating again in secret. But she's found out by Will, captain of the hockey team, and his friend Josh. The team hasn't had a winning record in years and is facing disbandment, and they want her to share her ice-queen secrets with their players. As she works to regain what she's lost in the midst of her current crazy life, Hudson finds that what she thought she wanted may not be what's right for her after all.
This book felt really real. I especially enjoyed the sweet relationship between Hudson and her younger brother. And Josh is pretty dreamy. :)
This book felt really real. I especially enjoyed the sweet relationship between Hudson and her younger brother. And Josh is pretty dreamy. :)
lissajean7's review against another edition
2.0
The beginning was good enough that I pushed through to the end, but the middle was rough. I just didn't like the main character. She was making terrible choices and being a terrible friend and had her priorities all wrong. It was difficult to read, but probably an accurate representation of depression. She just gives up on everybody, all the time. I did love most of the other characters though--except Will, he was just confusing. Definitely conflicted about this one, but while the very, very end was alright, I just...the rest was just not.