Review: Cupcake Diaries: The Cupcake Cure by Coco Simon

   

Mmmm, Cupcakes! It's been amazing watching how cupcakes have become very popular in the past couple of years. When I was growing up Cupcakes were reserved for special occasion's and holidays. Now their are tons of free standing cupcake shops all across the United States. Now we treat ourselves whenever we want! My favorite shop here in California is called crumbs. They make an amazing creamsicle cupcake a vanilla cupcake with orange butter creme frosting, yum.

The Cupcake Diaries is a series focusing on four friends whose relationships and love of cupcakes grow into a business. The first book focuses on Katie Brown. Katie is staring Middle School and innocently thinks that everything will remain the same, even her friendship with Callie.
Katie's first day goes horribly wrong. Her fashion sense is sneered, she gets completely lost and worst of all her best friend Callie is hanging with a new group of friends and Katie isn't invited.

Katie does how ever meet a few friends: Mia a fashionable young girl from New York along With Alexis and Emma. Katie s is happy to meet these new girls but she is still hurt over the loss of Katie. That night Katie and her mom make a "cupcake cure" of pineapple upside down cupcakes. She shares these with her new friends and an idea is born: The Cupcake Club. A weekly meeting to bake , and of course eat cupcakes. with a big school fundraiser coming up the girls decide to enter their wares and lay the foundation for a new business.

I don't usually read a lot of middle grade books but when I saw this on the Simon & Schuster Galley Grab I decided to give it a try.

Cupcake is a quick fun read. I liked the way Simon dealt with a very difficult experience: losing a friend. I really felt Katie's experiences and it echoed a similar situation I encountered in school. Katie bravely moves forward and even welcomes her new friends into her favorite activity. I also like all the descriptions of the baking. It's quite impossible to not want a cupcake after reading Simon's descriptive passages.

I don't know if their are any in the final edition of the book but I really would have enjoyed a few recipes I think it would have inspired a lot of kids to begin baking.Since I had an e-galley it's possible that recipes weren't included.

A fun read overall and a great book to encourage some family baking time :)