About The Book
Cupcake isn’t the unnoticed girl waiting for a makeover. In fact, she loves herself just the way she is. But when she unexpectedly finds herself on the Homecoming Court, alongside a brooding partner named Rhys, everything changes. Rhys is mysterious and distant, and she can’t figure him out. As the spotlight shines brighter on the pair, Cupcake starts to question her feelings for Rhys. And, as the two grow closer, she realizes there’s more to both of them than meets the eye.
Buy The Book: https://amzn.to/44bryIz
My Rating
This book surprised me in the best way, since I haven’t been loving young adult contemporaries. I picked the book up on a whim because it has a plus size main character, which isn’t something you normally read in romance novels. Let alone a young adult romance. I wasn’t thinking it would be anything special, but found it to be such a quick and good read.
The plot follows Ariel, nicknamed Cupcake, who is shocked when she ends up on Homecoming court. Her partner is a popular jock, Rhys, who Cupcake thinks she has nothing in common with. But, as you could probably tell, the author follows the basic ‘opposites attract’ trope that is very common in young adult books. But, there was also an element of forced proximity to the story.
Ariel is a wonderful main character because she is very body positive. She knows that even though she’s a little bit bigger, that doesn’t make her less of a person. But, I found it to be very realistic when she did let comments about her weight affect her. It is hard to love yourself and your body 100% of the time. Unfortunately, Rhys wasn’t as fleshed out a characters, and it seemed like the author wanted him to be the brooding bad boy at times, but then made him the nice guy too.
“When I found out you’d read my favorite book series, some part of knew you were the one.”
The romance was very cute and wholesome. There was absolutely zero smut throughout the book, and not even really any talk about things more than kissing. Although, the characters are high school seniors, or possibly juniors, it leans towards the younger side of the YA genre. But, I don’t think that is a negative thing at all, since when I read young adult books, I expect there to be little or no spice.
The only issue I had was that the ending conflict was very immature, but I did have to remind myself it is a young adult book. Although, this is mainly a fluffy romance there is a brief mention of ED, which I know can be hard for some people to read about. There is also mention of mental health struggles and body shaming. The book is generally lighthearted but I did want to mention those possibly triggering topics.
Overall, this is going to be your typically young adult read, that I found to be breath of fresh air. It is a shame how underrated it is, since I could see a lot of younger people enjoying it. I had a good time reading it, and finished it fairly quick. So, if you are looking for a cutesy young adult romance, or have a teen reader in your life, I’d recommend giving this book a read.
In the comments, let me know if you have heard of this book. Thank you so much for reading this post, and stopping by my blog. As always, it is completely free to follow the blog, and it really does help it grow.
Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny