Book Review: The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski

The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski

EgmontUSA (5/10/11)

ISBN-10: 1606841297

ISBN-13: 978-1606841297

YA Audience

336 Pages

Buy Here for $13.13

My Rating: 3/5

Summary from GoodReads: A delicious confection for Sarah Dessen fans.

In the world of Sheridan Wells, life is perfect when she’s decorating a cake. Unfortunately, everything else is a complete mess: her mom ran off years ago, her dad is more interested in his restaurant, and the idea of a boyfriend is laughable.

But Sheridan is convinced finding her mom will solve all her problems—only her dad’s about to get a cooking show in New York, which means her dream of a perfect family will be dashed.Using just the right amount of romance, family drama, and cute boys, The Sweetest Thing will entice fans with its perfect mixture of girl-friendly ingredients.

The Verdict: For starters, a word to book publishers everywhere: Do not open a summary for a book by name dropping a dearly beloved author. I will admit, I initially decided to give this book a shot because the publishers elude that Dessen fans would love it. Unfortunately that glimmer of hope was the only thing that kept me reading.

I think maybe if I was a 15 yo girl looking for an easy summer read, then I would have liked this book better. But I am not, and the the main character Sheridan is so self-involved and single dimensional that she honestly give 15 year olds everywhere a bad name. 

I couldn't buy any of the relationships in the book. Sheridan's obsession with a mother who left 8 years prior without a single word of contact in 2 years seemed like a stretch. Her father's fluctuating personality from being concerned to selfish made him very hard to warm up to. And the supposedly stable relationship between Sheridan and her Nanny made no sense after the medical incident. I just could not relate to Sheridan's reactions during that whole time... it just went on to glorify her selfish attitudes.

The romantic plot was transparent from the first chapter. There was not a single surprise there, except for Ms. Mandelski writing Sheridan to be perpetually forgiving of her cheating scumbag of a boyfriend because he was "so hot." Even after it is thrown in her face that he cheated on her through their entire relationship, he is never made to answer for his actions. In fact, Sheridan herself gets an easy pass despite being less than faithful in their relationship. What sort of message does that send teens about healthy relationships and dating?

All these unappealing character relationships had me ready to put the book down after 50 pages. But a persevered... on;y to discover that this is a story that could have easily been condensed by at least 100 pages. It just drags on towards the middle to neatly wrap up in a rush at the end. 

Honestly, the only redeemable aspect of this book were the delicious cake descriptions. Mandelski did an amazing job in her descriptions and had my mouth watering for cake through the whole book.

All in all, it was a very unbelievable read, that I would not be able to honestly recommend. I hope Christina Mandelski learns from her mistakes with this debut novel and turns out better characters in her future pieces.

I was provided a review copy of this book by the publishers. All opinions are 100% mine.