Bittersweet
by Sarah Ockler
Reviewed by Karla Accorto
4.5/5 stars
This month, Kinsey and I selected Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler. It follows
the life of the “Cupcake Queen of Watonka," Hudson Avery, as she struggles to
keep her family together, works way too many shifts at the family diner, tries
to bring her figure skating career back from the dead, and falls in love for
the first time--with a boy who isn’t her boyfriend. Hudson juggles all of this
at times successfully and other times at the cost of a friendship or
relationship. In the end, she must decide what she really wants for her future
and learn how to speak her mind.
I
really enjoyed Bittersweet, as I have
enjoyed most of the books Kinsey and I have reviewed. The plot was interesting
and engaging. In fact, I think I finished this book at about one in the
morning—way past my bedtime. The hockey boys, the main male characters in the
book for the most part, seemed quite adorable and had interesting and
surprisingly complex personalities. Josh, the boy sending some serious mixed
signals to Hudson, was my favorite from the beginning, because of the shroud of
mystery around him. He is constantly getting calls from a girl, one that Hudson
automatically assumes is his girlfriend. The reader doesn’t actually find out
if she is right until near the end. Hudson was also pretty likeable as well.
Some of her actions annoyed me because she appeared to make the same mistakes
over and over again. However, we’re all human, right? Her little brother,
affectionately nicknamed, Bug, was a nice, light-hearted addition to the story
as well. I especially liked the anger and guilt Hudson spent the entire book
working through. It was directed toward her father and
the affair she discovered three years ago that tore her family apart for good.
It added a bit of realism to the story, which I liked. Because, although I do
adore clichés, parts of the story could use the extra bit of realism. The
ending was cute and adorable, the perfect happy ending you would expect this
book to have.
All
and all, this was a very well-crafted story. It was believable and it made me
sigh and wish I lived in a world like this one. This was not the only book I’ve
read by this author that I liked, so I highly recommend checking out her other
books. I would recommend this book for freshman and up because of a few mature
references. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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