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Jan 25, 2012

Wendy Darling rated it:

If you're about to start reading this: put everything down. Step away from the book, find yourself a good ~~half a dozen~~ cupcakes first, and then come back. Because if you don't, you're going to spend a couple of hours in a frenzy of longing over the incredible desserts whipped up in this book and you may end up gnawing off your own arm.

Dark chocolate cupcakes with red peppermint mascarpone icing, edged with chocolate and crushed candy canes

Miniature banana cupcakes smeared More...

132 comments like (95 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2012

Ari rated it:

There is something so sweet about falling in love for the first time (*).
About all those insecurities you might have, about not knowing what to choose, what is best for you.
About wanting to risk it all but fearing that you will lose everything, about dreaming with your eyes wide open, about waiting for a kiss that might never come..

There is something so sad about broken families (**), about the loneliness the kids might feel when the parents decide not to be part of More...

15 comments like (27 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2012

Lisa O. rated it:

And the award for lousiest friend of the year goes to...

Hudson Avery!

The story starts with Hudson being on the verge of becoming a figure-skating star. On the day of a very important competition, she discovers her parents are about to divorce and her whole life shatters into pieces like a beautiful ice sculpture.
Fast-forward 4 years. Hudson Avery is now 16 and, besides going to school, she works in her mom's diner, baking the most delicious cupcakes ever.
She's per More...

19 comments like (21 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2011

Giselle rated it:

Red Hot Double Crush Cakes:
Ginger vanilla cupcakes with chilli-infused dark chocolate cream cheese frosting, dusted with cinnamon.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the cupcake Queen of Watonka! That's right, Hudson is the queen of everything cupcake and a wonderful character to boot. Living in a humble little town just getting by on her mother's diner income, Hudson has thrown herself into creating (delicious) cupcakes to forget that she once had big dreams. However, More...

7 comments like (16 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2012

Tina rated it:

Original post at One More Page

I wasn't exactly a Sarah Ockler fan and while so many people raved about her debut, Twenty Boy Summer, I was just pretty lukewarm about it. So I wasn't very interested to read her newest book, Bittersweet until I started reading cute reviews about it from some of my trusted reviewers. Curious, I borrowed a copy from a friend and read the first few pages, and before I knew it, I was halfway through. :D

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler is about Hudso More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

♥Rachel♥ rated it:

Hudson Avery is the Cupcake Queen of Watonka, not a title she was really aiming for. But while trying to distract her brother Bug from the pain of their father's desertion by baking with him, she ends up making really amazing cupcakes for her mother's diner, Hurley's.

Hudson has had a tough three years. Right before an important skating competition Hudson realizes that her dad has been cheating on her Mom. Hudson feels that their marriage problems are the result of the extra p More...

16 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Kajal rated it:

4.25 to 4.75 stars!

Cupcake overload!!!
I'm making all those cupcakes someday. I swear!

Princess Pink a.k.a Hudson Avery took my breath away. She's a smart-ass, totally sassy, blabbering away whenever she sees Josh. :D Purrr-fect sense of humour. Truly.
This book is full of funny, sugary sweet, witty, sensitive, emotional, cute, intense moments and well everything else too!
I found myself enjoying each and every line of it. Each and every cupcake recipe in it More...

29 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 18, 2012

Jasprit rated it:

Bittersweet was one of those books which leaves you with warm fuzzies, it’s a book full with banter, fun, charming characters and mouth-watering cupcakes that you can’t help but smile your way through it.

Hudson was a talented skater, she had the raw talent, and drive to get really far, until on the night of her regionals at the empire games <spoiler> she found a bra which didn’t belong to either her or her mum</spoiler>. Her father always supported her through her skating c More...

31 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Fred rated it:

"When it's like this, I don't notice the cold. I don't hear the wind howling through the empty spaces. I don't feel like a small, broken-winged bird trapped in a rusty cage." Unfortunately for MC Hudson, it doesn't get "like this" very often, and it does, in fact, mostly feel like she's small, broken and trapped. The rusty cage is the upstate New York town of Watonka, where the abandoned steel mills and frozen lake might well represent what happened to Hudson's dreams and p More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2012

Lucy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Amanda rated it:

In Sarah Ockler's newest novel Bittersweet we get to see lots of yummy cupcakes, and a whole new side to the life of figure skating and hockey. Hudson and Josh are one of the cutest couples, but it was hard for them to finally get together after all the obstacles they go through, but I was still rooting for him to make his move. The first time they actually meet is on the little lake near an abandoned building, where they accidentally bump into each other.

From the beginning of the st More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

Jessica rated it:

I remember reading Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler and loving it, so it's really no surprise that I loved this book even more! I was really excited to read a book about a girl who loves baking, but when I got into the book and realized it had to do with Hudson helping out the hockey team, I got even more excited. Sport romances are one of my favorite genres and this was definitely an awesome sport romance. To me, it was a combination of the movies Cutting Edge and Ice Princess and it rocked! More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Steph Su added it

My order of preference of Sarah Ockler books seems to be: Twenty Boy Summer, then Fixing Delilah, then Bittersweet. *sigh* What is wrong with me??? BITTERSWEET had a great premise, a unique setting, and even athletes (skating). And yet I wasn't completely charmed in the way that I have to be with books. I liked that BITTERSWEET is about ice skaters and hockey players, but I couldn't get behind the characters. I can understand why Hudson needed to escape her old life after her parents' divorce, b More...

14 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Cheyenne rated it:

If I'm completely honest here, the entire reason I started reading this book was because of the cupcakes. I don't even like cupcakes that much, really, but I always thought it would be fun to be a pastry chef, and now here's a girl that bakes cupcakes as a hobby and sells them at her mom's diner to rake in a few extra bucks. Of course, that's not all Hudson is. When she receives a letter in the mail about a skating competition after she quit over 3 years ago, she starts to train herself behin More...

0 comments like

Feb 17, 2012

Lianna rated it:

Maybe a 1 and 1/2 stars. I liked reading about Josh and Bug, but that was about it. The main character Hudson is just so frustrating. I felt so many things didn't get resolved and people didn't know how to talk to one another. It didn't explain why her dad was always there, but then now he isn't? If it explained the whole story, maybe I would get it..

She treats her friends like crap.
And she goes out with Will even though she knows she likes Josh? Huh. And ohhhhh there's some More...

0 comments like

Feb 13, 2012

Anne rated it:

I've never particularly focused on Sarah Ockler's books before. I read Twenty Boy Summer, but don't remember much about it, and never got to Fixing Delilah. Imagine my happy surprise to read Bittersweet and discover it was fantastic!

Some reasons to read Bittersweet:

First, it's funny. Here's the protagonist, Hudson, fantasizing about the hunky Josh:

What do you need, Josh? Just name it. Anything. I'm totally here for you.

I knew I could count on More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 08, 2012

Jenny rated it:

MY THOUGHTS
Cute and endearing, Bittersweet is a highly entertaining light read that retains just enough of an edge to keep it from being overly fluffy, proceeding to serve up just the right combination of humor, romance, and family drama. Instead of focusing on a single relationship between Hudson and one of the hockey boys she’s helping to train, we get to thoroughly entangle ourselves in her connection to her precious and precocious younger brother, her strained relationship to her mothe More...

0 comments like

Jan 25, 2012

Sarah rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Bailey (IB Book Blogging) rated it:

The first time I saw the synopsis for BITTERSWEET, I was sold. The premise sounded so sweet and being a sugar addict, I am for any book with goodies in them. The Cupcake Queen Hudson sure won me over, as well! To top it all off, Sarah Ockler has such a way with words! I don't know how to describe it. She knows just what to say and how to say it. If you're a fan of Sarah Ockler or if you haven't even read a book from her, I can guarantee that you will fall in love with BITTERSWEET.

Hud More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Kelly rated it:

Hudson's life centered around figure skating. She was considered a prodigy and was almost guaranteed to win this huge competition...and then she realized her dad was cheating on her mom and they'd likely break up. So she threw the competition. Flash forward to today. Her parents are divorced and she and her little brother live with their mom. She spends her time now making cupcakes at her mom's diner and she never skates anymore. She and her dad aren't close and skating was always their th More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2012

Calia rated it:

If you’re on a “diet” or watching your girlish figure while reading this book...
JUST DON’T.
You’ll have more temptation while reading “Bittersweet” than you’ve ever had in your life.
The descriptions of all those amazing cupcakes at the beginning of each chapter is enough to make you drool all crazy-like.

In the beginning of Bittersweet, Hudson Avery is a top ice skater, competing in a big competition. But she chokes it, and walks away from it all...
Flash forward More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Suike rated it:

Hudson used to ice skate three years ago. She has stopped competing after feeling responsible for her parents' divorce. The aftermath of the incident also caused her friendship with her former best friend.

Although she lost her love for competing, she still skates on her breaks without anyone's knowledge. During one of her skate breaks, she runs into Josh, co-captain of the hockey team who asks her to teach him how to skate better to improve his hockey playing skills. At the same tim More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Rose2468 rated it:

The review was published in my blog:
http://readwriteleave.blogspot.com/2012/...

I haven't read too many contemporary books lately. I saw Bittersweet on my Pulse It account and thought- "why not?" so I started reading.

I surely didn't expect Bittersweet to overtake and leave behind so many great books. While Anna and The French Kiss and Catching Jordan were some of my favorite books for 2011, Bittersweet can be set in the same setting as my all-time-favorite- More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Nick93 rated it:

Read more of my reviews at Nick's Book Blog.

Bittersweet was my first Sarah Ockler book. I'd heard tons of great reviews about this book. Some reviewers have even compared it to Anna and The French by Stephanie Perkins. Fortunately, those reviewers were in fact right !
I absolutely enjoyed reading Bittersweet.

The story is about Hudson. She is a small-town girl who once used to aspire to become a world-class skater. However, Hudson's dreams are shattered when her fathe More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 14, 2012

Laura rated it:

FNL Character Rating: TAMI AND ERIC!!!!!!

Full Disclosure: I grew up in the Buffalo region and used to figure skate. When I first started reading, I considered making a drinking game out of this book whenever the author referred to something that induced regional nostalgia. After ten pages, I realized if I actually went through with it, I would have to go to the emergency room to have my stomach pumped within a half-hour.

Anyways.

I strongly feel that even with More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Dec 14, 2011

Nancy rated it:

I started out wondering how the elements of this book would pull together and if there was anything beyond a cute story. I don't mind a cute story but I like some meat, too. I was pleasantly surprised.

Hudson is a closet ice skater. She used to compete and was incredibly good then something happened three years ago where she felt responsible for the breaking up of her parents marriage and she purposely blew a major competition. The fallout included a divorce, her dad took a clean break, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 27, 2011

Kari rated it:

Hockey boys! Cupcakes! Wintertime romance! This book is so fun in so many ways, yet has plenty of rougher elements to it too. And every chapter title is the name and description of some kind of cupcake, which are so original and sound absolutely delicious. I am pretty sure Sarah has a fallback in cupcakery if writing somehow goes south for her, but considering how awesome this book is, I just don't see that happening. But seriously, I loved Hudson, loved seeing all the crap she was dealing with More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Cristina rated it:

3.5 stars

I should definitely preface this mini-review by saying that, in general, these kind of romantic-comedy heart-warmers don't do much for me. However, I really loved both Anna and the French Kiss & Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins and have been trying to find something similar since. I've read some cute books along the way, and this was one of the better ones.

This book is... delicious. But it is also pretty predictable, a little too long, and at times bo More...

0 comments like

Jan 25, 2012

Jenna rated it:

SADFKLJASLKDFJSFDNAKJF <3
THIS BOOK IS ADORABLE.

Reading this book made me realize how much Sarah Ockler is one of my favorite YA authors of all time. She may have just bumped Sarah Dessen down a notch on my list. Her characters are realistic, the romantic interests are HOT, and the plot lines are always so interesting that I have to say to myself while reading "How did she come up with that?" Also, those cupcake recipes sounded delicious.

Hudson Avery was such More...

0 comments like

Feb 01, 2012

Eunice rated it:

This book is such a cute, sweet and fluffy read. I had a so much fun reading this. I laughed and drooled a lot in this book (oh, just imagine those cupcakes, yum!). The characters are adorable and brilliant, especially Hudson. That girl is just really funny and hilarious. This is my first Sarah Ockler book and I loved her writing style, and those cupcake descriptions are just soo yummy it left me totally craving.

After reading the prologue I thought this was a serious, dramatic type More...

14 comments like (4 people liked it)