This is a bit of a ranty one, I do apologise. Another instalment in my re-reading of my teenage books series – The Cupcake Queen, screams of a book that just needed a few more months to perfect, and probably needed to be twice the length in order for plot and character developments to really play off.
Penny Lane has had her life ripped from under her. Her parents have separated, she's had to abandon the big city for small town Hog's Hollow and she's somehow made enemies with the school's most popular girls without ever having set foot on school grounds. For some reason her mother has started her own cupcake company, and Penny is just waiting for her parents to make up so she can move back home. We follow Penny as she navigates making friends and enemies at her new school, whilst also getting to know the elusive Marcus Fish - who has plenty of secrets of his own.
Perhaps my most conflicting opinion from the whole book is just how much do I like Penny Lane. She initially comes across incredibly selfish and entitled which makes the reader instantly dislike her. Penny doesn't seem to care for the feelings of those around her and becomes increasingly annoyed when things aren't going her way or she doesn't receive the attention she craves. That's not to say she doesn't grow on you, because she definitely does, and as she finds out more about her parents relationship you do feel sorry for her. As she gets to know the residents of Hog's Hollow she does display a more caring side to her personality. Through Penny you learn that sometimes life doesn't go according to plan, so you should always be prepared to adapt and know that you're exactly where you should be.
The supporting cast for the book mostly comprises of Penny's fellow classmates, which are definitely a mix bag. Charity, the villain of the piece, does a good job of acting as the cliche resident 'mean girl' - an attempt of character redemption is made but for me it falls flat, she wasn't a bad character - just not anything I haven't seen before. Blake, would have been an interesting character but he was just sadly underdeveloped throughout the whole book. Don't even get me started on Marcus, I understand he was meant to be mysterious and elusive but to be quite honest I just felt like he was a little bit of a wet lettuce. Why he avoided Penny at school I still don't fully understand, I know an attempt at a reasoning is made but I just felt like it didn't really make any sense?
Now, on to the saving grace of the book - which is Tally. Her character is fleshed out with her having a very similar arc to Penny's, but I felt like Tally's was better done. I did enjoy Penny and Tally as friends, as well as all of Tally's personality quirks like the 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' club. But, most of all, learning about Tally's relationship with her dad not only breaks your heart but also affirms your belief that she is the best character in the book.
I think the underlying issue for the book is that, perhaps, it tries to handle too many topics considering its short length. Not only do we follow Penny's arc at school, her parents relationship breakdown as well as watching her budding relationships with her new friends and Marcus. But we also have a serious story arc given to both Marcus and Tally as well. And that's not to mention the Hog's Hollow pageant and the cupcake business too. With the story having to balance so many elements, the overall pacing was completely off. The story started slow, then it was quite the page turner before it came to an abrupt end and some of the story elements were skipped over or hadn't even happened. It made the overall story very unfulfilling for the reader.
Also, fat shaming or using a characters weight as a comedic output is not funny and shouldn't be written into a book - especially a book targeted towards highly self-conscious and impressionable teenage girls.
Thanks for reading,
Rhi
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