Review: The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski.

Posted May 18, 2011 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments


Main Character: Sheridan
Love Interest: Jack (highlight to find out)
Series: None
Author: Website|Facebook|Twitter|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.

This was another one of those quick reads that for the most part, I enjoyed. I was looking forward to reading it because I’m a fan of the Food Network and baking so having those as part of this story did a lot to get me excited.

This story follows Sheridan as she tries to deal with the news of her father’s new television show that will ship their family to New York City. She doesn’t want to leave her town of St. Mary’s because she’s so sure that her mother will come back and their family will go back to normal. Now, there’s nothing wrong with wanting your mother that took off YEARS ago to come back. That’s normal and it’s natural to want your family back to normal but what bugged me about Sheridan was how mean and bratty she was to the parent that stuck around.

I can’t stand snotty, bratty teens and Sheridan was totally one of those. She was snotty to her Dad, snotty to her Grandmother and snotty to her friends all throughout the course of this book. It’s understandable that she’s angry at having to move away from the only home she’s ever had. It’s understandable that she’s finally dating the guy that she thinks is super hot and her friends take a back seat for a while because, well that happens in real life but what bugged the snot out of me was how her Dad could do nothing right and yet her Mom could do nothing wrong.

Her Mom is not in her life anymore. She picked up and left Sheridan and their Dad years ago without a word and Sheridan still believes that her Mom is coming back. The birthday cards have stopped coming but in Sheridan’s head, her Mom is still coming back because she’s promised.

Sheridan’s attitude throughout the book tainted my enjoyment of the book because more than once, I wanted to backhand Sheridan for being such a little shit. She took her friends for granted, she was one of those I know what’s best for everyone and the blatant disrespect that she had for her Dad and her Grandmother at times made me not like her for a bit. I mean, she gets it right in the end but the single-minded way she thought was aggravating.

In the end, things worked out and I was glad that she finally saw the light but getting there was a trial in my patience which is why I can’t give this book a higher grade than the one I’ve given it. I adored Jack but I was never a fan of Ethan. I adored the secondary characters and thought Sheridan had some great friends that tried to keep her grounded and I appreciated them. Overall, this book isn’t a bad book but Sheridan’s attitude sucked for a good portion of this book and because of that attitude, it was easy for me to put this one down and read something else.

I’ve heard that fans of Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti will enjoy this and I think I’d have to agree with that because I’m sure others will enjoy this book more than I did.

..and that’s your scoop!

Buy the book: B&N|Borders|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com


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2 responses to “Review: The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski.

  1. Rowena

    @Alex: I was pretty bummed that Sheridan got on my hot damn nerves a lot throughout this book but I’m not mad that I read it. It still ended up being an okay read.

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