Review: The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler.

Posted September 22, 2010 by Rowena in Reviews | 8 Comments

Main Characters: Penny Lane, Marcus Fish, Tally and Blake.
Series: None

A confection of a novel, combining big city sophistication with small town charm.

When her mother moves them from the city to a small town to open up a cupcake bakery, Penny’s life isn’t what she expected. Her father has stayed behind, and Mom isn’t talking about what the future holds for their family. And then there’s Charity, the girl who plays mean pranks almost daily. There are also bright spots in Hog’s Hollow—like Tally, an expert in Rock Paper Scissors, and Marcus, the boy who is always running on the beach. But just when it looks as though Penny is settling in, her parents ask her to make a choice that will turn everything upside down again. A sweet novel about love, creativity, and accepting life’s unexpected turns.

Cute.

That’s the word that I’d use to describe this book. It was such a fast read for me (regardless of how long the book has been on my sidebar under Currently Reading) and I enjoyed it. I thought that Penny was a great main character and I loved reading about her new life in Hogs Hollow.

The story follows Penny Lane as she tries not to make a permanent life for herself in Hogs Hollow. Penny’s from New York, a total city girl but when her mother moves them to Hogs Hollow and opens up a Cupcakery, Penny tries very hard to not plant any roots because she wants her Mom and Dad to stop fighting, get back together so that her and her Mom can move back to New York and live happily ever after again…with her Dad.

As more time passes without her Dad returning her phone calls and her mother telling her anything, Penny starts to lean on her new friends Tally and Blake. Then before she knows it, those roots she didn’t want to plant are slowly creeping up on her and when she’s given a chance to move back to New York, the choice is harder to make.

I enjoyed getting to know Penny over the course of the book. I adored Tally and wanted to make things right for her with her Dad and everything but I’m so glad that she had her Aunt and Blake. Tally’s revenge on Charity and those other nasty girls had me smiling like a loon throughout the book. That is exactly what Charity got. I enjoyed getting to know the folks around Hogs Hollow as well. From Mr. Fish to Penny’s grandma and just everyone mentioned in the book.

My favorite part of the book was of course, Marcus. I thought the blossoming relationship between him and Penny was too cute. I’m glad that the book ended the way that it did because it was perfect for the way that this story was told. It stayed true to Penny’s personality. Penny was private and quiet, she told you the basic things you needed to know and let you make up your mind about everything else.

The only gripe that I had with this book was Penny’s Mom. Her Mom didn’t act like the Mom in this book, Penny did a whole lot for the Mom but the Mom didn’t do very much for Penny. All Penny wanted was to know what was going on but because her Mom didn’t talk about it, Penny had to resort to digging around on her own and that really bothered me. Hiding things from your kids is not the way to go and Penny’s Mom (Goodness, I forgot what her name was) hid everything under the sun from Penny until Penny had all but shouted her need to know something.

I thought that Penny was a little old for her age but it was understandable since she was an only child and with the way that she was brought up. She was a good kid and I’m glad that things ended up the way that they did for her. She deserved to be happy.

Overall, this book was a good read. If you guys are in the mood for light and fluffy, this is the book for you.