"My name is Hudson Avery. I work at Hurley's. Yes, I am the baker of the cupcakes. But not for long."

Cupcakes!
You know I love them. It's no secret (not that I was trying to keep it a secret anyways), so when I discovered that Bittersweet's protagonist, Hudson Avery, was a lover and baker of cupcakes, I knew that this one was an absolute must read for me! When release day finally came around I was heartbroken. All the local stores had yet to receive copies and I was getting anxious. A week passed and still no stock, that's when I took it upon myself to go out of my way and order it online (trust me, locally...it IS going out of your way). What I was surprised to find when it arrived was how gorgeous the cover for Bittersweet really was. The digital version of the cover image does not do this beauty justice. It's a gorgeous sky blue that glitters under the light, covered with rough texture and indented text. It was love at first sight!

When beginning Sarah Ockler's Bittersweet, I immediately smiled. What I found was that Sarah had humorously titled each of her chapters with fun recipes. For example;
Cupcakes with Benefits
Vanilla cupcakes topped with whipped peanut butter cream cheese icing, milk chocolate chips, crushed pretzels, and a drizzle of warm caramel.
*drools* Bittersweet gave me some severe cupcake cravings! At one point, I remember trying my hardest to ignore the chapter titles, it was so unbearably tempting! If you're this far into my review already you're probably thinking something along the lines of "of course she loved Bittersweet, it's about cupcakes!" Sorry to disappoint, but it wasn't the cupcakes that instantly made me fall head over heels for this novel. It was the dialogue. The cupcakes, well, they were just a bonus ;)

Bittersweet's protagonist, Hudson Avery, was a fairly down to earth girl. Born with aspirations to become a professional figure skater, she practiced every day while being cheered on my her supportive father. However, when her parent's marriage falls apart, so does Hudson's dreams of becoming a figure skater. Inevitably, she gives up figure skating and begins working with her mother at their restaurant, Hurley's. Hudson's signature cupcakes become a smashing hit for Hurley's as well as her means of escape. Unfortunately, there just aren't that many female protagonists in YA that I tend to connect with instantly. Hudson, however, was an instant hit! And how could I possibly forget about Dani? She was the sort of BFF some girls would kill to have; fun, spontaneous, understanding, and hilarious! Dani was an awesome character, someone I quickly admired and sided with quite a bit.

You may be wondering, heck, where are the boys?! Oh trust me, there are boys! (swoons) Unfortunately, I couldn't quite grasp all their names (can you really blame me for not remembering the entire Hockey team?), however Will, Josh, and Frankie stood out quite a bit for me. Will was someone I quickly figured out from the beginning. He wasn't as big of a mystery as the dialogue attempted to portray. However, I greatly sympathized and connected with him. Josh made me smile more then once. His laid back, fun, and sometimes serious attitude reminded me of Etienne from Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss. I have no doubt that readers who enjoyed Anna and the French Kiss will love Bittersweet!

As most readers might remember from my review on Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally, I am not a big fan of sports in YA. I'm not a sports fan at all actually. However, what I loved about Sarah Ockler's Bittersweet was that it wasn't the main focus. It's still a big part of the dialogue and character development, but it wasn't muddled with anything needless that would have otherwise taken away from my overall enjoyment.

Sarah Ockler's Bittersweet made my heart sing! Bittersweet was a combination of absolute awesome:
Romance
Drama
Humor
and of course...
CUPCAKES!
Readers who found themselves enjoying Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss and Miranda Kenneally's Catching Jordan will fall head over heels for Bittersweet!

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 story of the background of Hudson's life at her competition, we know that the family is having something wrong. Hudson is also a baker/server at her family dinner in the town of Watonka, New York. After her coach passes away after she quits 3 years ago, Hudson main goal is to win the scholarship in order to help her family. The whole story shows the reader that we cant accomplish everything on our own, and we need family or friends to help us. Hudson does learn this along the way with her being so busy with the Wolves (School hockey team), the Diner, baking beautiful cupcakes that makes her know as the Cupcake Queen after an article in the paper, school and boys.

This beautiful story from beginning to end will be wanting to help Hudson and her family because we are all going through this, even when all the diner problems come to arise. Her love of skating helps her discover that she still wants to skate to either help the hockey team and for getting the scholarship. Hudson is very determined, stubborn and a very hardworker and has some awesome skills in baking and skating. I loved this character because you can see through the book that she is growing up. Trick was a comic relief, at one point he mentions that men are like onions LOL (Shrek) it was a great scene.

The romance was very well done, Ockler had be waiting for when Josh finally did his move! Will was a good guy in the end, despite his own family issues, but he did pull through for the team. He was able to get Hudson to show the team new techniques in order to help win the Wolves some games, despite that the coach did nothing. Josh was a totally sweetie, and you will fall in love with him when you first meet him, totally a knight in shining armor.

Sarah Ockler is a very talented author as she captures the reader in understanding Hudson's life. Bittersweet has romance, cupcakes and action! I will be reading upcoming novels by this author in the near future because she did not disappoint. It was put together nicely and the ending made me want more!! This is a book that I recommend to anyone who is in need of a little romance and skating.