Welcome to the book blog tour for 'Wedding Cake Girl' by Anne Pfeffer. Peruse the description. Read an excerpt. Catch my opinions. Enter the Rafflecopter at the end of the post to win a $10 gift card. Thanks for stopping by!
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Alexandra spends so much time helping others realize their dreams that she never has time for her own. An expert ocean diver and reluctant maker of wedding cakes, she longs to leave roses and frosting behind to study oceanography. Alex’s mother won’t have it—needy and dependent, Mom can’t run the family wedding cake business on her own.
No matter what Alex does, things only get worse for her. When she saves a man's life while scuba diving and becomes the local hero, Mom's angry with Alex for going diving at all. Mom discourages Alex's new friendship with Jeremy, a fun and insanely wealthy boy who happens to have a secret. Then, Alex's best friend, Zack, a hunky island guy, starts to take an interest in her as well. The problem is, he's dating another girl. If she doesn't do something fast, Alex will spend her life making wedding cakes and be buried in her "Sue's Wedding Cakery" apron with a spatula in her hand.
The Wedding Cake Girl features a colorful island setting, dangerous underwater diving adventures, a family of billionaires, and lots and lots of buttercream. The book is Alex's journey toward not only finding love, but learning how to step forward and take control of her own life, a rite of passage that faces all young readers.
Read an excerpt:
Someone with a whimsical imagination must have named the streets in Paradise. I head down Cinnamon Street to Carousel Avenue and turn left. It takes me all of one minute to get to Dizzy's Dive. Fishnets full of carefully preserved sea life cover the walls. Amidst the motionless crabs and swordfish, a soccer game blares from ten TVs. Brazil's playing Italy.
I squeeze my way through the tables. Zack's already sitting at the counter. Technically, since Dizzy's is a full-fledged liquor-slinging establishment, Zack and I are not allowed on the premises. But seeing as how Dizzy Malone is Zack's uncle, and Spike Malone, Zack's dad, is Chief of Police, there's no one to turn us in or arrest us. Zack and I have been hanging at Dizzy's since we were little, slugging down sodas and sitting near Dizzy at the bar, where he could keep an eye on us.
Zack listens to the person beside him, grinning broadly, his smile white against his tan. I love the way he's always himself, always calm and centered. A couple of girls walk by, checking him out, but he's waving to me.
It's okay if Zack's with Rosie, I try to convince myself. After all, I was the one who stupidly said it was better to be just friends.
Three months ago, Zack and I went mountain biking and stopped to rest on a hillside. I lay in a patch of sun with my eyes closed, while Zack walked around nearby. I heard him rustling in the grass, but didn't know what he was doing until I sat up, opened my eyes, and found him holding out a bunch of wildflowers. To me.
I leaned forward, admiring the island poppies and Arroyo lupine in his hand. "The flowers are great this spring, with all the rain we've gotten!" Then I looked up.
He had a half-embarrassed, half-determined expression on his face. "They're for you," he said.
"Oh!" In shock, I took them and sat there, looking down at them, not knowing what to say.
"I thought that maybe I should ask you out on a date. That is," he added, "if you're interested." He put on this "just-kidding" expression that masked the shy and serious Zack underneath and gave him an escape route if needed.
But the word "date" meant one thing: my mother and her men. I would never live in that world or let it touch what I had with Zack.
"I don't do dates!" The words flew out of me. I scrambled to my feet, the flowers falling from my hand. "Your friendship means too much to me."
"Yeah, I know, me too," he said, suddenly busy brushing off his shorts with angry little strokes.
"Zack, I...." I knew I'd hurt him, but I didn't know how to undo what I'd done. "Now I've dropped your flowers!" I wailed, trying to pick them up out of the long grass.
"Don't worry about it." He stalked off toward his mountain bike.
"Wait!"
"Forget it." He asked Rosie out the very next day.
I haven't been able to fix my mistake. We're still friends and diving partners, but it's not the same.
**My thoughts**
I am officially a fan of Anne Pfeffer. Several months ago, I reviewed her book Loving Emily (now titled Any Other Day for BookRooster. I really liked that book, so when I saw another one of hers available through Reading Addiction Blog Tours, I knew I wanted to check it out. I wasn't disappointed.
Alex is a gifted seventeen year-old who has had to grow up too soon as she helps take care of her mother and their wedding cake business. Alex is really more like the parent in their situation. You get annoyed with her mom who is extremely selfish and tries to keep Alex all for herself on their little island.
Alex comes into her own very early in the book, performing heroic efforts that pay off in the long run. While her hero status is not one that many girls will experience, I think Alex is the kind of character to whom many girls can relate. She is caught in a bizarre love triangle, torn between her best friend Zack and the good looking Jeremy who comes to visit the island. Zack is caught between her and Rosie. While all of these relationships are developing, Alex is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life and how she is going to achieve that. A few subtle twists and turns allow her to strategize, making her strength an excellent role model.
Just like Pfeffer's other book, I could not put this one down and stayed up late reading. I look forward to more books from this author.
Purchase Links:
goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/csush2s
About the author:
Anne Pfeffer lives in Los Angeles near a large rotating neon chicken head with her daughter and her dachshund Taco.
Contact Links:
Website: www.annepfeffer.com
Twitter: AnnePfeffer1
*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*
No comments:
Post a Comment