CAKE POP CRUSH SPOILER FREE REVIEW

 Cake Pop Crush by Suzanne Nelson is a middle grade book that I bought back in middle school at a Scholastic Book Fair in 2012, when I was in middle school. That was 10 years ago! Only now did I decided to start reading it. And boy, was it a great idea! I'm glad I never gave the book away.

Cake Pop Crush is about a girl named Alicia Ramirez whose family owns a small, old-fashioned bakery called Say it with Flour. Out of all the bakery items you can think of, Ali likes to bake cake pops, inspired heavily by her favorite celebrity baker, Renata DaLuca. Her family's bakery Say it with Flour has fallen under hard times recently, but they get even more competition when a popular coffee chain opens across the street from them, called Perk Up. Ali and her friends and family have to think up creative ways to save the business from falling under, usually involving Ali selling her cake pops. At the same time, Ali butts heads with the son of the owner/CEO of Perk Up, named Dane. But as she gets to know him more, he's really not as bad as he seems, and she even develops a crush on him. Also happening at the same time, the popular girl at Ali's school named Sarah challenges Ali and Dane to a bake-off at a Valentine's Day party at her house, and the winner will get money donated to their business from her father, the mayor. 

That's all I can say for now regarding the overall plot. This was such a cute book! I found I just really love books about baking, and the way the cake pops were described in the book sounded so delicious. My copy of the book even had cake pop recipes in the back of it, which I will try to make sometime. I also loved all of the character interactions. I love how Ali and Dane warmed up to each other as the story went on. I also really liked Ali's friends, Gwen and Tansy. Gwen was really sassy and liked to make jewelry, and Tansy was really cheerful and a dancer. 

Ali and her family are all Latinx, so there's that representation, too! 

I gave this book 5 stars. If you want a cute middle grade novel about baking, friends, family, and first time crushes, read Cake Pop Crush!

I think Sunny Madison from Rainbow High goes perfectly well next to the book, don't ya think?

Do you also like to bake and/or read books about baking?