Review: Practice Cake by Dalya Moon

Title: Practice Cake
Author: Dalya Moon
Publication date: October 20th 2011
Genre: Chick Lit
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 4/5
Buy: Amazon

There’s one thing Maddie finds more tempting than red velvet cake: her coworker, Drew. All it takes is one of his sly winks or a playful hip-check by the cooler, and she’s incinerating the cookies. Her boyfriend would not approve. 
When a reality TV crew descends upon the bakery, her simple summer job gets even more complicated. Maddie could become the Bakery Network’s next breakout star, if she can handle the heat of being cast as a show villain. Drew has an alternate idea: run away from everything, with him and his sexy tousled hair. She decides to take the leap, but when she finds out Drew’s been hiding a shocking secret, Maddie looks down at her packed suitcase and takes a moment to think. Should she fly off to Australia with a guy she hardly knows, or should she pick up her suitcase and hit him with it? 

This book completely took me by surprise. For some unknown reason, I went into it thinking it was an adult romance book but that's not what I found. I later saw that the author herself describes it as for ''adults/older teens'' and ''Humorous contemporary, a.k.a. chick lit.  While there are relationships, it is not a “romance” novel'' and that's certainly a more fitting description! Anyway, my misconception is beside the point. I really enjoyed this book and I'm glad it turned out to be a fun, light (but not ''fluffy'') novel with young characters.

I genuinely love chick-lit novels that allow me to completely escape and laugh at the same time (think Sophie Kinsella) and this book certainly did that! I was drawn into Maddie's life from the first page and just had to know how things were going to work out for her. The writing flowed so well that I was easily able to just sit back and enjoy the story going on. I really had no idea how things were going to pan out and I love when books are unpredictable like that!

What I liked most about Practice Cake was that it contains a female character who actually stands up for herself! I know this shouldn't be such a rarity in literature but lately it really does seem to be, especially in books containing teenagers. I was genuinely overjoyed that Maddie was able to see what was healthy and unhealthy for her and had the courage to grow and change where needed. The ending really was (pardon the pun) the icing on the top of the cake for me.

I don't want to say too much about it as I feel I'd ruin the story but overall, I enjoyed it and would not hesitate to pick up another book by Dalya Moon!