ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ariel "Cupcake" is popular at school but doesn't realise it until she gets nominated for Homecoming Queen. Partnered with her is Rhys Castle, the illusive and rude football player. As the two get closer, their chemistry blossoms. But when Rhys says something Ariel perceives as fat phobic, Ariel questions if their relationship is as real as she first thought.

This book was extremely cheesy and cliche but in a good way. This book was very light-hearted and sweet but definitely closer to the lower or middle grade side of the YA spectrum. A lot of the characters felt a bit two-dimensional and I felt as though the main character jumped to conclusions very quickly. The side characters, mainly Ariel's best friend didn't feel like she had any other personality or character apart from her supportiveness as a friend.

That being said though, this book was very sweet and light-hearted but not entirely perfect. I still use the chocolate chip recipe that's at the end of the book to this day and can safely tell you it's legendary.

Ohmg, my heart is so full right now! Rhys and Ariel were too sweet together and I absolutely adored how mushy it was.

Plus, I get to see a plus-sized YA romance, where the girl believes in herself and gets the one?? Are you kidding me right now?? It was the best thing ever 😭😭 Especially these days I no less than need it! Why are our overweight girlies always portrayed to be despondent and under confident? June is for real the best month ever to make me read this book + watch S3 of Bridgerton. Go girlies!

The writing, the characters, the setting, and the romance - all were pretty amazing. What bugged me a little is the usual soap-opera style drama (in words of Lana) that happened towards the end. I was kind of hoping it doesn't happen, but I guess it's a little too much to ask for in romance novels. After all what's there to look forward to if not little misunderstandings?

All in all, I would recommend this book a 100 times over and no less. I'm desperate as it is to watch an adaptation of it, and my manifesting ritual will also start for them same!

DNF at 25%

I'm actually astounded at the amount of pop culture references that this author managed to fit into the book. However, that is unfortunately one of my biggest pet peeves. That, coupled with a paint-by-numbers plot and what I consider to be a fairly problematic depiction of a plus-sized character, prompted me to DNF once I realized things were not going to get better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled: Teen for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This was a cute read. It's about teenagers and a Homecoming. About our female protagonist who is a plus size heroine and even though she's confident, she has many trust issues that are connected with her weight. It definitely gives some food for thought with some important questions such as why aren't there any fat Disney princesses or why when in movies there are thin protagonists the theme is never around their weight or why when there's a fat protagonist there must be a makeover and for her to lose weight to find love and happiness etc.

I loved the secondary characters and our male protagonist as well who thankfully wasn't a stereotype such as the stupid quarterback and the mean girl showing us where she got her attitude from etc. It was a nice, light read overall!

Ahhhhhhh this was just such a wonderful book and I just thoroughly enjoyed myself. I didn’t want to put this book down. I just fell in love with this wonderful story and it’s wonderful characters. I will most definitely be reading more stories from this wonderful author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the published for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

a delightful and heartwarming story that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a light, feel-good read

Cupcake is a cute young adult romance by Cookie O'Gorman.
The story includes a curvy girl, who has to deal with bad stuff just because she isn't a size 8. I enjoy that overall she takes pride in who she is. But there are definitely some sad moments that suck for her.
The story evolves in a natural and sweet manner. The conflict is actually well written too.
And in the end, I enjoy that even the "bully" isn't quite the mean girl I was expecting.
It's a cute, sweet book,

I wanted more from this one. it was slow in the beginning and I almost didn't finish it. however I powered through and it was just ok. the ending wasn't exactly what I was looking for but it did pick up.

I was excited about this book and liked it at first, but it kept getting worse. The references were really corny and just horrible. I also hated the MC's "I'm not like other girls" energy. Wouldn't recommend.

This book was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that the MC was portrayed as being comfortable with her own body, and even more pleased that she didn't seem to get harassed about her size. (much).
The premise is that she gets voted in, unbeknownst to her, for the Prom Court, and needs to go through an array of activities partnered up with, of all people, the high school quarterback !!

I liked the way this was written, it was funny in parts, touching, and with some romance in there as well, because WHY NOT ????

I would like to read more from this author, this book was lots of fun.

This was a cute read. I think I would have liked it more without some of the pop culture references. I liked Rhys anf Ariel and I thought the romance was cute however Ariel had a "I'm not like other girls" vibe. Overall it was cute and there were some funny moments that had me laughing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF

I unfortunately had to DNF this book. The references were far too unreadable for me, the amount of SJM references was very off putting and the main character I'm sure at one point says she isn't like other girls. Not for me.

Such a body positive book! I adored the story and the characters so much! As a bigger girl myself, I truly felt like I could take over the world!!! And The representation meant the world to me.

THis book is just so freaking awesome. I loved it so much. It was an amazing read. Cupcake was just so cute. I loved the whole plus sized heroine and she is awesome.

This was so much cuter than I expected, in a good way. I was worried it was going to be too cheesy and maybe it was but I still loved it. The pop culture references were a little much but I loved Rhys and Ariel even when their dialogue was over-the-top. And honestly, have you ever spoken to a teenager? Over the top is par for the course. Ariel’s struggle between loving herself but still caring what people think, the struggle finding a homecoming dress that fit, the snide comments you want to ignore but that make you insecure anyway - so real. I’m jealous, tbh - after looking for something for months in every department store multiple times, my homecoming dress cost a fortune and still didn’t fit quite right.

It was fluff for sure but it was good fluff. Check it out.

Having to read books from own voice authors is always pleasurable. The concept of the book is pretty interesting, the main character is plus size girl ‘Ariel’ who doesn’t have to loose weight to get her happily ever after. The story is of a high school tradition themed where a prince and princess are selected for Homecoming and ultimately from them King and Queen are drawn.

Ariel is curvy girl who is movie addict and an awesome baker from which she gets her nickname Cupcake and is selected as one of the princesses, she couldn’t believe the selection and now is paired with an imperfect prince Rhys who is a famous quarterback football player with his own insecurities. The story is all based on that one month of homecoming preparation and how their relation goes ahead. I really love the outcome of the process, it’s so much fun to see how Ariel conducts herself even after her own insecurities in addition to the hurtful comments from other people about her weight.

It’s such a positive outlook on issues a teenager faces on a daily basis. Bullying is not healthy. One should have the confidence to love themselves irrespective of negativity, that can help them in the long run. The book cover is absolutely stunning and it is an easy read. There is so much Cupcake references that you actually want to have one right away while reading.

This is such a sweet YA read! This book is about a girl named cupcake who is unexpectedly nominated for homecoming queen. She gets paired with the quarterback Rhys. It is a little bit of a slow burn but I really enjoyed the friendship that is built by Cupcake and Rhys. This book reminded me of The Princess Diaries. I definitely recommend this book!

While this wasn't a bad book per se, the writing honestly left a lot to be desired and thank goodness it was a quick read, otherwise I don't know if I could (or would've) actually finished it. I'm definitely not into love interests being obviously named after other well known characters - that sits a little close to fanfiction-y for me. (And that's not knocking fanfic) But if you're going to name a Love Interest Rhys, then you're already kind of building off an established character that exists, and it won't matter how much character building you do, I will only be able to picture the character that inspired them. It's a little cringe that her fave series is ACOTAR and the guy's name is Rhys.