Cupcake was such a cute read! Ariel, whose nickname is Cupcake, is nominated for homecoming court her senior year of high school And while she’s not unpopular, she doesn’t describe herself as the “princess type.”

The prince Ariel is paired with for homecoming court, Rhys, is the quarterback of the high school football team.

The friendship that builds between Cupcake and Rhys was super cute and (spoilers!) I loved the very slow burn to them kissing.

This was definitely a feel good YA read with lots of different representations. Absolutely an enjoyable read!

Cupcake was a cute and fast read. I loved the main character and the author’s writing style. I will definitely be reading more from Cookie O’Gorman in the future!

Thanks Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book took me forever to finish and not in a good way, I don't want it to end kind of thing. I broke my own rule and forced myself to finish to find out the typical miscommunication fallout was about and the supposed grand gesture. I was not really endeared to the protagonist despite her being a plus size BIPOC girl. Maybe I just no longer have the patience for high school drama like I used to. The miscommunication plot was particularly bad. I thought we'd get something different when they talked about mental health and seeking therapy, but we literally never see anyone actually IN therapy aka the protagonist, just her talking to everyone else but the guy.

I'm disappointed by the story because the summary made me feel like the protagonist was at least further on past her insecure big girl phase of life when in reality she's literally in the I don't deserve to be loved phase despite having tons of people who adore her. Again maybe it's just a high school thing and I no longer have patience for it. I hope I'm wrong and it's not me, but the book lol

This book was really cute. I enjoyed the body positivity however the writing was not that great and at times very cringey. Overall it was wholesome and very warm.

Thanks to netgalley for for sending me an arc of this book! All opinions are mine!

I wanted to like this book so bad but yikes it is super cringey! I just feel like the author tried way too hard because people do not talk like this. Hope other people have better luck with it than I did.

I love that we've got a spunky curry girl as our main character. This book was fun and poignant and incredible. This is to be expected now from Entangled Publishing.

What a lovely, fun and inspiring read. I love all the pop culture references and the friendship between the main character and her bestie. I love that the MC loved the way that she looked but also that there was still struggles because of how society is which is very realistic and relatable. Also, it doesn’t hurt that her love interest is very swoon-worthy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This has to be the absolute CUTEST YA romance that I've read in a looong time! The main conflict is a little silly, and as such is resolved super quickly. That aside, I loved it so dang much!! I feel like this one is really underrated, so if you're seeing this, please consider picking it up if you're in the mood for a lovely, sweet, and swoony YA romance!

Ariel, aka Cupcake, enjoys her quiet life by hanging with her best friend, baking and watching movies. When she is nominated to be on the homecoming court, she is paired up with super hunk Rhys. Rhys is the quarterback for the football team, is moody and has some secret he's not wanting to share. Being paired together means that they must do a bunch of stuff like dance together. Cupcake, who is overweight, is not so sure about being in the spotlight or hanging out with Rhys. Rhys, however, has other ideas.
Opinion
I have just got to say that I love that authors are putting plus sized characters into print as the main character. Books should represent the population and for a long time, this portion has been overlooked. This book is absolutely heart lifting with the way that Rhys builds Cupcake up.
I enjoyed this book so much that I purchased a copy to add to my classroom library. This is a book not to be missed.
Many thanks to Entangled Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

A very nice YA book that has the main character and exquisite girl, Ariel. She faces a lot of challenges due to her different weight in high school and because she has different interests and hobbies.
The main idea that I have seen throughout the book, apart from the love story was that whether we believe it or not, the media plays an important role in our body image and the way we feel about ourselves. We consciously and unconsciously compare ourselves to the "perfect" images of people we see in magazines, commercials, movies, and social media. If you struggle with your body image, you are not alone - the problem is ubiquitous in modern culture.
Ariel discovers that, with understanding and help, she can learn to improve her self-esteem and body image and begin to feel good about who she is as she is.

I loved this book, not just because of the fact that it challenges fat phobias and fat exclusion, but also because the romance is cute and very high-school-y. Ariel, A.K.A. Cupcake, is a graceful dancer, a good friend, a kind classmate, and a full bodied teenager intending to live mostly in the shadows of life. The book opens at the start of homecoming season when the homecoming court is announced. Although Ariel is not running for homecoming court, her best friend, Toni, for once, just wants to see someone other than the typical homecoming queen on the ballot and enters Ariel's name on the ballot. And just like that, Ariel becomes a homecoming princess, learning many things about herself along the way, especially when she finds her homecoming prince, Rhys, interested in her. I think what I liked most about this story is that there's a scene in the book where Ariel was in a vulnerable position around the other girls of court and instead of a bunch of bullying that is typical of 90s and early 2000s underdog stories, Ariel actually finds support and opportunities to spread kindness. This was a great positive YA romance novel.

This book is beautiful and delicious.

The author does a great job grabbing the reader and pulling them in. I felt connected to the characters. I related to the lead character Ariel. Being a bigger girl myself. These books where the characters are normal they almost become real. I felt I could let down my hair and read this book as me. No filter no projected ideas of what I should look like or who I should be. This book was LOVE. It gave me so much. I enjoyed the authors style of writing. It had a nice flow to it.

I love that Ariel finds even more about herself as she is trying to figure out what is going on with Rhys. I feel hard for these characters and I will miss them. I hated the idea of homecoming dances when I was younger. But this book makes me want a do over. Honestly if your looking for a sweet and cozy book to read this is it. It's a quick read full to the brim of teenage drama but with a confident twist on love.

In short:
Did I like it? Yes I did.
Would I recommend it? Of course.
Would I read more by this author? Yeah I would.

I am SO torn on how to rate this book. I have moments I absolutely love and moments that kinda make me cringe a bit, it's really not a bad book - I also wouldn't say it's the best one I've read. The best part of the book was the main characters and their relationship - they definitely had chemistry, they are definitely genuine and unique. That being said I am always against any book that uses pop culture references because it badly dates the book. My BIGGEST complaint in this book is I do feel it adds to the stigma that girls/women have to constantly compete and compare each other and I'm not here for that.

ah. well.
i was really excited to read this book, especially because of the gorgeous cover - but i was a bit let down.
it’s very cliché but i wouldn’t really mind that if it was done well? the dialogues annoyed me sometimes. i don’t think anyone actually talks the way these characters do (especially the love interest).
moving on to the things i liked: it was very fast paced, i liked the plot, the characters were okay. some of the scenes were entertaining.
overall, it was an easy read, but nothing groundbreaking.

thank you netgalley for providing me with an eArc.

Such a wonderful feel-good story. Cupcake has been nominated for Homecoming Queen and is not sure how that happened. She has always stayed to herself and isn't one of the popular girls in school. The varsity quarterback has been paired with her on the Homecoming court. What ensues brought my heart such joy. A great pallet cleanse after several thriller/horror books. I loved it. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC. 5 stars

Cookie O'Gorman's books are always cute romance, but the books are never completely amazing for me. I enjoyed the relationship between Ariel and Rhys, but nothing about the book made it stand out from other books in the genre. The author's books are pleasant and I will keep reading.

A sweet high school romance that gets bonus points for its body positivity. When Ariel is nominated for Homecoming Queen, she isn’t as excited as most people would expect. She just doesn’t care all that much about all the Homecoming fuss, and she’s even less happy when she gets paired with Rhys, a football star who she just can’t read very well. The best aspect of the book is the fact that Ariel is perfectly content with her plus-sized frame. That doesn’t mean that she’s completely immune to the jibes from certain unenlightened classmates—or even to her own assumptions about what others might be thinking about her. The story is #OwnVoices, so Ariel’s interactions and internal monologue feel authentic. I also found myself rooting for Ariel and Rhys (though I did think she was a little undeservedly hard on him at times, especially in the beginning). These two were too perfect together!

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

I was very up and down with my feelings about this book throughout. The best part of it was the relationship, it was sweet and genuine and I thought they had great chemistry! What I hated most was the way that the main character was too into being “not like other girls.” I just want girls to stop having to compare themselves and constantly be in competition and I think this book did exactly what it was trying not to do. Just not my favorite.

"Isn't it funny how you can be okay and love yourself, but still not think anyone will ever love you back?"
Man, what a read this was! So much about this book was lovely.
I enjoyed the fact that the heroine was a confident curvy girl who wasn't bullied and was somewhat popular but still struggled with self love at times. It was a realistic depiction of what it can feel like when you have tons of people who love you but still have a little voice in your head that makes you doubt yourself.
The love interest was charmingly sweet and exactly the kind of boy I wish I could have come across when I was in high school.
Of course we have a mean girl, but the turn it takes with her character was quite pleasing to read.
The side characters were enjoyable and the pop culture references were fun and lighthearted.
The only thing I noticed were some typos and misinformation (Don't Worry Baby was a song by The Beach Boys not The Beatles) but I also received an ARC thanks to the publisher, author and Netgalley so those may have been fixed before publishing.

Big ole yikes for this one.

The best thing I can say about this one is that it held my attention and it was a fast read. That's it.

The writing was very cringeworthy and the pop culture references were incredibly over the top. Listen, I'm a Sarah J. Maas fan. I'm not ashamed. But I also wouldn't write a book with the main characters names being "Ariel" and "Rhys" and then write an actual conversation between them about how their names are so close to "Azriel" and "Rhysand" from ACOTAR. Who edited this and thought "yes yes, sounds good" ?!

I can't adequately speak for the representation seeing as I'm not someone in need of this rep, but I will say that it didn't seem like the body positivity I felt when reading "One to Watch," "If the Shoe Fits," or "Fat Chance, Charlie Vega." This one seemed much more negative and she could just not believe that someone like Rhys could like someone like her. I just don't think it came off as positive as the author intended for it to be and seemed to fit into the 90's rom com perspective, which isn't particularly kind or empowering.

Also. A lot of this book felt like... plagiarism? I mean, I get the author was taking inspiration from a bunch of different rom coms since her protagonist was a movie enthusiast, but to literally give her the mic while Can't Take my Eyes Off of You plays in the background was a bit much. And the "bet" (that ended up not being a bet) for taking her to Homecoming... just felt like I was reading a medley of 90's rom com greatest hits.

This also read young. Very young. Younger than young adult. This was pretty much a middle grade read for the girl that's excited to go to high school.

I wanted to give this 2 stars because it at least held my attention, but when I realized I didn't have anything positive to say about the actual story or the characters, I had to stick with 1.