Thursday, May 5, 2016

BOOK REVIEW: 100 Days Of Cake by Shari Goldhagen

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The scheduled publication date for this book is May 17, 2016.

For the past two years, Molly’s been struggling with something more than your usual teenage angst. Her shrink, Dr. Brooks, isn’t helping much, and neither is her mom, who is convinced that baking the perfect cake will cure Molly of her depression—as if cake can magically make her rejoin the swim team, get along with her promiscuous sister, or care about the SATs. Um, no. Never going to happen. But Molly plays along, stomaching her mother’s failed culinary experiments, because, whatever—as long as it makes someone happy, right? 

What can I say about this book? The first thing I want to say is that I didn't feel as emotionally invested as I should have felt. And considering this is a book about depression, I didn't feel much towards the main character, good or bad. 

The thing that attracted me to this book was the title: I LOVE CAKE! I was really hoping there would be more cake. I was kind of annoyed that Molly's mom thought she could cure depression with cake, but that motivation becomes clear towards the end of the book so I got it. Every chapter had a different cake as the title, but some chapters would have NO descriptions of the cakes at all and definitely no cake eating. That was a bummer. It was amusing to see Molly's mom make all these horrendous cakes because she was an awful baker. But seriously, what a waste of sugar.

One thing that really annoyed me was Molly's friend Elle. God she was annoying. First of all, she insisted on yelling at perfect strangers about the environment or whatever. She was the stereotypical hippie vegan and I thought the author exaggerated her opinions just to make her annoying. But the one thing that pissed me off was her treatment of Molly's sister, Veronica. If Veronica was in a bathing suit or sundress or whatever, Elle would freak out and call her a slut. There were numerous STD jokes and stuff that were just stupid. First of all, Veronica was FIFTEEN. Second of all, her ONLY "crime" was wearing something that was revealing. At one time, she said "I know she's your sister, and women have the right to dress however they want, but she is seriously everything that's wrong with America." 

REALLY?

A girl wearing a sundress is EVERYTHING THAT'S WRONG WITH AMERICA?? Insanity! Elle would say some sexist remark about STD's or she could call Veronica a "hoochy mama" but then she would immediately say girls have a right to wear whatever they want and she would mention being an opponent of rape culture. I think Elle needs to reevaluate her opinion on rape culture because her remarks are EXACTLY what people mean by that phrase.

The whole crush on the therapist thing was just weird and creepy. It is very common for patients to experience transference with their therapists, but it is the THERAPIST'S job to remain professional and deal with those feelings. The problem was that the therapist confided about personal problems to Molly and he crossed all kinds of professional boundaries. He was pretty much the worst therapist ever.

Do you know what I did love about this book? Molly's obsession with GOLDEN GIRLS!! Jeez, I freaking love that show. I own the entire series on DVD and I have seen every episode dozens of times. I can usually figure out which episode it is within the first two minutes of the show. I loved how much Molly watched it and how she actually named some of her favorite episodes. It made me want to watch that show right now. 

I also thought the author wrote depression really well. Molly has a lot of anxiety and self esteem issues and days where she just hates everything so much that she couldn't get out of bed. The struggle is real people. Oh and she has a hermit crab, which is AWESOME. I just loved Pickles. I was not a fan of Alex and the whole romance thing. There was no chemistry and I didn't understand why he was into her. He kept asking her out, but she kept rejecting him. I really wish they had just remained friends. It was better that way. Alex was a nice enough guy and he was very patient with Molly. Like I said, I just wasn't feeling the chemistry. What I did appreciate was that the romance was NOT seen as a cure-all for her depression. I HATE books that have that message about mental illness. I thought the fact that she was depressed and anxious with or without Alex was very realistic. 

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Eh, probably just skip this one. 

12 comments :

  1. OMG I COULDN'T AGREE MORE WITH YOUR REVIEW. You honestly summed up 100% of my feelings. I hated the Alex/Molly thing. It didn't seem right when she clearly kept saying no and he clearly kept going on. Okay, so yeah she harboured secret feelings for him too...but what if she didn't???? It would've gotten stalkery and awkward. (Plus, yes, he was really petty at times, argh.)

    OMG YES ELLE WAS THE WORST. I hated the slut-shaming. Particularly, like with that line you quoted, how she literally was such a hypocrite. It was so wrong. And kind of scary, with the yelling at strangers...and I get so confused how didn't they skip getting ice cream at one point because someone dropped a serviette on the ground and Elle went on a rampage??? Is that, um, a healthy way to live life? NO.

    (Also endlessly disappointed about the cake. D: You could basically take the cake out of the story and it wouldn't have mattered...*cries*)

    LOVED YOUR REVIEW!

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    1. Thanks so much Cait! And yes, they did end up skipping ice cream because of an outburst by Elle. It was so weird. I am all for more vegans in YA because there aren't that many. But judging how Elle was written, I am not sure the author likes vegans very much.

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  2. Ah I was hoping this one was a good one but I can't stand the annoying best friends in YA, why don't these MC's have better friends???

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    1. Nereyda, I KNOW! It's books these that make me that much more thankful for books that do have awesome friendships, though unfortunately they are not that common.

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  3. I am so with you that the title of this one is so darn tempting. I *almost* requested it. Sounds like it was better that I didn't. But Golden Girls is awesome so at least there is that :) Great review!

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    1. Grace, oh yes it's a great thing that you didn't request it. It just wasn't worth it.

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  4. Insanity is right. I feel like this book would annoy me to high heavens as well. Especially if no cake-eating happens. Boo. And with friends like that, who needs enemies?

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    1. Joy, yes exactly! Why, oh why, can't there be MORE awesome and supportive female friends in YA who DON'T hate on women?

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  5. NOOOOOO :( I have this, and I need to read it soon, and now I don't want to. Because we are book twinsies! But I mean, I can appreciate a Golden Girls obsession so... I mean, I guess I will *try* it? I can always DNF, right? 😂 (Like I would ever do that bwhahha) Sorry this did not work out for you, but great review!

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    1. Shannon, I knew you had this one too and I was wondering if you had read it yet. I just know you will be annoyed by this one too. I am interested though to see if you feel the same way, but since we're book twinsies and all, I am sure you will. :)

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  6. "I know she's your sister, and women have the right to dress however they want, but she is seriously everything that's wrong with America."

    Welp, I'm getting rid of that one off my shelf. To hell with that.

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    1. Lyn, GREAT CALL!! Seriously, that girl just pissed me off so bad.

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