Emma's Not-So-Sweet Dilemma

Cupcake Diaries #23

by Coco Simon, Elizabeth Doyle Carey (Ghostwriter), Laura Roode (Illustrator)

Emma loses an important modeling job due to an injury she got while playing with her brothers. How will she pay for the beautiful holiday presents she planned for her family and friends?

Emma is playing ball with her brothers on an unusually warm winter afternoon. But an errant toss from her brother Matt hits her right on the nose! Luckily, it’s nothing more serious than a little swelling, but it’s enough to make her lose an important modeling job at The Special Day salon. Mona hires “mean girl” Olivia Allen to fill in. Olivia is thrilled, not only for the job, but also for a chance to spread some nasty rumors about Emma. Worst of all, now Emma can’t afford the beautiful holiday gifts she planned to buy her family and friends. Emma’s Cupcake Club pals remind her that the best gifts come from the heart, and don’t have a price tag.

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 16, 2014

About the author

Coco Simon always dreamed of opening a cupcake bakery, but she’s afraid she would eat all the profits. When she’s not daydreaming about cupcakes, Coco edits children’s books and has written close to 100 books for children, tweens, and young adults, which is a lot less than the number of cupcakes she’s eaten. Cupcake Diaries is the first time Coco has mixed her love of cupcakes with writing.

Reviews

[Alexandra]

i'm proud of the character development, look at them go.

[kaleigh]

After Katie, Emma is probably my next favorite cupcake girl and I absolutely love reading her books. I loved that this book took place around the holiday season!

[Abby]

You know how I said I loved bitchy Olivia? Throw that out the fucking window, cause they gave that girl a redemption arc! What the hell! One star taken off for the unbitching of Olivia Allen.

[Trinity]

I LOVED this book! I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. Emma is walking outside one day when her brothers are playing and Jake accidentally throws a ball at Emma's nose. Emma faints and her nose ends up looking bruised and swollen. Then the worst happens, Mona calls Emma for a modeling job and Emma tells her what happened but Mona says she can cover it up and everything will be fine. But when she gets there a guy that works there says that Emma isn't allowed to model because of her injury. Worst of all Emma now can't pay for Christmas gifts for her friends and family. Luckily everyone decides on making homemade gifts though. Meanwhile Olivia Allen is being rude about her injury so Emma's mom suggests she makes friends with her. So Emma offers her to join the Cupcake Club at a kid's Christmas Party. My fav part was when Emma and Olivia visited the sick kids in the hospital cause it reminded me of when I have been in the hospital so many times due to my chronic illness. Emma hands out each kid a cupcake and realizes that it's not what's on the outside that matters it's what's on the inside. Emma also realizes that her nose healed completely. I recommend this book for ages 9+ just because some content may be upsetting for young ones. I won't reread this book soon cause of so many other books on my TBR pile.

[Tara]

Thought this book was pretty good, and loved it from previous stories from Emma's POV. This is one of the books where we see a completely different side to her, one that is more caring, and I liked that, as I felt previously we'd been exposed to a naive, self-absorbed side of her.

[소피아]

Eager to read more. It was so interesting!

[Laurel Pate]

This book taking place in Middle School floods all sorts of memories! Just wish kids weren’t also so mean to each other.

[Kaitlyn Zambrana]

Great!

[Felicia]

Some pictures would have been nice to accompany the funny parts. Middle and ending were much better than the first part.

[Mailinh]

Love it! One thing that kinda annoys me is that Olivia is basically friends with Emma at the end but in the next books she’s still the mean girl like nothing has changed

[Atlas]

très bonne lecture

[Nina]

What happened in the hospital was really heartbreaking and also heartwarming at the same time :"(

[Hannah]

Yay, this book takes place in the wintertime, which is fun. Emma’s face gets injured after being hit by a football. Olivia, per usual, is mean about it. Olivia gets a slight redemption arc later at the children’s hospital, but she still kinda sucks. I understand that her mom doesn’t treat her well, but Olivia is actively manipulative. I feel like in every book, the girls decide to treat her nicely, and Olivia is nice in return…for a little while. But I do get it about Emma feeling bad about the way she confronted Olivia.

[artisticbookworm]

This funny middle grade book was relatable. I thought the storyline was easy to follow and was never boring or slow.

[MischiefManagedDancer]

Sometimes I just want to punch Olivia Allen in the face, especially after how rude she was to Emma about the incident. But how she treated those sick kids was awesome. I'm torn about her. I CANT DECIDE IF SHES ACTUALLY A GOOD PERSON!!

[Ifrah Abdullah]

I Really want to read this book so i can finish the series

[Dalya]

I have read the series from beginning till now in order but can't get the book at the moment
Finishing Mia right now

[Christine Grant]

Emma and the other members of the Cupcake Club discover that beauty is more than skin deep, and that people can be more than they seem. This is a sweet treat to celebrate the holiday season.

[Monique]

What, are they centered on holidays now?

[Sonia]

Coco Simon made Emma's life seem so interesting

[Georgia.gilroy]

this book sound great to read and want read and see want happen to emma jobs