Stay Sweet has a wonderful premise and message, but the writing style may leave some readers feeling like they can’t connect.
As we head into spring and summer, there’s definitely a market for books about teens finding themselves over the course of one magical summer. Stay Sweet, sent my way by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, definitely falls into that category. Amelia’s about to go off to college, but before she does, she has one last summer working at Meade Creamery. Unfortunately, the owner (and maker of the ice cream) passes away before opening day, leaving Amelia, her friend Cate and newcomer Grady to try and save a Sand Lake tradition.
Although this book has a romantic component, the focus is on Amelia’s own journey of growth, where she finds inspiration in the story of Molly Meade even as she learns to reproduce the ice cream flavors that have made the creamery so famous. She deals with insecurities about being Head Girl (the manager of the creamery, staffed only by girls since the ’40s), strain in her friendship with Cate and even just the normal worries about going away to college for the first time.
That doesn’t stop other characters from having their own moments of development, though. Grady, as the love interest, gets the most even as he and Amelia get closer. It’s hard to see their actual chemistry, but there is some there. Again, the romance, at the very least, isn’t the primary focus, so it’s easier to gloss over the sometimes lacking sense that these characters actually want to be together.
Amelia’s relationship with Cate also seems more vital than the romance. Although it doesn’t seem like they would be friends at first glance, there is some work done to explain how they get along so well — and Amelia’s guilt over the Head Girl position going to her instead of Cate anyway. It’s their falling out that seems more important to the story, not any tension with Grady. That’s perhaps the best choice in the entire novel.
Unfortunately, writer Siobhan Vivian’s writing choices for the book itself feel slightly impersonal and almost matter-of-fact at points. It’s a third-person narrator, mostly limited to Amelia, but all written in the present tense. There’s certainly nothing wrong with these choices, but we’re told a lot of things in exposition, making it hard to completely immerse yourself in the experience of Stay Sweet.
Finally, though this isn’t an authorial choice, the font used for Molly Meade’s diary is tiny and hard to read, and this reviewer says that as someone who has small handwriting.
Next: Review: Before Mars, Emma Newman
Will you be reading Stay Sweet this summer, or are you not feeling this scoop of ice-cream-inspired YA?