Practice Cake is a YA contemporary coming of age / romantic comedy novel.

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There’s one thing Maddie finds more tempting than red velvet cake: her co-worker, Drew.  All it takes is one of his sly winks or a playful hip-check by the cooler, and she’s incinerating the cookies. Her boyfriend would not approve.

When a reality TV crew descends upon the bakery, her simple summer job gets even more complicated.  Maddie could become the Bakery Network’s next breakout star, if she can handle the heat of being cast as a show villain.  Drew has an alternate idea: run away from everything, with him and his sexy tousled hair. She decides to take the leap, but when she finds out Drew’s been hiding a shocking secret, Maddie looks down at her packed suitcase and takes a moment to think. She could fly off to Australia with a guy she hardly knows, or she could pick up her suitcase and hit him with it.

Who can Maddie turn to for advice? Her sister has terrible taste in boyfriends, so she’s out. Roxanne, the charismatic reality TV show producer, has some interesting opinions, but may be more interested in ratings. Maddie’s best friend keeps pushing her cousin Hudson, a guy who thinks he’s too cool for entry-level jobs, but makes origami. Come on. Origami?

Chock full of imperfect people behaving badly, Practice Cake is light-hearted and brimming with humor.

LENGTH: 80,000 words / approx. 230 pages *
* Pages for ebooks are typically calculated based on 350 words per page

AGE / CONTENT: Suitable for adults and older teens. There is minimal swearing, but there is underage drinking, and one scene involves content that may be troubling for younger or sensitive readers.

GENRE: YA (character is 18) to humorous contemporary, a.k.a. chick lit.  While there are relationships and kissing, it is not a “romance” novel.

What’s unique about Practice Cake?

- The story is set in a real place (Vancouver, Canada), in a real time (summer 2011) and includes events that happened in the city that summer.

- In addition to realistic romance and friendship hijinx, readers get a peek behind-the-scenes at a bakery-based reality TV series.

- Twist ending, not the usual “romance” tropes.

- At 18 and just out of high school, the main character is still a young adult, but doesn’t have to endure homework! (And you don’t have to read about homework!)

Changes/edition notes: Since original publication, I’ve fixed some errors in the first edition. Also, some characters demanded a few more lines, so the current edition has a few hundred additional words of material.

REVIEWS:

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“I liked how this book embraced the new adult age group perfectly. For those of you who don’t know what new adult books are, they are books with protagonists who are 18-25 years old. They tend to be a lot like Young Adult books just with a bit older characters. Graduating high school and attempting to enter the ‘real world’ is a really weird time for all of us. Practice Cake examines that awkwardness. Juggling friendships, work, and dating is hard for anyone. To me, it was perfectly captured. I personally am still in that new adult phase of my life so I understood and felt everything Maddie was going through …”
Alison @ The Cheap Reader – read full review

“Moon has created a hilarious novel; she’s a wonderful storyteller, capturing the reader’s attention from the very beginning with her true to life characters and their amusing circumstances … 4 stars “
Books: The Cheapest Vacation You Can Buy – read full review

“Maddie in the beginning has a cool Summer job, and then Drew who’s portrayed as the ultimate perfect guy and she cannot stop thinking about him, but as you flip the pages-you feel as though her life is falling apart and she wants things to get better, but they are spinning out of control and she is trying to put them together.
I loved this book because it is not all fairy tale.”
Books I love – read full review

“Through all the humour, and there is lots of it, there are some wonderful life lessons to be learned, but the story is never preachy. It pokes fun at life in so many different ways, many of them uniquely Canadian, which I just loved … Practice Cake is sad, funny, romantic, funny, real and just plain wonderful to read. I loved every witty minute of it and only wish it had been twice as long, so that I could have seen more of these wonderful characters.”
Paperback Princesses – read full review 

“I really like Maddie. She is a smart girl who makes age appropriate mistakes. It makes the story feel believable and I always appreciate that. Maddie deals with a lot in this story including a friend dealing with jealousy issues, a crush on a coworker, family drama and so much more. The story still manages to be well written and all these issues combine seamlessly into one great book.”
Shannon, Books Devoured – read full review

“5 Stars … Dalya Moon never disappoints me. Not only her writing style is amazing, but also her stories are wonderful. First she introduced me to Charlie, a really sweet girl, but at the same time, very strong and brave. And now, she comes with another lovely story full of incredible characters and real life situations.”
Idris, Throwing Books – read full review

“(Practice Cake) is well-balanced; with the right amount of humor, heartache and serious dilemmas. There is also a wide range of characters that are woven into the plot and you’ll find yourself wanting to either smack some of them or laugh with them … I was pleasantly surprised by things that went in directions I wasn’t expecting.”
Shanon, Escaping with Fiction – read full review

“Maddie is a very relatable character, and I really felt for her when things did not go her way. I have not really read a contemporary book in a while, so it was great to escape into Practice Cake.”
Unabridged Bookshelf – read full review (with excellent synopsis)

“At first, I was annoyed with Maddie … but Ms. Moon also gives Maddie great strength. And this comes full circle in the end when Maddie learns to pay attention to that voice inside. The last few chapters of this book turn this novel into more than just a slice-of-life story about a girl that works in a bakery. Ms. Moon sticks the ending as solid as a gold-medal figure skater can perform a quad.”
Michael Offutt, author – read full review

“I could really connect with all the characters and it almost felt like it was written for me, and me only! I know that everybody who reads this book will have that feeling, because it is truly so personal and engaging that you find a piece of yourself in every part of this book. To me, these realistic environments and real life problems changed my perspective of life. I’m sure that when I am the character’s age (18-20), that I will know what to do.”
Lisa, Goodreads reviewer

“Maddie starts out with a carefree simplicity and I love her sense of humor …”
Elaine, Goodreads reviewer

“Some of the more minor characters in Practice Cake are the most memorable. Jaslene is completely over the top and yet somehow very realistic and I enjoyed the contrast between her obvious vulnerability and outward actor’s ego. (Bonus marks to Moon for the matter-of-fact mentions of Jaslene’s mothers.) Likewise, Roxanne is a great character who I enjoyed in all of her guises.”
Aggripina Legit – read full review

“I laughed so hard I cried. I couldn’t put it down and glad I was given the chance to read it.”
Cheryl Archbold, Goodreads reviewer

“I was also very impressed with some of the scenes Dalya described. One in particular is an evening of drinking and dancing for the underage Maddie. While most authors tend to tell the reader how much their character drank and how ‘wobbly’ they felt, Dalya was able to write a scene from the point of view of a tipsy eighteen year old so that made me give my tea the sniff test to make sure I hadn’t poured in any Bailey’s. The lady knows how to write good drunkenness. “
Kristin at These Pretty Words – read full review 

“One thing that I loved about this book was how I could relate to it simply because of the depiction of real events. An example would be the Canucks losing the Stanley Cup and (the city) going bonkers. There were riots and everything. Maddie experiences the side effects of that in this book and I thought it was cool that I was able to experience what happened in Vancouver with her … I loved feeling as if I was walking among the pages and being with these characters.”
Lindsay at Just Another Book Addict – read full review

“I ate this book up. Great characters, fantastic story line, ample humor, it’s all there! If you are looking for something light, sweet, but with a purpose, welcome to your next read.”
Jessica of Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile – read full review

Practice Cake on Goodreads.com