Get ready for this one, with 58 books spreading across 4 different series, this prolific author has terrific taste.

Let’s start with her longest-running series (35 books!), The Cupcake Diaries. I remember when my mom got me the first book as the main character, Katie was heading into sixth grade and so was I.

There’s Katie, the every-man protagonist with a mother who has a perchant for making first day of school cupcakes. After being brutally ditched by her best friend, it’s that cupcake that attracts the attention of her new besties, Mia, Emma and Alexis. It’s a friendship cemented when she invites them over to make cupcakes and what starts as a bid to win over the Popular Girls Club in a baking fundraiser turns into a thriving business that lasts throughout the series with the girls growing from nervous sixth graders to steadily maturing eight graders.

Wirh four main characters, there’s a nice mix of personalities as the book rotates between the four of them. Katie, as I said, is the everyman or at least the one who is probably most like the readers. Nervous about growing up, and is okay with embracing her silly, goofy side. She’s not in a rush to grow up.

Her books primarily deal with the realities of living with a single mom and friendship issues. She’d never met her Dad who walked out when she was little but it’s in middle school, she starts dealing with the new issues of her mother dating and starting a new blended family. The aforementioned BFF ditching has a huge effect on her as she gets nervous when she feels her friends pursuing new interests or new people, worrying that she’s not sophiscated enough or mature enough to keep up. She has trouble with change in general as there’s comfort in keeping things the same but she faces big life changes like her Dad’s reappearence, her mother remarrying but her friends and her true love for baking keep her afloat.

Mia is the new girl from NYC. She also has divorced parents and it’s due to her mother’s remarriage to Eddie that she moved to the humble NJ suburbs. However, she’s more adjusted to these living conditions. Although her Dad’s less than steller pick in girlfriends does add some humor. Her books deal with the negotiations between two sets of parents as well, but there is more focus on fashion, toxic friendships as she falls in line with two different mean girls, cyberbullying and the pressures of physical appearences when she gets braces and glasses, throwing off what she thought it means to be pretty.

Mia is possibly my favorite even though I have no interest in fashion because she’s such a warm-hearted girl and a good friend to others even though she has trouble with her “double life” between NY and NJ. Sometimes her desire to look good leads her to not standing up for herself or others as she should as she believes it should be a big deal but she soon learns how to speak up without going into diva-tantrum like the antagonists.

Emma is described as the girliest but is also the most hard-working of the bunch. As the only girl among three boys, money is generally tight so takes up multiple jobs as a dog-walker, cupcake maker, model and free babysitter for her little brother in order to get little luxuries (and some alone time!). Her books are primarily about the work-life balance, learning to lean on her friends, and that maybe her brother’s aren’t the bane of her life. She also has a side of physical appearences don’t matter storylines too because of her modeling job. But that’s not the primary point as she never gets vain but has to learn how to navigate the sesmi-professional challenges of cranky photographers and catty fellow models.

Alexis is the brains of the operation. She loves math and marketing as well as Emma’s older brother, Dylan. Her books primarily deal with the struggle of when her analytical side crashes agains the hormonal angst of liking your best friend’s brother. It’s interesting as she’s the most Type A but as she matures faster than her friends, physically and emotionally. Because of her love of math, she sometimes from negative esteem as ‘the boring one’ and goes through spontaneous identity makeovers. She deals with more of the teen angst storylines of trying new extracurriculars and figuring out how to deal with her changing interests and annoying puberty that turns her steady calm to AHHHHHH.

These books are a delightful blend of friendship and business as there’s equal weight given to the girls figuring out how to market their business, come up with new flavors, and get customers. Plus it deals with various friendship problems that come up with two pairs of friends, what happens when one is sick and how awkward that is? Learning how to deal with differing business personalities and new stepsiblings, and so on.

I enjoy how the series is never stagnant. The girls clearly grow even though the timeline is a bit blurred. Sixth grade takes up the first eight books. Seventh grade seems to take the largest chunk of books while eighth grade is sped through the final seven as I suppose the author didn’t want to tackle the fears of high school. The first anatgonist, Sadie, moves away and a new one comes in but she also fades away as the girls grow older and such petty mean girl drama becomes less important.

There a few misses as depending which girl you identify with more than other books may be more boring than others. Some plots are cliche like Mia relying on good luck charms instead of hard work or Emma getting overburdened with all her jobs but refusing to tell anyone. The biggest miss would have to be how the final two books speed through their last year of middle school and glosses over high school. Especially Mia’s book as it’s the last one in the series (poor Emma and Alexis, it doesn’t even finish the cycle) and the author chooses to have a crossover with her other series, Sprinkle Sundays. It’s kinda cool as Mia’s new friendship with Tamiko reminds her of the importance of trying new things as life is constant change but I wish there had been more of a full circle moemnt with all the girls present for more closure.

Anyway, that brings me to the next series Simon authored-Sprinkle Sundays. At 12 books, these trio of girls work at Molly’s Ice Cream on Sundays. A good thing too as Allie, whose mother owns the store, rarely gets to her best friends with her parents’ surprise divorce putting her a new school district.

Allie is the shy, introverted bookworm adjusting to being in a new school and trying to keep working at the shop at even kneel. She wants her mother’s store to succeed so much. Her books primarily deal with finding her place in a new school that is so much richer and snobbier than her old one, navigating a new crush and the new dynamic with her best friends now they’re working together.

Tamiko is my favorite as she’s the blunt, DIY queen and social media director of the store. Her books primarily deal with her adjusting her judgemental attitude, the perils of social media, and crushes as she’s a unique case where her lack of interest in romance could veer between not at that age or asexuality. Either way I thought it was cool for the author to explore.

Sierra is the optimist of the group and most scatterbrained as she wants to try everything and thus overschedules herself with the shop, sports, student government, band, homework, newspaper, school play and whatever else she wants to try at any given moment. As one can guess her books deal with time management, and twin troubles.

I’ll admit it took some adjusting to this trio as their wildly differing personalities led to a lot fights. In fact, it almost felt like they fought more than the good times. Tamiko’s unfiltered opinions can be harsh while Allie closes herself off and gets defensive when she’s hurt while Sierra gets in the middle. She also causes problems when she refuses to take stuff out of her schedule. It’s one of the few times I disagreed with a book as Sierra schedules everything to the tighest minute but never turns anything down.

I digress. I guess it’s an opposites-attract approach to friendship to ensure they’re wholly different from the Cupcake Club. Their books feel more modern because of the social media and while they’re invested in the store with coming up new flavors, the series feels more focused on the girls as a whole than specifically ice cream business. They have more extracurriculars, more family-centered books and like the beach they live close to, the vibe feels mellow.

The book also gets weirdly meta. Remember when I mentioned Mia’s final book has her meeting Tamiko (their Dads were college roommates)? Well, Allie’s second book has her helping at a book fair and she’s so excited to meet the author of her favorite series-The Cupcake Diaries! What?!? Meta inception!!

The next book series, Donut Dreams feels the least cohesive in the series which may explain why there’s only been eight books.

This one is set far away from the Jersey shore or ‘burbs. This one is set in Missouri with the small town’s family resturaunt, The Park View Table aka The Park.

The Park is run by Kelsey, Molly, and Lindsey’s grandparents. In fact, it was created specifically to help fund their childrens’ college funds and provide employment if they ever returned home. Now it’s a three generation outfit with the middle school girls finally getting their turn behind the donut case.

Lindsey’s mother recently died so her books primarily deal with grief, connecting with her mother’s memory and her family struggling with how to act around her. Her books were most interesting as Simon delicately deals with grief and the aftershock it leaves the family.

Kelsey is Lindsey’s cousin and her book deals with a different side to grief. That of tiptoeing around her cousin as well as feelings of jealousy in having to include her. You can understand the complicated feeling as it’s been a year so she understands the grief but she’s also a tween and prone to those feelings of jealousy in sharing her mother. She also has other struggles with feeling like she doesn’t fit with competitive family.

Molly also feels like an outsider in her family for a totally different way. She was adopted and is Kelsey’s sister/Lindsey’s cousin. Thing is her family never makes her feel like an outsider but others do when they act awkward during the family tree assignment. Her other book deals with fair play and body issues when she gets taunted about her skinny legs by a rival soccer player.

Casey is Lindsey’s best friend and occasional worker at The Park. Her books are interesting as they deal with the burgeonings of a first crush but feels most set apart as she doesn’t work at the business. Hers would work better as stand-alones honestly as Simon creates a compelling couple between her and Matt.

As the girls work part-time at The Park, it is the setting for most of the series but doesn’t feel integral to the plot except in Kelsey’s second book when she makes a “donut cake” that causes her to be the envy of the rest of her cousins and anxiety over becoming a ‘brand’ for the store. This feels more like a book about family and friendship that donuts specifically.
Also while the series is authored by Simon, I suspect she might have a ghost writer as the tone felt off. There were times when the tone was too mature. It felt like it was an adult speaking through the child rather than a child see below examples.

Here, Casey apologizes to her mother for attitude-“I want to apologize for being such a sourpuss about you being the assistant principal of my school. I came into middle school with a bad attitude that created my responses to certain things. I should be more grateful and proud to say you’re my mom, (Simon 86).” I know teens can be eloquent but it was so sudden and so well-explained in her attitude, it’s just off.

Here is another where the girl taunting Molly apologizes to her- “I was out of line with my comments the other day. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made fun of you at the mall. And I’m sorry about the crack I made about your legs at the clothing drive last Sunday. I’m pretty self conscious snout my body and I know when somebody says something like that to you, it really sticks (Simon 104).”

Again, it felt too pat, too neat and tight for that girl to apologize when she was so merciless before.

So with how off that one felt, Simon’s latest series is bringing things back to basics with The New Batch.

This one is a early reader spin-off of The Cupcake Diaries as Katie’s stepsister, Emily picks up the Cupcake Club mantle with the OG girls in high school. There’s not much else to say as each deals with a simple problem regarding friendship, stepping out of her stepsister’s shadow and learning to communicate and be a good leader. It’s cute, I’m sure kids will like it. I like how they include a boy in their new club even though I doubt he’ll get his own POV book.

And that’s it!! Four different series and 58 books, 59 as the latest New Batch book comes out next month. She’s a prolific author with a pen for describing sweet foods. My mouth waters at the thought of a PB&J cupcake.

But if you’re looking for a little more foodie and friendship books I have some recs like

-If you want more cupcakes, and navigating bff ditching/crushes/new friends, try Lisa Papademetriou’s Confectionally Yours quartet.

-If you want more of the friendship and part time work aspect, try Laura Schafer’s The Tea Shop Girls duology with a trio of girls from the POV of one trying to revive her grandmother’s tea shop.

-If you want more of the business aspect with a focus on romance, try Lisa Greenwald’s My Life in Pink and Green trilogy. It focuses on an eco-friendly pharmacy and spa from the ground up although I warn that focus feels completely absent from the final book and the romance isn’t that well-done.

-If you want mouth-watering food and romance, try Suzanne Nelson’s Foodie series complete with recipes at the end of each for how to make donuts, cookies, ice cream sundaes, pies and more. Also see my author highlight on Suzanne Nelson.