Mia’s Sweet Surprises (34) (Cupcake Diaries)

Product Description

Mia goes on vacation and meets up with the girls from the Sprinkle Sundays series in the latest addition to the Cupcake Diaries series!

Things are slow at the cupcake shop this summer, and so when Mia’s dad invites her on a long weekend trip to meet some of his college friends, she jumps at the chance—especially when she hears they have daughters her age. It turns out the girls work in an ice cream shop. Not only does Mia end up making new friends—she comes back with a new invention for the Cupcake Girls: an ice-cream cone cupcake!

About the Author

From cupcakes to ice cream and donuts! Having written over thirty books about middle school girls and cupcakes and ice cream, Coco Simon decided it was time for a change; so she’s switched her focus to her third favorite sweet treat: donuts! When she’s not daydreaming about yummy snacks, Coco edits children’s books and has written close to one hundred books for children, tweens, and young adults, which is a lot less than the number of cupcakes, ice cream cones, and donuts she’s eaten. She is the author of the Cupcake Diaries, the Sprinkle Sundays, and the Donut Dreams series.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1: Black Is My New Favorite Color

CHAPTER 1 Black Is My New Favorite Color
I lay on a beach chair in my backyard under the big maple tree, staring up at the undersides of the tree leaves. It was a hot Friday afternoon in July, and I’d been in the chair for an hour, listening to the bees buzz and the birds chirp, and not doing much else.

Then I heard my mom’s voice drift through the kitchen window.

“I just don’t know what happened, Sharon,” Mom was saying as she talked to the mom of my best friend Katie. “One minute she was my sweet and smiley Mia, and the next she’s wearing black and moping around.”

I looked down at the short black sleeveless dress I was wearing. I’d made it myself. I love to design clothes, and I watch fashion show competitions on TV, and recently, I saw a designer who made this all-black collection and fell in love. She wore only black herself, and I thought she looked seriously cool and put together. I’d decided to go monochromatic and see how I liked it. But because I’d chosen to do this during the summer, Mom—along with my stepdad, Eddie, and my stepbrother, Dan, thought it was weird.

My mom laughed. “Yes, I suppose there are worse things than going through a goth phase,” she said.

I sighed. Mom was getting it all wrong. I had no urge to listen to sad music. I just thought black was classy and looked cool!

“Mmm-hmm,” Mom continued. “Yes, I think she probably does miss Katie. But she understands that this is a busy time in Katie’s life right now.”

Mom had finally said something right. I
did miss Katie, which was silly since it had been only nineteen days (yes, I was counting) since I’d last seen her. That was on the day her mom had gotten married, and the Cupcake Club had baked ten dozen cupcakes for the reception, and I had made a Katie a beautiful pink bridesmaid’s dress to wear. We had so much fun!

And then the next morning, Katie had gone to spend a week with her grandparents while her mom and Mr. Green (Katie’s stepdad, and also a math teacher at our school) went on a honeymoon. And after Katie returned she’d been too busy setting up her new house to hang out.

That’s why, after the wedding, my summer had just sort of fizzled out. The Cupcake Club had no upcoming orders; except for our standing order with Mona at The Special Day wedding boutique. Thank goodness people were still getting married, and girls still wanted to be beautiful brides. Alexis had gone on vacation with her family, and Emma was busy with modeling jobs now that school was out.

My vacation with Mom, Eddie, and Dan wasn’t scheduled until the end of August. And in a few days, I was supposed to spend some time with my dad in the city. We’d probably do the usual things—museums, go out to eat, see a Broadway show