{"id":985,"date":"2024-04-06T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-06T15:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christiniacrippes.com\/food\/?p=985"},"modified":"2024-01-27T04:00:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T04:00:59","slug":"time-for-a-redemption-arc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christiniacrippes.com\/food\/2024\/04\/06\/time-for-a-redemption-arc\/","title":{"rendered":"Time for a redemption arc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wren Martin Ruins It All \u2013 Amanda DeWitt<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Summary:<\/strong> Wren Martin ascends to student council president with the chance to finally cancel the stupid heteronormative big dance, but his vice president has other ideas that are (unfortunately) not terrible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I carefully pull the cupcake out of my backpack. I made it myself, which is unbearably embarrassing, but I swear it\u2019s more arrogance than romance. My cookie bars didn\u2019t get much of a chance to shine at the bake sale, so it\u2019s time for a redemption arc: lemon-lavender cupcake with cream cheese frosting, but I like to call it perfection. The fact that I had to put it in an old plastic Chinese takeout container is a little less elegant. <\/em><\/p>p. 315<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps, as the name of the book suggests, Wren Martin is not the nicest nor the most savvy, but it\u2019s still pretty easy (for me, at least) to fall for someone so clueless and mostly well-meaning. From the introduction of Wren hitting his head on a locked door to the [redacted]<\/strong> at the conclusion, the audience (me) is a bit ahead of where he is in terms of where everything is headed, but the joy is in the journey not necessarily the destination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I picked this book up both because I\u2019m always a sucker for a good enemies-to-lovers type plot, and the cover blurb sort of hints at such a story, but also because I\u2019ve been interested in reading more ace\/aro stories to read more widely in the vast alphabet that entails LGBT+ and this one sounded entertaining enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boy, I was in for a treat, not unlike the perfection<\/em> that makes up the cupcake described in the quote. I\u2019m not sure if I can explain exactly why this hit all the right notes for me\u2014I\u2019m decidedly not in the ace\/aro category, but otoh am a bit of an oblivious asshole that may help me feel seen\u2014but I can say that Amanda DeWitt is going to be one to watch (at least for me, and she has one other book I plan to get to soon!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike \u201cImogen, Obviously,\u201d Wren is not unsure of his sexuality; he describes himself early on as asexual (as does the blurb). But, like that other book I loved, Wren is still new to understanding and processing his feelings when they don\u2019t jibe with a pre-ordained idea he has of himself, and the book (both books, tbh) is a good exploration of finding yourself as you find yourself interested in another person who doesn\u2019t necessarily factor into that idealized person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both also work really well in demonstrating, at least to me, how easy it is to be yourself behind a screen, when there\u2019s some distance (and in this case, anonymity) between you and the other person you\u2019re vibing with (in whatever way). It\u2019s both freeing to be able to flirt\/chat\/be more open but also limiting in terms of being seen and experienced at your worst, or as a whole of a person. Maybe that\u2019s just the older millennial in me reckoning once again with the disconnect I feel between online and \u201creal life,\u201d but I think the exploration in Wren is well explored and an interesting contrast between Wren\u2019s feelings for his anonymous friend and his new-found frenemy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Wren, the cupcake he describes is more complicated than it first appears. But I couldn\u2019t resist showing within the quote his arrogance but also his joy at a job well done, as well as a little bit of awkwardness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Perfection cupcakes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s hoping I did his story and his cupcake justice with this attempt at mashing up a handful of Food Network cupcake recipes<\/a>, and how I did it: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For the cupcakes:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n