Stay Sweet is a Young Adult Fiction novel about running a local ice cream stand in a lakeside town. The protagonist, Amelia, has worked at Meade Creamery every summer since eighth grade and now has been promoted to Head Girl or manager of the stand. Meade Creamery opened during World War II by Molly Meade and managed by girls living in the town every summer. At the start of this season, Molly Meade dies, and her great-grandnephew inherits and begins changing how the store operates.

Overall, I think a lot of this book was pretty cute and rather enjoyable. The book cover themes of women empowerment and women supporting women. I did not enjoy the plot where Amelia started fighting with her best friend at the end of the book. It felt catty and counterproductive to the sisterhood that was throughout the book. The book also had a vibe that men ruin everything and that women will have to work with them or around to accomplish what they want.

Unfortunately, this book had little to no representation. There were no LGBTQ characters, and the author did not describe what characters looked like, leaving readers to assume all of the characters are white. One BIPOC character, Frankie, is referenced, but the reader never got to meet her. Frankie was a former Head Girl whom Amelia looked up to, but it was the only time the author referenced a race or ethnicity. Nothing about the plot was offensive, and none of the characters did anything offensive; however, the lack of diversity on the author's part was disappointing.

Overall think I would give this book three stars mainly due to the plot. I would have rated the book higher had the author added diverse characters.