At a quick glance, Sloane Crosley's I Was Told There'd Be Cake looks like a typical essay collection by a 20-something New Yorker. But she catches readers from the get-go, when she explains her obsession with plastic ponies in the first story, fittingly titled The Pony Problem.

From there, Crosley goes on to regale readers with stories of her evil boss, locking herself out of her apartment and agreeing to be the maid of honor at the wedding of a girl she hadn't spoken to since high school.

One of the best stories was about Crosley's decision to volunteer at the butterfly exhibit in the Museum of Natural History. "But there was no one to congratulate me. Thus, my fervor for my volunteer stint began to dwindle," she explained. "The combination of forgetfulness and self-centeredness was lethal to my budding charity career." While the admission is selfish, it does express a sentiment with which many readers may be able to identify.

Although I Was Told There'd Be Cake is rarely laugh out loud funny, Sloane Crosley has a witty, readable style. She comes off as a genuinely real person in her stories, perhaps an old friend or a high school acquaintence. The book is honest and clever, but it may not meet the hype it has received.

- Ashley