I Was Told There'd Be Cake
{{Short description|2008 collection of essays by Sloane Crosley}}
{{No plot|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox book
| name = I Was Told There'd Be Cake
| image = I Was Told There'd Be Cake.jpg
| caption =
| author = Sloane Crosley
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre = Nonfiction
| publisher = Riverhead Books
| pub_date =
| media_type = Print
| isbn =9781436207126
}}
I Was Told There'd Be Cake is a 2008 collection of essays by American writer and literary publicist Sloane Crosley. It was a New York Times best seller.{{cite news |date=April 27, 2008 |title='Paperback Nonfiction' |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/bestseller/0427bestpapernonfiction.html |access-date=4 April 2010 |archive-date=16 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216204300/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/bestseller/0427bestpapernonfiction.html? |url-status=live }}
Reception
American author Jonathan Lethem called Crosley "another mordant and mercurial wit from the realm of Sedaris and Vowell." David Sedaris called her writing "sure-footed, observant and relentlessly funny."
Kirkus Reviews called the book "witty and entertaining".{{cite news|url=http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781594483066-0|title='I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley'|work=Powell's Books|access-date=4 April 2010|archive-date=13 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213144925/http://powells.com/biblio/62-9781594483066-0|url-status=live}}
The Seattle Times said "this book about nothing is riveting to the very end".{{cite news|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2004325432_cake04.html|title='"I Was Told There'd Be Cake": Savvy, funny musings of a 20-something'|last=Edwards|first=Haley|date=April 4, 2008|work=Seattle Times|access-date=4 April 2010|archive-date=23 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823024447/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2004325432_cake04.html|url-status=live}}
The New York Observer described it as "a funny book, and also a wistful book and a touching book".{{cite news|url=http://www.observer.com/2008/adorably-ageist-flack-vaults-generation-gap|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412203201/http://www.observer.com/2008/adorably-ageist-flack-vaults-generation-gap|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 12, 2008|title='Adorably Ageist Flack Vaults Generation Gap'|last=Dalva |first=Nancy |date= April 8, 2008|work=New York Observer|access-date=4 April 2010}}
A San Francisco Chronicle reviewer noted that while the book featured "sharp, self-effacing humor", the book's style reveals the author as "too clever for her own good" and "not... very, well, nice", though that by the book's end, "we forgive her deceptions".{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/13/RV4FVLIVB.DTL|title='Sloane Crosley: A funny, snippy New York girl'|last=Elson |first=Rachel |date= April 13, 2008|work=San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=4 April 2010}}