Who wants to be normal when you can be spectacular?
In the heart of Adenashire, a world that is divided into those who have magic and therefore matter, and those who don’t, who matter far less, human baker Arleta Starstone works twice as hard to sell her baked goods, dreaming of stockpiling enough to open the bakery of her dreams. So, when Ervash, her orc neighbor (biggest fan, and with his husband Verdreth, Arleta’s erstwhile father figure) secretly enters her creations into the prestigious Langheim Baking Battle (The Great British Bake Off, with magic), Arleta faces a dilemma. Being magicless, her participation in the competition could be potentially unofficially against the rules, and turn everything upside down. If Arleta wants to prove she belongs there, she’ll need every bit of skill she’s gained, from helping her mother to bake until now.
Though Arleta may not quite believe she’s earned her place, she makes her way to the competition with the help of Theodmon Brylar,a very attractive woodland elf, and Nimbus, his occasionally long-suffering horse. While on the journey of her life; complete with delicious baked goods, becoming comfortable with herself, long-lasting friendships with two of her competitors: Dolgrila Butterbuckle (dwarf who specializes in summoning tea out of thin air; my kind of magic) and Jez (Fennex, no last name, grumpy with a heart of gold), and potential romance, Arleta will have to decide whether winning the Baking Battle is the true prize in all of this.
This was a harmless little book. The characters were well-written and likable (even if Theo was only slightly more than a stereotypical “goofy, warm-hearted love interest”; though he has a cat, so there’s a check in the plus column), and I like the different temperaments and dynamics Arleta, Doli and Jez brought to their friendship. A magical baking competition is an interesting premise, though I found it funny for all the talk of magic being apparently integral to the competition, the only magical element seemed to be the use of cooling fairies instead of blast chillers. I even appreciated that Taenya, the two-time winner going for her final third win and Arleta’s largest competition, turns out to thankfully not suffer from the ubiquitous curse of being “that snobby b**ch”, but has a backstory that “makes sense of all her attitude problems”. Theo’s mother, who happens to be one of the three judges (because of course she is), and Taenya’s brother I think exist in the book just for stirring up some outside drama; because boy, doers Arleta bring enough drama into her life on her own.
See, elves apparently have these things called “Fated Mates” (and I’m embarrassed to say I spent the rest of the book thinking of the werewolves in Sims 4), and Theo believes Arleta is his. Arleta (of course, no surprise here) disagrees, and then spends a large part of the book where she’s not baking angsting over it. This angsting goes on far, far, far too long, and her sudden acceptance of this fact seemed rushed and because J. Penner had a page limit she was working towards and realized she was fast approaching it. Also, Arleta’s turnaround from wanting to let no one past the walls she built for herself ever since her parents dead and needing to do everything on her own with no help, to accepting Ervash and Verdeth as erstwhile father figures, Doli and Jez as friends, and everything with Theo, gave me a bit of whiplash. But then again, this is a Cozy Romantasy, so of course you’re going to get a HEA.
There are four additional books in the series, all focused on characters introduced in this book; I’ll probably pick them up because why not? I actually picked this one up because the title of the sequel appealed to me (A Fellowship of Librarians & Dragons), and I figured you have to read this one first. I’d recommend it; as I said, it’s harmless.
Plus, there are three recipes in the back for goods Arleta bakes in the book that I’m definitely planning on making.
