Its such a sweet book, that mixes tiny little bits of fairy tales in as well, which made it all the better.
Here it is:
Maire is a baker with an extraordinary gift: she can infuse her treats with emotions and abilities, which are then passed on to those who eat them. She doesn’t know why she can do this and remembers nothing of who she is or where she came from.
When marauders raid her town, Maire is captured and sold to the eccentric Allemas, who enslaves her and demands that she produce sinister confections, including a witch’s gingerbread cottage, a living cookie boy, and size-altering cakes.
During her captivity, Maire is visited by Fyel, a ghostly being who is reluctant to reveal his connection to her. The more often they meet, the more her memories return, and she begins to piece together who and what she really is—as well as past mistakes that yield cosmic consequences.
From the author of The Paper Magician series comes a haunting and otherworldly tale of folly and consequence, forgiveness and redemption.
This is actually the first book that I'd read from Charlie Holmberg, but after this I went out and bought some of her others - and now her Paper Magician series is one of my favourites. After re-reading it made me adore the book even more than I did before! I picked up a lot more things than I did the first time round, and some of the things I picked up had me wondering how I didn't notice them.
One of my favourite parts of this book was the fairy tale references dotted throughout - I didn't catch that on the first read until part-way through but the second time round I really picked up on it and it was so much better because of that. In case you were wondering, some of the ones included were Hansel and Gretel and the Gingerbread Man tales.
I admit, the plot did frustrate me a bit the first time I read this - but only because you couldn't guess where it was going, and it did leave you a while before explaining what exactly happened to Maire, but it was actually a well written book - I just get frustrated when I can't guess what will happen.... but I guess that's actually a good thing for most people! I think I preferred the re-read because I knew what was happening and it gave me time to really pick up on things I may not have the first time around.
Most of all though, I loved how it all wrapped up in the end and I adored the epilogue the most of all. It really let you guess what had happened to Maire and fill in the gaps the way you wanted to, which is my favourite way of ending books.
Overall, 4.5 cats to this book!
One of my favourite parts of this book was the fairy tale references dotted throughout - I didn't catch that on the first read until part-way through but the second time round I really picked up on it and it was so much better because of that. In case you were wondering, some of the ones included were Hansel and Gretel and the Gingerbread Man tales.
I admit, the plot did frustrate me a bit the first time I read this - but only because you couldn't guess where it was going, and it did leave you a while before explaining what exactly happened to Maire, but it was actually a well written book - I just get frustrated when I can't guess what will happen.... but I guess that's actually a good thing for most people! I think I preferred the re-read because I knew what was happening and it gave me time to really pick up on things I may not have the first time around.
Most of all though, I loved how it all wrapped up in the end and I adored the epilogue the most of all. It really let you guess what had happened to Maire and fill in the gaps the way you wanted to, which is my favourite way of ending books.
Overall, 4.5 cats to this book!
Have you read this? Do you agree with me about it/did you guess what would happen? Comment below!
