Deadly Sweet (The Spellwork Syndicate #1) by Lola Dodge #bookreview #fantasy

Title: Deadly Sweet

Author: Lola Dodge

Publisher: Ink Monster, LLC

Publication Date: January 16, 2018

Page Count: 265

My rating: 3 stars

About the book:

For fans of Hex Hall,The Magicians, Practical Magic, and Food Wars!

Anise Wise loves three things: baking, potion making, and reading her spell books in blissful silence. She might not be the most powerful witch in the suburbs, but enchantment is a rare skill, and her ability to bake with magic is even rarer. Unfortunately, witches have a bad rep, and Anise’s dream of attending pastry school crumbles with each rejection letter.

Then her great aunt Agatha pops out of the woodwork with a sweet offer. If she signs on as Agatha’s apprentice, Anise can have all the training and ingredients she’s ever imagined, and she’ll inherit the family bakery.

The catch? Studying with Agatha means moving to Sedona—a dangerous otherworldly power center where her aunt is a key player in the magical community’s shady dealings. And the last apprentice? Assassinated.

Now Anise is next on the hit list. If she can’t find and stop whoever wants her dead, she’ll be more toasted than a crème brulee.

Who knew baking cakes could be so life or death?

My review:

Deadly Sweet  by Lola Dodge is the first book in the new Spellwork Syndicate series. This one is a bit of a young adult/new adult fantasy/paranormal read mixed with a bit of mystery. The main character is a young kitchen witch who bakes spells into her goodies but after moving to a new town finds herself the target of an assassin.

This was a nice enough opener to this series introducing readers to Anise who is a witch and wants to attend pastry school but keeps getting rejected. After a witchy accident she learns of a great aunt that will take her to a more witch friendly town and teach her to bake. The only problem is this puts Anise on a hit list with many attempts on her life. 

I didn’t find the mystery too particularly difficult to figure out in this one as the story went on. Also, what I kept wishing for while reading this one was a bit more into the magical side of things. I think the story focused a bit more on dessert than magic most times which left me wanting to know about the powers and witchcraft. But even with being a tad on the predictable side and not going very deep into the magical world it was still a light and fun young adult read.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author: