Book Review
Title: Deadly Sweet
Author: Lola Dodge
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Paranormal
Rating: *****
Review: In the opening of Deadly Sweet we are introduced to our protagonist Anise Wise a young witch who wants nothing more than to go pastry school to further her passion for baking. Anise has been rejected from the ten school she applied to and her life doesn’t get any better when her mother loses her job too and they are looking at moving again like they have done so many times in the past. In a fit of desperation, she emails her great-aunt Agatha Wise who runs a magical bakery in New Mexico, but she doesn’t hear back for months. While at a fair with some co-workers she sets fire to a boy name Trevor when he tries hitting on her and then threatening her when she refuses, but she also sets fire to several buildings causing a lot of destruction and gets out of there as quickly as she can.
After being arrested for the fire Agatha posts her bail and her mother tells her she is leaving immediately and that she will deal with the police. When she arrives in Taos she feels the vortex for the first time and she begins to understand why her mother has had to stay away from this place although this is soon forgotten when she sees the bakery for the first time and meet the other people like Lonnie and Sam that work there. However, shortly after arriving Agatha gives her a test to bake something for her to show her skill, it was also interesting to learn that Anise isn’t the first apprentice that Agatha has had, and we don’t know what happened to them. Anise doesn’t take to bakery and school life that well as she doesn’t have the freedom she has always had and is reduced to prepping. However, she does meet Gabi and Blaire and they tell her that Agatha’s last apprentice Hayley was possibly kidnapped and as she is possibly set to inherit the fortune that Agatha has, she could also be a target. Despite not liking Wynn; her bodyguard he might be of more use that she first thought.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, we get our first hint that Taos might not be as simple as it seems when Anise gets poisoned at school, although it is her fault for sneaking around. However, when she wakes up the only answer she gets from most people is that the Syndicate will keep her safe and protect her but Anise doubts this as Hayley went missing and the Syndicate doesn’t seem to be doing much about it, so she asks Agatha. Agatha’s response is to take Anise to a Syndicate meeting where she meets some women who were sympathetic to her mother when she lived in Taos and even meets Zedock who runs the Shields of which Wynn is a part of. Despite not being invited to the meeting Zedock tells Agatha that they have found more evidence about Haley’s disappearance, so she leaves Anise to get home alone and she is painfully aware that she is in the middle of the desert without any protection and feels very vulnerable.
After being put on lockdown because of the attack Anise starts to work in the shop when a second Hand attacks, Hand’s are minions of warlocks and it becomes clear that Anise hasn’t been taught enough about the magical world that Agatha lives in to be able to protect herself although she does demonstrate some amazing magical skill. After expending a lot of magic power helping Wynn she passes out, but it might not be just because of the magic loss. As we cross into the second half of the novel, Anise is going to be moved in with Blair’s family while the warlock is being hunted, which Anise doesn’t see as bad because she gets along well with the Wu’s and Blair even jokes about Peggy adopting her.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, people like Peggy and Sylvia make Anise feel like she is truly part of the sisterhood something she hadn’t known she had been missing her entire life but people like Stef make her feel really alienated. This is made worse as Stef is her teacher for one of her classes and seems set to fail her for any small issue despite also working at Agatha’s and being aware of Anise’s situation doesn’t seem to help. When she has a sleepover with Blair and Gabi, they use magic to try and find out where the warlock is and all Anise’s clue point to Stef despite Agatha’s saying she can’t be the warlock Anise decides to keep an eye of the woman. However, talk soon turns to her date with Seth who is helping Anise with her make-up cake for Stef’s class. However, Stef seems to have a major problem with Anise and when she tells Agatha about it she also learns that she is going to inherit the whole bakery because she is Agatha’s blood relative. She also has a date with Seth and is really looking forward to it, but it means getting away from Wynn for the evening. In terms of romance, I could see Anise and Seth dating but I could also see a romance between Anise and Wynn if he can get off his high horse.
The ending section of Deadly Sweet was amazing the action scenes were some of the best scenes in the whole novel but the ending has to be my favourite part as Anise comes to see Agatha’s bakery and Taos as home and she truly understand what Agatha meant about baking with your heart. I really loved Anise and her nervous habits and dry humour and just seeing her develop her craft and as a person who beautifully written and the nearly 300 page novel just fly by.
Buy it here:
Paperback: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from NetGalley
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