Anna Meriano

Leonora Logrono's family owns the most beloved bakery in Rose Hill, Texas, spending their days conjuring delicious cookies and cakes for any occasion--and no occasion is more important than the annual Dia de los Muertos festival. Leo hopes that this m

A Dash of Trouble

Wanting to be a part of her family's Dia de los Muertos preparations, Leonora sneaks out of school to discover her mother, aunt, and older sisters have been keeping a secret.

Izza

5 stars | I absolutely love this book! I never wanted it to end. I can't wait to find out what Leonora (and Caroline) gets into in the next one. Such a sweet story about friendship, family and baking with a little touch of magic :D I highly recommend it.

Grace O'Callaghan

*3.5

What a lovely debut! Just so witchy and atmospheric. Loved all the baking involved, it made me hungry!

Leo feels like a secret is being kept from her by her family. So she takes it upon herself to find out what that secret is. She discovers that she is a Bruja (witch) and that her mother’s and sisters are too. When her best friend is having trouble with a boy at school Leo decides to intervene with her newfound magic. But things don’t go quite to plan and trouble ensues.

Loved the magic system in this story. They often use baking to cast some spells and I just love when baking is involved in books. Always makes me hungry! 
Also really enjoyed the Mexican aspect of this book. It was nice to see Mexican culture and a different take on the usual ‘kid finds out magic
Obviously, this is a middle grade book so the writing wasn’t very elaborate but I still enjoyed the descriptions of everything and would’ve loved this even more when I was younger.

Leo is such an amazing character. She’s just so curious to know everything and determined to fix and do everything. It was great seeing her come into her power and learning that she can’t intervene and fix every problem in someone’s life. I think that’s a very valuable lesson for young readers.

The plot was probably the weakest part for me. It was very linear but I think this one was all about Leo finding out that magic exists and learning how to use it. I hope to see more from the rest of the series. That being said, if this was YA I would’ve given in 3 stars but I try to be more lenient with middle grad as I’m not in that age range.

Overall, I think this was a really enjoyable and cute read. Very light with tasty baking elements. I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to read about magic, mischief and Mexican culture.

laura

I really found this book to be so charming. It was book the was both diverse but also such a fun witchy themed read. I loved how this book focused so much on family and backing. I loved how the magic system in this book developed. It was such a quick read. This book also handled typical things like dealing with grief, friendship and trying to find your place in the world. I will def be checking out more books by this author in the future.

Loredana

Leo is 11 and want to conquer the world but seems to always be too little for everything. These days she is sure her parents are hiding something from her and she is ready to know what it is.

Cute, funny and magical. This book will juste warm you up from the inside. Just the fact that Leo's family is making magic through bakery is adorable ! Who doesn't want to do that ?? Even if Leo is making mistakes she is just full of good intentions. This book is adapted to younger of older people. Like I said it's cute and magical. The writing is good and the story correctly paced.

I really recommend it.

Alex Goldstein

Love, Sugar, and a little Magic are all you need to make the perfect spell. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for many reasons. Coming into this book right after re-reading Labyrinth Lost was one of the best ideas that I have had in a while. Reading about the world where you can cook up some magic was such a brilliant idea. When I first heard of this book I thought there would be a lot of similarities with the "Just Add Magic" series that is currently on Amazon Prime, but I was completely blown away by the way that the author described the world and the different effects that magic can have when you are dealing with a recipe. I honestly could relate to the main character Leo so well because just like her I am the youngest sibling and have had times where my siblings would do something that I was not allowed to do yet and trying it out anyway even though I was probably too young to still do it. I loved this book! If you are looking for a magical adventure that centers around food and family you have come to the right place!!

A Dash of Trouble

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