Magical Cupcakes in The Confectioner’s Guild || BOOK REVIEW

The Confectioner’s Guild by Claire Luana

Book 1 in The Confectioner’s Chronicles

3.5/5 STARS

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Author: Claire Luana
Published: October 2018
Publisher: Live Edge Publishing
Pages: 416 {ebook}

Review on Goodreads

I received a copy of this from Live Edge Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Initial Thoughts upon Finishing

This was such a fun read! I had no idea what to expect going into this but the blurb sounded gloriously lame and I decided that I was 100% up for some fluffy fantasy. AND YET, so much plotting and death happens in this book. Sheesh. Very enjoyable though and I’m quite tempted to pick up book two!

The Confectioner’s Guild

This is the magical story about Wren. Once an orphan, Wren was given a chance to earn a living when a baker noticed her talent for making beautiful confectionaries. Unknown to her, Wren has magic and this magic can only be used by baking it into something.

One day one of her (unknowingly) magical cupcakes gets her into trouble. After being spotted for having the Gift – and her particular strand gives the eater good luck – she is recruited to the Guild. There are several guilds and hers in the Confectioner’s Guild. BUT THEN, the guildmaster dies *drama* happy ending gone.

What follows is a weaving plot of mystery and intrigue as Wren fights a tight deadline to prove her innocence or have a false confession forced out her via torture . . . and then be executed. With some surprisingly serious and violent undertones, this book is a good laugh and shocking surprise at different times and we cheer on Wren – a hopeless, bumbling protagonist – as she tries to escape the executioner’s block.

What I Liked

The best thing about this book is that it is good fun. There were definitely some sticky points (and a few typos in the book, but eh) and I’ll discuss them in the next section. But overall, I very much so enjoyed this.

The mystery was a nice solid one. But I’m also terrible at guessing mysteries so maybe I’m not the best person to vouch for that. I was constantly guessing at who committed the murder and I did not guess right. As usual. But I enjoyed the surprise and loved all the tricky ways Wren and Lucas (the detective she becomes overly fond of) have to find proof.

I liked Lucas as well but I was sitting on the fence about whether I was committing to liking him as a character until the very last chapter. In all honesty, as fun as the romance was I’m not sure it really brought much to the story.

I also enjoyed the secrecy between the guilds and the messy history of the kingdom – with the way the Imbris’ treated the peasant class and disputes over borders. There is definitely room in the next few books to expand on the world and I’m really looking forward to that. Some more travelling would be spectacular.

The best thing about this book, however, was the food. Not only did we get many delicious descriptions but the fact that magic is used within food. Whether it’s confections, cheese or alcohol it was great. I loved it. I want magical truffles, please and thank you.

What Was Confusing

Wren is a likeable character – to a degree. She *did* annoy me at times and once we discover that her magical power is good luck it seems impossible that she could have such a run of bad luck. She was painfully slow at times to work things out (although characters consistently dub her as being fast . . . *confused face*) and I think a good word to describe how she exists is: kerfuffling.

I actually thought that the serious flashbacks we get and the level of cruelty in the book weren’t very fitting. Whilst it was a delight to suddenly dive into some serious stabby-stabby scenes, I really wasn’t expecting it from this book and can’t decide whether it made me like it more or less.

There was too much sexual tension in this book. Not in an over-powering-Sarah-J-Maas way but in the way that there were one too many characters that Wren had to remind herself not to fall in love with. Hale, in particular, I did not like. And I did think the ending was also a little bit (a lot) weak. I was happy with how everything turned out but I was looking forward to a much more convincing finale.

Summary

Overall I thought this was a good read. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who’s looking for some light-hearted fantasy with a pinch of seriousness. I’m definitely keen to continue on the series and explore more about the world and really liked the plot and the use of magic in food!