Antonia Bernardin

The 59th book I consumed this year was A Wizards Guide to Defensive baking by T.Kingfisher.

An attempt at summarising

Mona is a 14 year old baker, who literally has the magic touch when it comes to dough. One morning her usually routine is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a dead girl on the bakery floor. Instead of investigating it, the inspector assumes Mona is guilty, simple because she is a wizard. Luckily, Mona is released when she is bought before the Duchess in a trial. When the dead girl’s little brother accosts her in the street demanding to know what happened to his sister, they end up working together to discover what is happening in their city, specifically to the magic users and how it is connected to the far off war.

What did I think?

I loved this story! I don’t usually enjoy middle grade books (YA written for the younger end of the YA spectrum) but the wry sense of humour behind the MC’s narration made this story both funny and poignant at times. As in, I actually laughed out loud a few times while listening. I really enjoyed the parts where Mona’s gift with dough was somehow used to defend a city and all the funny little moments that involved and a part of the ending even made me cry!

This was only an 8 hour audio and I’d definitely recommend it.