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A review by bookandcoffeeaddict
Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
4.0
Cupcakes, Trinkets, And Other Deadly Magic is a bit like Practical Magic (the movie) meets True Blood (the TV show) – but with more cupcakes and less hanky-panky.
Jade Godfrey is a twenty-three-year-old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, eye-catching cupcake bakery owner and half-witch. She lives a comfortable quiet life in Vancouver with her Gran, who’s a powerful and respected witch, and her feisty foster sister Sienna, who’s a half-witch like Jade. She spends her days blissfully insulated in her own little world, baking cupcakes and crafting trinkets out of found magical bits and bobs in her craft room – unitl the day her bubble bursts and a chillingly attractive vampire comes sniffing around her bakery and home. Things just go from bad to worse when werewolves show up, including a grumpily handsome Alpha, and Jade learns that she’s somehow dead center (pardon the pun) in a gruesome murder investigation. With her Gran inconveniently out of town, Jade has no choice but to get involved and take care of things herself – something she’s definitely not equipped for or used to thanks to her extremely sheltered upbringing.
I’m going to be honest, Jade was a bit too Mary Sue for my taste in some parts – every guy wants a piece of her, which she attributes to magic being attracted to her, as she is to it, but even handsome lawyers and random bus drivers can’t help but smile her way and can’t keep their eyes off her. She’s also extremely sheltered and can’t recall information that seems like it would be pretty crucial for a magical person to have – she knows almosts nothing about vampires or werewolves and has to look them up in her Gran’s books, and then she forgets some of what she read when she tries to remember it later. Honey, you can be pretty, powerful, and smart and still be cute – I promise. Still, she had her moments and was still a pretty likable character – especially with her cupcake obsession. Jade is always thinking about cupcakes, is always craving cupcakes, and always wants to give other people cupcakes.
The plot was interesting and unique, but I kind of guessed what was in the works early on, and felt like Jade should have figured it out earlier as well, but she has this whole self-acknowledged willful ignorance thing going on for her that seems to be practically her brand. But it’s an interesting world the author builds and I eagerly followed it until the end.
My absolute favorite parts of Cupcakes, Trinkets, And Other Deadly Magic were the interactions between clever, sarcastic vampire Kett, the Grand Conclave Investigator, and serious, grouchy Desmond, Lord and Alpha of the West Coast North American Pack, as they worked, begrudgingly, on the werewolf murder investigation together. I would absolutely read a buddy cop series with those two in it. There wasn’t really any romance between Jade and Kett or Desmond beyond some moments of physical attraction – I just hope the series isn’t building towards the dreaded triangle-of-death.
All in all, I enjoyed this book, especially for the price, and the storyline kind of has me hooked. Although I was getting Mary Sue vibes from the main character, Jade was still likable and the other characters really stole the show, enough that I’ll probably read the next book in the series.
Jade Godfrey is a twenty-three-year-old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, eye-catching cupcake bakery owner and half-witch. She lives a comfortable quiet life in Vancouver with her Gran, who’s a powerful and respected witch, and her feisty foster sister Sienna, who’s a half-witch like Jade. She spends her days blissfully insulated in her own little world, baking cupcakes and crafting trinkets out of found magical bits and bobs in her craft room – unitl the day her bubble bursts and a chillingly attractive vampire comes sniffing around her bakery and home. Things just go from bad to worse when werewolves show up, including a grumpily handsome Alpha, and Jade learns that she’s somehow dead center (pardon the pun) in a gruesome murder investigation. With her Gran inconveniently out of town, Jade has no choice but to get involved and take care of things herself – something she’s definitely not equipped for or used to thanks to her extremely sheltered upbringing.
I’m going to be honest, Jade was a bit too Mary Sue for my taste in some parts – every guy wants a piece of her, which she attributes to magic being attracted to her, as she is to it, but even handsome lawyers and random bus drivers can’t help but smile her way and can’t keep their eyes off her. She’s also extremely sheltered and can’t recall information that seems like it would be pretty crucial for a magical person to have – she knows almosts nothing about vampires or werewolves and has to look them up in her Gran’s books, and then she forgets some of what she read when she tries to remember it later. Honey, you can be pretty, powerful, and smart and still be cute – I promise. Still, she had her moments and was still a pretty likable character – especially with her cupcake obsession. Jade is always thinking about cupcakes, is always craving cupcakes, and always wants to give other people cupcakes.
The plot was interesting and unique, but I kind of guessed what was in the works early on, and felt like Jade should have figured it out earlier as well, but she has this whole self-acknowledged willful ignorance thing going on for her that seems to be practically her brand. But it’s an interesting world the author builds and I eagerly followed it until the end.
My absolute favorite parts of Cupcakes, Trinkets, And Other Deadly Magic were the interactions between clever, sarcastic vampire Kett, the Grand Conclave Investigator, and serious, grouchy Desmond, Lord and Alpha of the West Coast North American Pack, as they worked, begrudgingly, on the werewolf murder investigation together. I would absolutely read a buddy cop series with those two in it. There wasn’t really any romance between Jade and Kett or Desmond beyond some moments of physical attraction – I just hope the series isn’t building towards the dreaded triangle-of-death.
All in all, I enjoyed this book, especially for the price, and the storyline kind of has me hooked. Although I was getting Mary Sue vibes from the main character, Jade was still likable and the other characters really stole the show, enough that I’ll probably read the next book in the series.