Days of Sugar and Spice by Loic Clement, 145 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL
Europe Comics, 2019. $12.
Language: PG (3 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
In her late 20s, Rose’s father dies, forcing her to return to her childhood village for her inheritance: his bakery. Rose plans on spending as little time there as possible, but she misses her bus back to Paris. By spending a little time with her aunt and an old childhood friend, Rose uncovers secrets that will change her life forever.
The illustrations by Anne Montel are the best part of this book; I was awed by her use of watercolor, and the untraditional lack of distinct panels was easier to get used to than I expected. Rose’s story has good messages about forgiveness and chasing your dreams, but I feel that other stories have told it better. And I did not appreciate the lewd comic relief of the cats -- scenes that were completely unnecessary.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Review to come tomorrow on blog/Goodreads.

I received this graphic novel from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Let's see if I can write a review for this one, often while reading words will start to form in my head and make a bit of a preliminary review.. however now? Not so much.

This is a beautifully written and illustrated graphic novel about a woman who inherits her father's bakery. However she doesn't have the fondest memories of him as he kicked her and her mom out when she was a kid. That does sound pretty bad, right? Not really something you want to constantly remember. And so we see her go between wanting to stay (because of her auntie, because of a man she has known since childhood (but hasn't seen in 20 years), because she likes baking) and wanting to go (to her friends, to her apartment, to her life). It was quite interesting to see her try to decide, and I also loved seeing what she did to the bakery. She didn't just make it a bakery but she made it something more. She added something that the town so desperately needed. She had some great ideas. The town is dying and she is seeing it as a mission to help out.

She finds a diary, and later on in the book gets the missing pages from her auntie... including some very big truths about her mom and her dad. She finds out that maybe it wasn't only her dad's fault. She finds out that her mom wasn't having any clean hands in the matter at all. And then there is a truth about herself. Something that had me shocked.

I loved how with each page we got to know the MC and the village more and more. And the ending was just magnificent and had me crying a bit.

I wasn't a fan of the kitties. It seemed silly and distracted from the story.

Like with many graphic novels or comics the text was hard to read and at times I just had to stop reading to do something else. My eyes just don't like reading on a pc, and it would help if Netgalley/publishers made sure that their books are good to read. It shouldn't be too hard.

Sorry for the chaotic review, my eyes are burning and I really need to read a non-computer book or just rest my eyes a bit.

I would recommend this book to everyone. I am sure it will be loved by many. It is about loss, about finding truths and how to handle them, finding love, finding a place to belong, and more. The art is lovely, and I was a big fan of it.

I absolutely loved Days of Sugar and Spice by Loïc Clément! It was easy to read and the sketches were lovely. It made me want to go to a French bakery so badly! The characters were all so funny and charming. I definitely recommend this graphic novel!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy.

This book is just lovely! Rose inherits a bakery from her late, and absent, father. This quickly leads her to making some life changing decisions, all with the help of a wonderful cast of characters. Beautifully illustrated, a pretty font and a heart warming story make this a joy to read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a free ebook copy to review.
#NetGalley #daysofsugarandspice

I LOVED this one! It is really well written and the art is adorable. I loved the french setting, the cute interludes with the cats, and the characters were all so great! All that talk about pastries and cakes made me so hungry!

Can someone bequeath me a patisserie in a small French town so that I could live out this dream too?

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy for review.

This was such a quirky little read. I read it quite quickly and really enjoyed the art! The story was all right, pretty predictable and generic. The main character was selfish and annoying. Her aunt was absolutely precious, I loved her.

I absolutely adored this sweet graphic novel! Translated from French, I felt like the story was brilliantly heart warming. I did not foresee some of the plot twists & really loved all the characters & the sly kitty cat inserts! The images & text were a little blurry on my edition, but it didn't deter me from reading it all. Only a few spots had choppy translation, and didn't really impact the overall message. Very heart warming & will be added to my favorites shelf!

This was so cute!

I kindly received a copy from Netgalley in order for an honest review so thank you for that.

I really enjoyed the story, I've always been into stories where the main character loses a relative and then proceeds to inherit a shop,farm or any other building from them. In this case it was a bakery that had been inheritted.

The main character was very relatable since she was just like us going through her usual life. I enjoyed how the characters were so easy to relate to since that made the story so easy paced.

I also really loved the auntie she was just an adorable addition and when she appeared for the first time I giggled at the dialogue.

I do want to point out that the font that this comic is written in is very difficult in the beginning to read due to the fact that some letters are a bit vague. Especially the so to say script/caligraphy font I found a bit confusing at times. (Even though I write like that myself)

Overal I really enjoyed the story and I would definitely read it again in the future. Thank you for the free copy and I hope to read some other cute comics by the same author again!

Why story about life is always beautifully written whenever related with food specially bakery and pastry? 100 percent guarantee an enjoyable story, plus we have a chance to try some recipes and re-read the book while eating it.

This is my FIRST adult fiction book in a graphic novel version. I absolutely LOVE the story, very simple and understandable plus I love how the language being written in here, makes me learning some few English words that I rarely use it on daily basis. Always and always, story with bakery or food as a background is an enjoyment for me, when Rose started to getting serious reading about his father’s journal, that’s the moment when she find herself to collecting her missing pieces from her past. And the story goes along with old Maronde who’s always stay loyal to her and the bakery, helping Rose to build up again from the beginning even give me surprise by showing her “ability” to talk.

And in the end....her father’s presence just touched me in some ways, we all love our family no matter what....

3.5/5 Stars

This is the sweet story of Rose and how she becomes the owner of bakery in a small French village. I really liked how they talked about cakes and other sweet pastries, but most of all I loved the variety of themes that are dealt with in this graphic novel. Family, relationships and past all intertwine to give Rose, the main character, such a profound and meaningful backstory. The drawing style was also really cute.