Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet is such a peculiar book, but I really loved reading it. It blends elements of fairytale with a dash of Frankenstein in order to form something wholly unique. Rather than retelling these classic tales, Holmberg subtly references them to create a story that feels both homely and new. The writing was lovely, with the confections Maire bakes sounding so delicious that I could almost taste them. Magical and bittersweet, this mysterious story was a joy to unravel.

Warnings: slavery, violence, killing, implied rape

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was really attracted to this book as it sounded liked 'Chocolat' or 'Like Water for Chocolate', two novels I really love.

However, although it has similar themes (the intertwining power of food and magic) it lacks emotional depth of those books. It is also fairly confusing, with a large cast of characters with conflicting actions and motivations.

The concept was strong but the delivery let this book down.

I'm just a big fat Charlie Holmberg fan. I remember the first thing I read of hers, THE PAPER MAGICIAN of course. I'd planned on reading it, but then it showed up in my Kindle First email, and I got it IMMEDIATELY and loved it with all my heart.

MBMS is just...awesome. I loved the gentle fantasy to it, the heartbreak, and the lessons learned, the sweetness, the bitterness (ha!) the love, the sighs. Just great. And I won't tell you about the part I MOST MOST connected with, because that would be spoilery and I'm not mean like that.

Maire is a baker who can endow her treats with magical qualities. She has no memories before the day she came to live with in her small village. Things go horribly wrong when marauders attack the town and sell Maire into slavery. Her captor forces her to bake cakes for witches' homes and gingerbread boys. All the while, a mysterious, ghostly being, Fyel visits Maire. He's trying to help her, but he can't touch her or tell her anything outright. Who is Maire? Is she a witch or an angel?

Charlie N. Holmberg tells the most creative and strange stories. Strange being the emphasized word in the last sentence. Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet has really stuck with me, and I don't think I will ever forget this bizarre tale.

This book might be a little glum, but it goes so well with cocoa and a warm blanket. Why? A non-comprehensive list:
- cake
- more cake
- ...so the book is primarily dedicated to cake
- love
- mystery
- fairytales
- magic (cake magic..?)

All of this goes with cocoa and a warm blanket for me. Granted, the main heroine suffers more than enjoys herself in her journey through this story, but it's well worth it, in my eyes. It's written beautifully, and it keeps its mystery throughout pretty much all of the book, as the main characters suffer from amnesia, so you don't really get to find out what happens, before... you do. Which is... Right at the end. I've heard of people struggling with this bit, but I didn't – to me, this book was an intricately woven canvas of emotions, all colorful, and all imbued with taste, particularly expressed through different kinds of confectioneries the main character concocts. And the frosting on top? Hints of fairytales are interspersed through the story, all connected through magic and... cake. What's not to love?

This book tells the story of a woman who doesn’t remember her past and bakes magical cakes.

The book’s writing is simple, yet, it isn’t memorable. Also, the book features questionable cake knowledge and unnecessary spoilers in the first chapter (that end up being a nothing-burger).

The story itself is very simple. It never branches and the characters don’t know what’s going on for half the book. However, the author always leaves us with a lot of questions that only get answers in the last few chapters.

The side characters often feel one sided, the only character that has the ‘right’ to actually have a personality is the protagonist. Arrice and Franc act as mother chickens, Tuck is a man of faith, Allemas is the mean guy and Fyel is a vague mysterious sexy man (yeah, THAT trope). I mean, yes, these characters do develop (or attempt to) but that doesn’t excuse the author’s lack of originality when creating them.

However, the main character gets the cake. She starts out as a loving cook and ends up a… oh wait. You see, throughout the story, she does change, however, she ends up just like she begun, but this time with company.

Now, for the ending and other plot twists. Every time there was a big reveal (which normally weren’t that big), I guessed it. That took away a lot of the magic for me. You see, I don’t like to come up with theories of what could happen while reading such a simple book, however, with this one, I didn’t even have to. All I had to do was read normally and keep my questions in check.

However, if you don’t mind people meddling with the good name of cake, bland characters and predictable (but sweet) endings, this is the book for you.

Rating: 2.5 stars

I struggled to get into this book but really enjoyed it once I got stuck in!

This book is about Maire, a woman that can infuse emotions into baked goods. She has lost her memory of her life and spends the whole book trying to remember. When Carmine is attacked, she's sold to Allemas, a strange man that seems to know her , even though she has no memory of him. While in his care, a spirit, named Fyel, appears whenever she's alone. He knows her story but refuses to tell Maire any details because, if he tells her and she doesn't believe it, he'll be stuck outside this world, unable to help her.
I have to start the review by saying that the premise of the novel sounds amazing. It shows a different approach to magic that intrigued me and made me want to read this book as soon as I could. Sadly, the book wasn't able to deliver. It started slow but promising. I kept reading, forcing myself to continue because, surely, something interesting would happen. It did... but only on the last chapter. It felt like the whole story was just to fill the pages between the beginning and the ending.
The book focused a lot on her baking process but its detailed description felt odd and out of place becoming, sometimes, nauseating while reading in the morning.
Also, on the first chapter the author wrote "My mind is like a pan of cake torn apart by eager hands, leaving only the outer crust. It's strange, this story of mine. A tale that starts somewhere in chapter twenty and ends who knows where." From this excerpt, the reader gets to know that the main character, Maire, is writing the book and that, in chapter twenty, things will get juicy. Right off the bat, that's kind of a spoiler because, now, when I reach chapter twenty, I'll know it'll get good and that, before that, I won't get to know much about Maire's story. I got a bit bothered by that but promptly ignored it and continued reading. Then, I got to chapter twenty. I was already disappointed with the book but I was hoping that this chapter would be good. It wasn't. It just continued the narrative and sprinkled a bit of information that meant nothing to the reader.
Throughout the book, the author spread bits of fairy tales, like the "drink me" bottle and the gingerbread house. They felt out of place. The story was already weak but, at least, it was original. Those bits took some of its originality and felt out of place.
The thing that saved the book was the ending. Even though most of it was boring and frustrating, the ending was great. It tied everything together and was well-executed. Still, the author should have spread the information differently because, for most of the book, neither the reader nor the main character knew what was going on.
The characters were mediocre. Fyel and Maire appealed to me because of their abilities but, besides them, there wasn't anybody else standing out.
Even with the good ending, I can't give this book more than 3 stars. It was hard to read and I had to force myself not to give up.

Loved it. After reading the first chapter I thought its a story of a girl with baking powers and how she views the world from her shop and nothing more. Then the actual story begins when Allemas comes into the picture.

As the main character, Maire didn't stand out that much. On the other hand, Allemas seemed more interesting than others even if he was supposed to be broken and somewhat insane.

The story was great. I loved the concept of crafters. Guess that's my artistic side speaking...
...and lahsts...I liked this word. It means husband and wife but the story makes it mean so much more...

I liked it a lot and will definitely pick up other books by Charlie.

The writing style did not intrigue me at all. The characters seemed flat and there was too much purple prose for my taste. I did not finish the book due to a lack of interest.

I was really excited about this one but found the plot confusing and off-putting for that very reason. There didn't seem to be any plot? I was lost. The characters seemed lost. And I just couldn't finish this book.

Oh! How I wanted to love this book.. I just could not get into it at all... Not at all sure how I finished it! An baker named Maire who can bake emotions into cakes...CAKE!! I love cake! On that note I felt like I was in the middle of other fairy tales and I just couldn't get past that....Build me a gingerbread house so the children will come.
REALLY!!

But I do say read it for yourself and you be the judge this just wasn't my cup of coffee!!

My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a bit to get into the story. Had a slow beginning but did pick up. The ending was unexpected.

I was unaware that this was a YA fantasy book. Unfortunately, this is not a genre I am keen to read, and due to having so many other 'to be reads' I would rather spent time reading and reviewing those. I will be more conscious of what I download from NetGalley in the future.

This was an interesting book. It starts with a woman who can bake feelings into cakes and the like but remembers nothing of her life before she was found by a woman who would eventually become like family. But her life is turned upside down when she is sold into slavery by marauders. But her new master isn’t what you would expect. He knows Maire from “before” but refuses to explain their connection. So does a “ghost” named Fyel. But as Maire slowly learns more about herself, she finds herself changing into something not quite human. But what is she? That is the path of Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet.

The world building was quite fascinating in this book. That was certainly a high point. None of the characters really spoke to me, but there wasn’t anything inherently bad about them. For most of the book, Maire is annoyed that she can’t remember who she is, even when she finds others that did know her and refuse to tell her things. That was the one thing I didn’t really understand. Why can’t anything be told to her?? When everything comes out, it becomes understandable why the one character couldn’t. But still slightly annoying while reading. What was also fun was the integration of fairy tales like Hansel & Gretel.

Overall rating
This would be a good book to read if you enjoy fairy tales and don’t mind not knowing anything more than the POV character.
3.5 out of 5 stars