#magicbittermagicsweet

[cerena-felt-blog]

Aaaaand fan art!!!!!! Aaaaah! So happy. This is from probably one of the best books I've ever read, written by @cnholmberg , called magic bitter magic sweet. I thought I'd try my hand at Maire. I'm not sure how I liked how she turned out, I might tweak some things before I do another one. 😊#cerenafelt #magicbittermagicsweet #illustrator #illustration #art #characterdesign #cantstopmypen

[litsporation-blog]

Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet - Charlie N. Holmberg

I will go into this stating that I am not a huge fan of romance, but the romance was not the issue that I had with this book. It was everything else. I can’t even really justify it getting a star, because it was so weak on so many levels. I liked the idea of magical cakes and pastries being imbued with spells to improve the person who ingested them. That is it. It could have been executed so much better than it was.

The characters in this book were all incredibly flat. The heroine, Maire, has no real discernable flaws aside from memory loss. MAIRE-Y SUE.  This also feels like an overdone trope, especially since it happens in this book three times, and not just with Maire. Only one character in the book stands out to me, and that is because he is a poorly characterized “broken” character who comes across as someone with a disability.  Alamus, this character, could have been a great opportunity to make a gray area antagonist that you aren’t quite sure is the bad guy. Instead, the author did a botched job of it and just made him a mess. It seems like a poor portrayal of someone with problems that seem to be mental health related. (It may be an unfair call on my part because his issues are magical related since Maire created him, and she did a poor job of it. But, it’s how he comes across, and I didn’t like how it was done.)

There is a stab at a love triangle that falls flat since none of the relationships in the triangle are well developed. Maire has a “love” from her former life who just flits in and out of existence and can’t give her a straight answer to any question for no reason. It is more or less just done that way to build a mystery and to try to keep the reader reading.  No explanation why he can’t tell her anything, which is how I want my relationships to be. BUILT ON SECRETS AND WITHHOLDING INFORMATION THAT I WANT.

Since we’re on the topic of things I didn’t like about this book, how about the plot? Or really even the lack thereof. The structure of this story was flimsy at best, with many side stories and turns that didn’t really need to happen. I was excited when she tied in other fairytales - the house that appeared in Hansel and Gretel, and the Gingerbread Boy, but she didn’t build much on them. They were just little side tangents that felt lacking.

Really, this book just felt undeveloped for me - LIKE AN UNDERBAKED CAKE. :B