This is a fun sequel and I like that it followed on with the new magic and carried on with the story in a very easy way while also having a different mystery/story for us.

I really liked also that we got to know more about Wynn and his background. As well as more magical creatures which are in the world.

Really looking forward to the third book and how it will carry on with the story.

This book was pretty boring and I didn't finish it. Giving it one star feels wrong since, like I said, I didn't finish it, and it wasn't BAD persay, just not my thing.

This book was not for me. I did not particularly like it and ended up DNFing it thus won't be able to provide a detailed review.

"After her run-in with a jealous warlock, apprentice baker Anise Wise can’t wait to get back the kitchen where she belongs. But thanks to her brush with death, the land of the living isn’t all cupcakes and marshmallows."

-If you love Practical Magic, then grab a cup of tea, a snack and get comfy! This book was so so perfect! Warlocks and baked goods. Witches and spells. Just so good! Writing was great, This was the second book in the series but shoot I read it anyway!

This is a sweet story (see what I did there?) about Anise, a teenage witch who bakes using her magic, but after a battle in the first book, which I haven't read, she is tainted with death magic, which is not good for her or her baked goods. She works to rid herself of the death magic and to free Wynn from his debt in this slightly silly tale.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I read the first book in series a while back and I am did not review if for this blog but I got the second book and a review copy. Anise is a cool baking witch. This book goes smoothly and easily from the first book which does not always happen that well. I love the bodyguard as well and all the relationship and her aunt. This is just a sweet series of books. Not sure when I will get my hands on book 3.

VORSICHT, SPOILERALARM!

[WERBUNG]*

TITEL: Sugar Spells
AUTOR: Lola Dodge
VERLAG: Ink Monster
ERSCHIENEN am 30. Oktober 2018
BAND 2
GENRE: Young Adult
270 SEITEN
PREIS: 5, 09 € [D]
ASIN: B078CJB22D

Klappentext:
After her run-in with a jealous warlock, apprentice baker Anise Wise can’t wait to get back the kitchen where she belongs. But thanks to her brush with death, the land of the living isn’t all cupcakes and marshmallows.

Anise’s magical mojo is way out of whack and her evolving powers are stirring up trouble. As the town buzzes with news that Anise can bake deathly spells, unsavory characters start lining up for a taste. They’ll stop at nothing for the chance to use Anise and her witchcraft to further their own plots.

She plans to hole up researching magic recipes until the attention dies down, but then she discovers the horrifying terms of her bodyguard’s contract. Wynn has saved her life so many times, she can’t leave him trapped. But doing the right thing will mean risking death or worse—being cast out of her dream job.

For this witch, justice might not be as sweet as advertised.

Zitat:
»Using the longest spatula I could find, I corralled the cookies into the middle of the sheet and trapped them under glass before they became self-aware and rose up to overthrow the bakery.«
("Sugar Spells" (c) Lola Dodge/Ink Monster)

Kaufgrund:
Als ich dieses zuckersüße Cover zum ersten Mal gesehen hatte, musste ich das Buch einfach haben! Ich bekam auf NetGalley auch gleich die Bestätigung, das Buch lesen zu dürfen, doch leider merkte ich erst dann, dass es sich hierbei um den zweiten Band der Reihe handelte... Zum Glück habe ich mir auch den ersten Band bestellt und mich sofort in die Spellwork Syndicate Reihe verliebt!

Cover/Ausstattung:
Dieses Cover ist so süß! (Im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes...) Da bekommt man doch gleich Hunger auf Macarons, oder?

Titel:
Wie ich schon in meiner Rezension zu "Deadly Sweet" erwähnt habe, hätte ich die Titel des ersten und zweiten Bands getauscht, denn in diesem Band tauchen tatsächlich einige tödliche Köstlichkeiten auf... Ansonsten mag ich den Titel aber gerne.

Schreibstil:
Wie auch im ersten Band war Lola Dodges Schreibstil leicht und angenehm zu lesen. Die Autorin erzählt sehr detailreich, schweift dabei aber auch nicht zu weit aus. Ich konnte Taos regelrecht vor mir sehen und hatte die ganze Zeit den Duft von Macarons in der Nase ;) Außerdem mag ich Anises Humor sehr gerne, sie konnte mich immer wieder zum Lächeln bringen.

Protagonist/in:
Anise ist wie immer eine bezaubernde Protagonistin. Ein wenig chaotisch stolpert sie durch ihre neue Welt und versucht mit ihren neuen, ungewohnten Kräften klarzukommen. In diesem Band war mir Anise sogar noch sympathischer als im ersten Band. Man kann sich einfach so gut in sie hineinversetzen! Bis auf die magischen Backfähigkeiten natürlich ;)

Nebencharaktere:
Vielleicht erinnert ihr euch noch, dass ich mir nach dem ersten Band gewünscht habe, mehr über die Nebencharaktere der Geschichte zu erfahren? Genau dieser Wunsch hat sich in "Sugar Spells" erfüllt! Besonders die Hintergrundgeschichte von Anises Bodyguard Wynn lernen wir in diesem Band besser kennen und ich mochte ihn mit jeder Seite mehr. Aber auch Anises Freundinnen und die Frauen des Spellwork Syndicates sind faszinierende Charaktere - jede einzelne von ihnen würde ein eigenes Buch verdienen. Und wer weiß: vielleicht erfüllt sich ja auch dieser Wunsch?

Plot:
Zuerst muss ich hier unbedingt erwähnen, dass es (wie auch im ersten Band) keine Lovestory gab! Das fand ich wirklich toll, denn es regt mich total auf, wenn Autoren Liebesgeschichten in ihre Bücher einbauen, die überhaupt nichts mit dem Plot zu tun haben und nur da sind... naja, damit sie eben da sind. Das hätte bei "Sugar Spells" überhaupt nicht gepasst, weshalb ich mich sehr gefreut habe, dass das Buch auch ohne Romance auskommt. Dafür stehen besonders die platonischen Beziehungen zwischen Anise und den anderen Charakteren im Vordergrund. Wir erfahren außerdem mehr über die Welt, in der die Geschichte spielt, und über die verschiedenen Arten von Magie, was ich sehr spannend fand. Insgesamt war der Plot wirklich interessant und es gab viele überraschende Wendungen, wegen denen ich mich unglaublich auf den dritten Band freue.

Stimmung beim Lesen:
Ich konnte mich beim Lesen kaum von der Geschichte losreißen, zum einen, weil mich diese magische Welt so fasziniert hat, zum anderen aber auch, weil ich die Charaktere unglaublich mochte. Das beste war aber, dass es trotz der spannenden Handlung immer wieder Momente gab, in denen ich laut lachen musste.

Fazit:
"Sugar Spells" ist ein wundervolles und originelles Fantasybuch und konnte seinen Vorgänger "Deadly Sweet" sogar noch toppen! Ich freue mich schon sehr auf den dritten Band.
5 von 5 Sternen!

[Danke an Ink Monster und NetGalley für das Rezensionsexemplar, dass ich im Austausch gegen eine ehrliche Rezension erhalten habe.

Text-, Cover- und Zitatrechte: Ink Monster

*Bei diesem Buch handelt es sich um ein Rezensionsexemplar. Aus diesem Grund kennzeichne ich diesen Beitrag mit [Werbung]. Für meine Beiträge werde ich grundsätzlich nicht bezahlt.]

I was so excited to get an ARC of this book! I read Dodge's Deadly Sweet last summer and fell in love with the world and the characters, so thank you so much to NetGalley for this book.   

Sugar Spells picks up pretty much immediately after the first book, Anise is recovered from the events of the last book and starts trying to pick up her baking again. But it goes disastrously and she's then banned from the kitchen. There's a definite character shift in this book and honestly it wasn't my favorite.  The first book is so cute and fluffy and so feel goody, and this book felt more angsty and I didn't like it. I didn't find myself sympathizing with Anise as much in this book and I'm not exactly sure why. I think part of it is her inability to think things through or ask adults to help her, which is something she did in the first book but for some reason forgot how to do in this one? 

The world and the side characters all took a major backseat in this story which was disappointing. I love Anise's aunt Agatha but she was barely in the book at all! Wynn is still a major character, and it was nice that he and Anise actually became friends in this book. But as a whole he annoyed me. I hate stoic, wordless cis male characters with a passion and Wynn is exactly that. Also the only thing Anise gets to bake with her death magic are macaroons which got old after awhile.  I wanted to see her try so much more with her death magic/cooking mix, but sadly it never happened. 

The only thing that I really loved from this book is the introduction of Anise's familiar Carrot, who is pretty cool and a lot of fun to read. 

All in all I'm pretty disappointed in this book, and I'm unsure if I'll read the third book in the series. I gave Sugar Spells 3 stars on Goodreads, but honestly it should be more like a 2.5 star rating.

I finished Sugar Spells in one day because it was seriously unputdownable. And at the same time, I kept looking at the percentage bar because I so did not want the book to end. Yes, it was that good.

Sugar Spells is the second book in the Spellwork Syndicate series, and I loved it even more than the first book, Deadly Sweet.

I loved watching Anise and Wynn's relationship develop from "almost enemies" to the sweetest of friendships. Their bickerings were my favourite part of the book, but I also loved it when they finally became friends.

Anise's familiar was another cute character, and her not-so-cute lingo made her character all the more adorable!

And of course, the delicious sugary goodness of Agatha's bakery again managed to make my mouth water and left me craving donuts and cookies.

All in all, Sugar Spells was spellbinding, fun-filled and utterly enjoyable. You should definitely read it!

Sugar Spells continues from where Deadly Sweet ended. Anise had close encounter with death, and coming back had it’s consequences – she can not bake a thing without putting the customers in danger. What to do? There are couple of opinions, but none of them help. Her only opinion is to bake the death touch out of her. But who would buy a deadly sweets? Well turns out, there is somebody who is willing to buy and to eat her cooking.

So she moves from kitchen to kitchen and bakes her deadly macron, especially since in addition to her baking out the unwanted new ability, she has also discovered, that her bodyguard could really use the money.

So in this fast and interesting and thrilling story Anise bakes and learns and fights her and Wynn’s way to freedom and gets more friends and a familiar.

Really good YA paranormal story.

This is a second book in a serie, and it's fair to say, I haven't read the first one. There were a few pieces I had to put together but nothing too big to prevent me from enjoying this sweet story. If you like a little bit of magic and a little bit of baking , this book is for you!

I love any magical baking story – something about the concept of baking spells into cake just really makes me happy. This series is a really great example of heartwarming YA/NA contemporary witch fantasy! (Plus, I am living for the aesthetic of these covers!)

These books follow Anise Wise, a young woman with a magical talent for baking, as she moves away from her previous normal life with her mother, into Taos, a community of witches, so she can take an apprenticeship at her aunt’s magical bakery. The first book mainly deals with how Anise settles in and learns about her powers and her heritage, but there is also a mystery element, as there appears to be an assassin in town… There are a lot of delicious sounding desserts and cakes, too! There’s slightly less baking in the second book than in the first, as a lot of the plot revolves around something going very awry with Anise’s magic after the incidents in the first book – everything she bakes turns to something horrible, and there are vampires about who would love to take advantage of this…

Honestly, these books are just so much fun! I love reading from Anise’s perspective, as she has a really engaging voice. Her enthusiasm for baking shines through, as does a certain amount of her real-world sass, which is amusing set against the politeness of the witch society of Taos. It was great to see so many strong and well-faceted female characters – the majority of people that Anise interacts with in Taos are women, and there’s a sense of community that made this really heart-warming. It’s sadly unusual to find women supporting women so whole-heartedly in YA fiction, but Anise’s community of witches is so kind and powerful and supportive. It made me grin throughout.

As these are quite short books with pretty big twists, I can’t tell you much more about the plot, but suffice to say, I love this kind of cozy fantasy – I’d love more recommendations for low-angst books with supportive cinnamon roll characters. Bonus points if the book features actual cinnamon rolls or other baked goods too! Deadly Sweet and Sugar Spells are going firmly on the comfort reread shelf, and I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the third book, Wicked Tasty, which I believe publishes in March. I gave both books five out of five starseach!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

First off, I wish I'd realized this was the second book in a series (and it was probably made clear in the books description when I requested it, but I was so spellbound by the cover that I wasn't even paying attention to that). There was definitely some backstory I was missing out on, and while I felt like the major points that were necessary for this story to make sense were covered, I still felt like I was playing catch-up for most of this story. I think I probably missed out on some of the excitement of this story because I was playing catch-up.

I was drawn to this book because it was pretty clearly about magic and baking, so I was disappointed to find out that there just wasn't a whole lot of baking going on, at least not the type of baking that would result in treats I would want to eat. Murder macarons just aren't high up on the list of things I plan on putting in my mouth.

I found the different types of witches intriguing. Seeing their different affinities and how those affected their relationships with others was definitely unique. This was a different take on magic than what I'm used to, and it was a refreshing change of pace in that respect. I was anxious to see how Anise and Wynn would escape Girrar's clutches, and if Anise would succeed in freeing Wynn from his Shield contract.

I definitely look forward to seeing how Anise's life changes now.

Overall I give Sugar Spells 4.0748 stars.

IN SUMMARY: In the sequel to DEADLY SWEET, SUGAR SPELLS bakes up a fun adventure and develops its heroine and main characters. A must-read for baking fans, magic fans, and a little bit of mayhem fans.

MY THOUGHTS:

SUGAR SPELLS was simply a lot of fun. Problems from the last novel run over into this one: awkward writing mainly being the main problem, underdeveloped side characters taking second place. Anyone but Anise and Wynn are the human equivalent of white bread: boring, bland, and stale, with no discerning character traits between them.

But, having said that, SUGAR SPELLS is undeniably silly and charming, and sometimes runs with its absurd premise. It was so interesting to learn more about Wynn and his history, and I enjoyed seeing how tentative professionalism blossomed into a sweet friendship between him and Anise.

WILL I READ ON? Yep! WICKED TASTY next year some time!

This second installment in the series is just as sweet as the first (ha!). While I’m sure you should always start from the beginning of a series, this can probably be read as your first foray into this world.

We join Anise as she reels from some side effects of her last misadventure into the world of baking and magic. She’s got a healthy (maybe?) dose of death magic mixed in with her normal magic that’s making her baking… bad. Really, really bad. So bad that she’s on the verge of being kicked out of the kitchen permanently. Lucky for her, she’s got super supportive friends, one of which is a specialist in death magic, and they’re all determined to get this out of her system.

Aside from Anise’s battle against her own magic (and baked goods), we’ve also got a front row seat to the show that is Anise and Wynn. Wynn may be essentially enslaved and bound to protect Anise, but we know very little about his past before the book starts. We get a nice in depth look and also get a nice development of their relationship here. The impetus? Well, how about a death eating big bad? That seems about par for the course in Anise’s life. All in all, this story was fun, interesting, and left me desperately craving baked goods (minus the death magic).

Anise Wise barely survived her last dangerous encounter. She very nearly died and had to be brought back by a little dark magic. Now that dark magic is infecting everything that she does. Her recipes are deadly... literally. The death magic in her is so strong that she can't even walk near plants without killing them.

Anise must either wait for magic to fade, learn how to harness it so she can at least live her life, or both.

Anise chooses both.

Now Anise must try to burn off the death magic and find a way to get her Shield, Wynn, out of the worst magical contract ever constructed.

Maybe she can do both at the same time.

Or maybe she'll end up worse than before.

Final thoughts: I still love Anise. It took me a bit to get back into the swing of things because it's been a while since I read the first book. But once in, I was hooked. The ending felt a bit rushed but that may be because I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't want it to end. Now that it's done, I'm curious to see what happens next and eagerly await the next story.

Rating: 4/5

ARC courtesy of NetGalley

I had some personal issues come up drastic enough that I didn't have the chance to read at all, and this is the first book I picked up to read after everything calmed back down. I'm going to be honest, I didn't expect that I was going to be able to give it a fair review. I hadn't even been excited about my emails offering free books. Imagine my surprise when I was whisked away into this world and stayed up all night reading until the very last page. This book was the balm my battered soul needed and the vacation my brain had desperately longed for.

I hadn't had a chance to read the first book, so I jumped in to book 2 with the hope that it wouldn't be too noticeable. While I certainly noticed, it wasn't bad and I don't feel as though there were any spoilers. If you are a person who hates realizing you missed a book, you may be mildly irritated so take the time to read the first book. If you don't care, you aren't going to have any problems reading them out of order.

Even without having read anything else, I could tell that there was clear character development among the characters and especially with Anise's Shield. I loved how Anise was a character that anyone could relate to. She struggles with money problems while the rest of the witches seem to be well-off due to living in a certain area close to their source of magic. It's actually this that helps her to relate to those in the non-witchy world. I felt is was also interesting how the witch's face prejudice outside of their little bubble of witch life. Anise sees this first hand while on an outing with friends.

I found myself trying to figure out the next twist and turn only to find that at times, the twist that I was waiting for was actually a straight line. You kept thinking a certain thing was going to happen and it didn't, which was actually just as rewarding as if it had. All in all, I have found a writer that I'm sure to follow and a book I have to go back and find to read, if only because I can't wait to find myself lost in their world again.

I highly recommend this book and it's a clean novel suitable for all ages.

Thank you to Lola Dodge, Ink Monster, LLC., and NetGalley for allowing me the chance to experience this world and share my thoughts and opinions with others. It was truly a wonderful experience.

A most excellent story, so good that I wish I had found the series sooner. Anise Wise is a wiz in the kitchen, literally; well as least she was until she was exposed to a little too much death magic and now the only goodies she can make are deadly macarons. Macarons that a strange little vampire/bat guy wants to purchase for who knows what reason. To complicate matters she has to deal with a surly bodyguard who would do anything to protect her while at the same time hating her because of his indentured servitude to a malicious overlord. Anise is as sweet as the baked goods she is known for making, her character is real and relatable. The story line kept me wanting more and I look forward to seeing the ice melt as things heat up between Anise and Wynn.

-thank you to the publisher and to netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review-
A sequel (I didn’t know going into it).
This books tried, really hard. The magic system was a bit confusing to me, which could be because I mistakenly requested the second book in the set without having read the first, or because it just isn’t fully explained.
Although categorized as YA, I’d almost put this in the middle grade area, with an aim at older middle graders. I will try again to read this but at this time...it didn’t feel well with me.

When I saw the synopsis of the book and how it was related to Hex Hall I wanted to give this one a go. I also found out that this was the second in the series sigh lol, Any who, onto my review.

There are some things that did leave me asking questions because I didn’t read the first one. Aside from that I loved how Anise was paying attention to people and trying to figure out ways to help them. She does struggle with baking which was a little disheartening because she lives for it.

I loved the growth that the characters had in the book, they all played a roll in helping Anise.

This book was a light and quick read. I was able to finish this in one sitting, its packed with lots of magical beings this book would be perfect for the Halloween season.

My review is a little “off” I think because I haven’t read the first one to get to know the characters as well as I should. This one was a pretty good read.