Bake Believe by Cari Cooper

This book explains what happens when you mix baking and magic together.

This was a nice, feel-good cozy. I enjoyed the characters, but I felt putting the recipes in between chapters was annoying and distracting. They should have been at the end of the book.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

What a wholesome fun and easy read
The lighter side of YA novels, a bit of bakery and magic and all sorts of interesting things can happen
I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more like it

Thank you NetGalley for a free ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is a really cute and quirky middle grade book. I loved that the recipes were incorporated at the end of each chapter. This is a good book. But I wasn’t overly impressed with the writing and I found the main character a bit annoying at times but did like the overall journey of this book and the lessons learned along the way.

I would like to personally thank NetGalley for letting me read this book! Bake Believe is a cute middle grade story about a young girl named Cat. Cat is about to go into eighth grade and she has always found it strange that her mother never cooks or bakes. But one day Cat makes the discovery that she can bake her feeling into whatever she makes! If she is feeling happy when she is baking the person who eats it will be happy! This book was so charming! I liked that the main character enjoyed Baking. However, she still made mistakes like any person, there are some mishaps where things didn’t always go as planned! But Cat was such a relatable character and she was a bit boy crazy. Where she bakes love into a pastry abut the wrong person eats it! I also really liked that at the end of every chapter there was a recipe for the pastry that was mentioned in the chapter! This book ended open in a sense that there has to be a sequel to see with what happens with Cat next! If your looking for a cute middle grade read this is definitely worth a read this book comes out on November 5th!

This is a cute novel made for teenagers and even their parents. If you have a teen that loves to use recipes then they will love this book! At the end of most chapters, baking recipes are shared. Everything from sugar cookies to bread!

I could see a second book be published. I kept thinking more would be discussed about the Arizona trip but it was kind of left open ended. I don't want to say much more as to avoid spoilers.

I would recommend this book to middle age children/teenagers.

Deliciously baked goods meet magic for a fun adventure...and tons of ideas to munch on, too.

Cat's mother doesn't bake. She doesn't cook, either, which means they always eat frozen foods, which are simply warmed up. Cat thinks nothing of it until she actually enters a bakery...something her mother would have never, ever allowed if she was there. One bite of a homemade pretzel, and Cat is in heaven. When a school schedule mix-up has her placed in a culinary class, Cat quickly learns that fresh baked is awesome, but every time her friends eat her treats, they act weird. When her mother finds out Cat's baking, she's anything but happy...and soon, Cat learns why.

The idea of cooking emotions into food isn't a new one, but this book takes it for a delicious and entertaining spin. Cat is pure tween as she gets ready for the last day of summer, and it's hard not to smile at her hectic ridiculousness as she heads to the pool. The reader gets to know Cat well before the magic settles in, and that's great because it allows her somewhat silly, yet full of goodness self to come through and set the perfect stage to come.

The flow of magic into the plot has a slow build, and allows it to dribble in with natural finesse. I did find it a bit slower than I like at times, but then, I tend to be an action fan. Still, we get to know Cat well, and it's hard not to feel with her as she learns about what she can do, and then how to handle it. The entire thing beats every day tween-girl drama in with more than a pinch of insecurities, family, first crushes and friendship.

But that's not all. At the end of each and every chapter is a recipe, which readers can bake themselves. The directions are written as if Cat had written them herself. Some of these are more advanced, while others are very simple. The cookbook and plot make for a fun, tasty mix. I picked up a complimentary ARC and found this to be a fun read.