This story was so cozy and sweet, with just a little bit of stakes to propel you forward. I really enjoyed all the characters, even a couple of characters who were considered not really good guys. This story was a perfect example that you should be nice to people because you never know what's going on for them behind the scenes, and in their head. That first impressions are not always correct, and that you can find friendships in the least likely of places. Can't recommend this enough, especially if you enjoyed books like Legends and Latte's by Travis Baldree.

Cosy, cosy cosy! A great book for anyone for anyone who enjoyed Legends and Lattes. It's like a cosy, fae version of Bake Off. Although I tend to lean more towards a queer couple book, I really enjoyed the story of Arleta and the Baking challenge she goes to.

What an utterly cozy and charming fantasy read! A Fellowship of Bakers and Magic perfectly balances heartwarming friendships, self-discovery, and just the right amount of romantic tension. This is exactly how romance should be written, with depth, natural chemistry, and stakes that feel real. I absolutely adored the journey of meeting new friends and finding oneself along the way. And as a delightful bonus, the recipes in the back were such a fun touch! This book is pure comfort, wrapped in magic and warmth.

My thanks to Net Galley, Poisoned Pen Press, and J. Penner for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A cute and light-hearted read for those who enjoy cozy cottagecore fantasy. Very simplistic and easy to fall into, along with being a very fast read. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.

A little magic, a little romance, some new friends and a life-changing experience are all present in J Penner's "A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic". When a small-town human gets invited to the biggest - ELVEN - baking contest in the land, she isn't sure she's up for the challenge of leaving home to compete. But the attractive elf who came to collect her, won't let her back out. Once at the contest, our human baker makes new friends, bakes delicious desserts, and learns to step out of her small-town comfort zone. The magic is a sidekick to this sweet story, so don't expect typical "Romantasy" here. But do enjoy the character and relationship building that promises to carry into additional titles in a series.

Cozy fantasy in all its snuggly glory. This is the Great British Bake-off fantasy edition. It delivers in every way I wanted it to.

First we have a very likable FMC (human) who is minding her business making her pastry’s sans magic, and they’re freaking delicious. Fae MMC comes waltzing in with his handsome fae muscles and pretty face and tries a pastry. His jaw hits the dirt; they’re that good. He then asks her to put on her brave panties and to enter the magical baking competition. She says nope - big no thanks to that. What happens next!?

This has a darling found family vibe. It’s very sweet and enchanting. I was happy during every second of this read.

This book was such a heartwarming cozy read, I finished it in one day! I am a baker myself and loved the detail of that side of the story and the baking competition concept was so fun. This was a whimsical lovely time.

Cozy, low stakes and mouthwatering. It pretty much sums up A fellowship of bakers & magic.

This is story about realizing your dreams -as unexpected as they might be-, acceptance and finding a place to belong. Add to this delicious baked goods, a found family, a dash of romance and the chillest of competition and you get a cute, relaxing story with endearing characters and unlikely friendships.

I was so excited to be approved for this book, since it had been on my radar for a while. Advertised as a successor to Legends and Lattes, except with a baking competition, I had very high hopes. When Arleta, a human baker, receives an invite to participate in a baking competition that could make her a whole new life, she's terrified and convinced she won't win, but is dragged in by a random elf who really wants her to enter.
Arleta is a complainer who is ridiculously unfortunate. Her attitude, or perhaps the world's bizarre attitude, about magicless people seemed like Penner was trying to make some point about prejudice, but it came across heavy-handed. Arleta is also such a passive actor in the story; things happen to her, instead of her doing things. Theo, the love interest, could have been replaced by a cardboard cutout, or maybe his horse, for as much personality as he had.
I think the biggest thing that set this apart from L&L was the lack of edges in the world. Everything was perfectly smooth and sanded down, and it felt like a story written to fall into the cozy fantasy genre, not a story that was written out of love for cozy or fantasy. This one bummed me out.

I'm not sure what to make of this book. I was starting to vibe with the story and then the male love interest came in an ruined it immediately for me.

The premise of A Fellowship of Bakers and Magic sounded so much fun that I immediately requested it. The story is wholesome, and I loved it so much! J. Penner has created an incredible world filled with amazing characters. I loved their relationship and slow burn romance was amazing to read. And did I mention the delicious food? If you enjoy cozy fantasy, definitely pick up this book. I can't wait to read more from this series. Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'll post my review closer to the publication date.

This was a cozy fantasy but I found it to be a little slow. It took me a little while to like Arleta. She’s ready to win the baking competition!

If you are into:
🥐Cooking
🥐Pastries
🥐Potential romance
🥐Self discovery
🥐Heart warming friendships

Then this book is for you!! Thank you NetGalley, J.Penner and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC!

Rating: 🥐🥐🥐
Publication date : April 15 2025

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this arc.

I loved this book. The concept drew me in immediately, as a fan of both fantasy and baking competitions, and I found it to be a very enjoyable read.

The friendship between Arleta, Doli, and Jez was so sweet and fun, and I loved where things ended up with Taenya. Theo was charming and I really enjoyed the dynamic he and Arleta had.

Overall this book is great, and I will certainly keep my eye out for any other books in this universe. I hope to see what these characters do next. (And I very much look forward to trying out the recipes at the end of the book)

I wanted to like this so badly. The premise sounds great but the book is SO lackluster. Arleta was unlikeable. All she did was go on and on about being magicless. And the romance didn't make it better. Theo was nice enough, but no effort was made to make the connection feel genuine. Instead it was a lazy attempt at a fated mates trope. Which Arleta went on and on about how they couldn't be fated because she was a poor pathetic magicless human. At least it had recipes from the boring baking contest, so I gave it another star for that.

This was a super cute and cozy read. I loved the characters, although I’m not sure why this was tagged LGBTQIA aside from the gay orc neighbors who make an appearance for maybe 6 paragraphs.

Arleta Starstone is wonderful baker. Having lost her parents at 16, our main character is deeply traumatized. Understandable but please, have at least a little bit of faith in yourself. Especially when there are people who tell you that you truly ARE a formidable baker and that actually DO care for you!
But no, she constantly cries about how she can’t do anything, should not participate in the great bake off, doesn’t deserve love or friendship.
I do like characters that doubt themselfes and have a good development, don’t get me wrong. But this went on nearly all the time and then suddenly, poof, she’s like “yeah actually I AM good!” It wasn’t believable at all.

I really wanted to love this book because cozy fantasy, magic and pastries sound great! But sadly, not this time.

This was an amazingly cozy read!
In this story, Arleta Starstone is a talented human baker. However, in a world where many beings have magic, and she does not, Arleta has to work twice as hard to get herself noticed. One day, her neighbor enters her into a baking competition and she gets accepted! Thus begins Arleta’s journey to the baking competition and hopefully, her dreams.
I loved how delightfully cozy this book was. Found family, tasty treats, and a baking competition in a fancy city all set this book up to have a great atmosphere. J. Penner did a great job of landing this book right on the line where things never got super angsty or emotional to break it out of the cozy genre, yet it still had enough plot to keep the reader interested.
I also loved all of the characters in this book. Found family is one of my favorite genres and I love how the unlikely characters become friends throughout the book. I felt like the characters were all well written and well rounded.
4 stars, and recommended to anyone who is looking for a low stakes cozy fantasy. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series!

I had a really hard time getting into this book despite the fact that I am an LOTR and Great British Bake Off superfan. The writing style was too staccato for my taste and it was pulling me out of the story. I am a DNF.

Beautiful, magical, emotional, and deeply layered. I really loved this book.

It is character driven, with diverse and lovable characters. It's well-paced. I never felt bogged down with superfluous details. And I loved the world-building, which felt new, but still familiar.

There is also some great subtext in this book. Nothing is particularly overt, but the story does an elegant job of mirroring the isolating influence of bigotry—the you'll-never-be-good-enough judgment of others.

In the end, I cried. Before the end, I cried. This is a beautifully moving and life-affirming story. It is a book about embracing your truth and following your passions. And it is a story of self-discovery, found family, friendship, community, and love. The world needs more books like this.

Thank you Poison Pen Press/Sourcebooks for a copy of this ARC! I was incredibly excited to receive this so I can't thank you enough!

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book as much as I would've liked. I love cozy fantasy, I love food/baking competitions and I love low stakes! Alas, this book did not give me the mix I wanted. But to get the positives out of the way:

1. The side characters were pretty fun! There was not one that I didn't like, and thought that they added a lot to the book in a good way. I do wish they appeared slightly more often, but I don't think it would've matter either way.
2. The writing was easy to read! I tore through this book quite easily, although I did see some sentences that made me have to think somewhat. Otherwise however, again, I had no problems reading this book.
3. I LOVE that recipes were provided at the end of this book. As someone who loves to bake, I appreciate it when books about food give out the recipes to the food shown in the book!
4. Theo is great, I adore him. He's just a nice green thumb who respects Arleta as a baker AND as a woman and quite frankly, he deserves better. It was a joy to read when he was around.

Now, onto my not so positive thoughts:

1. I think Arleta is incredibly under written. She's an amazing baker, she's non magical and she's human and...that's kinda all to her. She's also insecure, and unfortunately, I don't think it was written in a way that added anything to her. Nothing about her backstory explains away her insecurities, other than the fact that as a magicless human, people write her off. Her personality doesn't go further than 'nice girl who doesn't want to stand out for fear of being discovered'. This colours a lot of her interactions with other characters (especially those with strong personalities) and it just makes her stand all the more out as a character who is bland.
2. The worldbuilding here is...forgettable? Maybe nonexistent because I couldn't remember a lot of it other than: elves are better than everyone. Which doesn't make sense to me. Nothing here is set up for me to agree with how elves are almost worship liked by other races. I don't think it helps that we don't actually get a lot of elven characters, and the ones we see are already put on a high horse for something other than their race. All in all, I was just really confused.
3. This book is too fast paced when it came to the actual competition. I understand that is a cozy fantasy, but it was boring. We go from one scene to another in fast succession without giving many details. It doesn't feel like there's a lot of stakes involved when we're quick to get the results. There was never a point where I feared anything unlucky would happen to the MC.
4. At times, it felt like there were certain scenes written in for the sake of having those tropes be in the book. Unfortunately, as a result, I don't think they actually fit in. Or the characters weren't given enough time or development for those scenes to work out. Which is a shame because I think they could've worked out.

Overall, I have to rate this a 2 stars. I appreciate the effort that went into this book, but it wasn't for me, I don't think.