This was a nice surprise. It reminded me a little of a game I used to play, quite recently, until the levels became too hard and besides, I got a little tired of it too.

This book is about an orphaned girl, Wren, who is found by a confectioner who hired her as an apprentice. She turns out to have an innate talent for bakery magic (yes, that’s a thing in this book). People can have magic powers in certain areas, one being bakery and cooking. There’s another one that I think sounds kind of cool - the power to learn different subjects and skills very easily. Society is more or less run by the guilds for the different magic powers. There’s also a king and unfortunately, it’s an unequal and precarious society. War is threatening any order there might be and there’s corruption.

Anyway, Wren is invited to the confectioner’s guild because her cupcakes are legendary, even after such a relatively short time (five or six years). Unfortunately, after the head of the guild tastes her cupcake he dies from poisoning and Wren is accused of his murder. Fortunately for her, a young, handsome inspector, decides to vouch for her and she’s allowed to stay at the guild and be an apprentice there instead (which she probably would have been if not for the murder). She meets a pompous older man who’s opposed to her being there but also a really hot guy and a tough older girl who is a bit of a teacher for her, plus a nice girl her own age who becomes her friend.

I really liked this book. It was well written and the world it’s set in is fascinating. I felt that this ’bakery magic’ was unique and interesting. There are more books in the series and I’d love to read more about this world.