A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic Book Review

A Fellowship of Bakers and Magic 

by J. Penner

Release Date: Nov. 13, 2023

Genre: Fantasy

Age Range: Adult

Series: Adenashire

Goodreads Avg. Rating: 4.22 stars

When I first saw the reels promoting this they were showing off baked goods and/or a cat. I wanted to find out more. This book sounded full of cozy vibes and warm treats.

A Fellowship of Bakers and Magic takes place in a magical world full of fantasy creatures. In particular, we are in The Northern Lands in the village of Adenashire. The is a quaint little village with orcs, elves, dwarves, halflings, and many more. It never particularly said if our main character is the only human in the village but she defiantly didn't seem to interact with any others. The world seems to be vaguely middle ages as most fantasy settings are. However, there are stoves and ice boxes, magically worked mostly but still an advancement.

Magic in this world is mostly unexplained. Our fantasy races just have some form of it. Some elves will have the ability to mind-speak with animals or plants. Dwarves have magic related to the Earth so most are miners. There are some human wizards so not all humans are magicless.

We follow Arleta, a magicless human in this fantasy world full of magical creatures. Arleta instead creates her own brand of magic with her baking skills. Arleta suffers from self-doubt as well as the stubborn nature of I need to do everything myself, a horrible combination to be sure. At times the amount of negative thinking did feel too much. However, I can see the purpose of it. The author was just writing about how most of us suffer from our own anxieties. Just in books, I like characters who aren't quite as distraught as myself.
 
There was character growth throughout the book. It slowly developed as Arleta learned to trust in her own skills. Also not everyone would care that she was a magicless human. That the world is full of kind people who will want to help instead of needing to make their own way.

The story revolves around Arleta competing in the Elven Baking Battle. She did not enter herself, but one of her creations was submitted by her Orc neighbor. After begrudgingly accepting the invitation to compete Arleta sets off on a journey to the castle of the Northern Lands. As she is battling her nerves it also shows the peace to be found in a task you enjoy.

An added flavor to this cozy book would be the romantic aspect. While it was somewhat in the description I did not expect quite what we got. Our love interest is adorable and kind. He only wants to support Arleta however he can. When Arleta isn't sure of herself he is patiently there to encourage her. I liked that while it did keep coming up it wasn't central to the plot much until the end. It was more that this was part of Arleta's journey to letting people in.

This book was delightful. It is filled with wonderfully delicious foods, a ranged cast of characters, and slow build romance. While I did mean to read this starting on Thanksgiving that didn't exactly happen. It worked out better to finish it when I did though. Finishing up this cozy book was the perfect mood lifter for Monday. The author has announced that she is working on the next book to take place in Adenashire that will follow Doli and involve a library.

The book is available in E-Book, Audio, and Print from the Below Sellers:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org