Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble audiobook

Review posted on Fafa's Book Corner! Beware spoilers ahead!Trigger warning: Death mentioned, mention of cancer, bullying, physical violence, and abuse of magic powers.A Dash of Trouble was read for the theme January Jam Jar. For a book group called Devour Your TBR on GR.Leo's family runs a bakery. As she is too young Leo isn't allowed to partake in the bakery activities. Leo soon realizes that there might in fact be another reason to it. With the help of her best friend Caroline, Leo discovers that her family are practicing magic!Behind her families back Leo begins to practice magic on her own. Leo decides to use her first spell to help Caroline. Rather than doing any good Leo instead creates a big mess. Can Leo right her mistakes with the help of her family and Caroline?I heard about A Dash of Trouble through Twitter. The cover and the synopsis was cute so I decided to purchase myself a copy. I am happy to say that I loved it! The book is written in third person limited following Leo. There are chapter titles, and chapter numbers along with an illustration. There are poems. The spells were mostly in Spanish. At the end of the book there's a section labeled Leo's Lucky Recipes. And lastly baking similes.This was such a cute book! While also being unique. I loved the magic system and how the baking was involved. All the baking terminology and process was accurate. I also liked how present the culture was even in the spells!I loved the family aspect! Leo is very close with her family. I liked how unique all the sisters' were. Isabel the kind oldest and calm one. Marisol the second oldest while a bit rude still caring in her own way. Alma and Belen the twins who are the closest in age to Leo. Thus are a bit closer. I also liked Leo's parents and aunt Paloma.Leo and Caroline's friendship was also well done! Caroline's mother passed away due to cancer prior to the book. Sometime after that Caroline and her father moved. The family returns back home. And it's like no time has passed at all between the girl's. There's also Brent whom I took some time to warm up to. Regardless he grew on me.I absolutely loved the diversity! Leo's family are Spanish. There culture is present in their magic, as the women are Bruja's. Caroline is half Colombian. She helps Leo translate some spells. The book actually begins with The Day of the Dead festival.I felt that the author wrote realistic middle graders. All the social problems even felt so. Especially with Brent and the peer pressure he felt in leaving Caroline. Which also ties in to the magic mishaps. Leo decides to put a love spell on Brent so he would go back to being friends with Caroline. Of course this doesn't end well. And it effects the social hierarchy system.I really liked Leo's growth! Throughout the book Leo believes she can solve the problem on her own. In doing so she lies to her family and Caroline. Even to herself. All under the assumption that if her family found out rather than helping her they would stop her from using magic. Leo sees the error in her ways and confesses to everyone. While also owning up to her mistakes.Overall I loved A Dash of Trouble! I highly recommend this series.

LOVE LOVE LOVE. A smart, clever debut. Perfect for fans of Wizards of Waverly Place and The Book of Life.

Loved loved loved. A family of brujas who channel their magic through baking, and the youngest member of the family learning how to deal with her newfound powers. So many hilarious moments, and a big focus on family and friendship. Some of the funny moments reminded me of one of my favorite tv shows when I was growing up: Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It comes out in 2018, and I can't wait to reread it when it does!

Actual Ratin: 4.5 starsI read this for a middle grade fantasy vlog! https://youtu.be/0Daa8kHwbFwThis was so fun and charming! The youngest in a family of sisters feels left out because there's a big secret everyone is keeping from her: they are baking witches or brujas! Leo snoops around and ends up getting into some very sticky situations messing with magic she doesn't know how to use. It's a book about family, friendship, and finding your inner strength. This will appeal to anyone who knows what it's like to the youngest trying to tag along!

Wonderful, warm and utterly brimming over with magic! This is a middle grade that is best served with your favorite sweet treat and a mug of hot chocolate, on a day when you can really sink into your sofa cushions and savor it.

Review originally published 28 July 2019 at Falling Letters.The Love Sugar Magic books exemplify some of my favourite elements of middle grade fiction: the fun combination of magic and baking, strong family relationships (with well-defined personalities for all seven family members!), a protagonist who demonstrates empathy and care for her best friend, and the incorporation of the protagonist’s family heritage and culture (Mexican in this case).That ‘one little spell’ mentioned in A Dash of Trouble's description turns out to be a love spell. I initially thought, “Oh, a love potion gone wrong, sounds familiar”. (view spoiler)[I thought Leo’s friend Brent (who Caroline is crushing on) would fall in love with Leo and that would be the mess that would need to be resolved. So I was pleased when that didn’t happen. I laughed a lot Leo’s spells went wrong in ways I wasn’t expecting. (I also laughed at Brent’s love letters.) (hide spoiler)]Leo proves to be quite stubborn in attempting to resolve her messes. She refuses to ask for help in a manner that I think would feel realistic to middle grade readers. (view spoiler)[By the time she’s dealing with Brent stuck in the jar, she does make the decision to ask her sisters for help. If she hadn’t asked for help at that point, then I would have considered that a flaw in the narrative. (hide spoiler)] Something else I loved about Leo is how much she cares for her friend Caroline (whose mother recently passed away) and strives to support her. Upon seeing Caroline’s redecorated room with a photo of her and her parents when she was a baby: The only thing [Leo] hated more than feeling sad was having other people feel sad for her, and she didn’t want Caroline to know how sad Leo felt for the small Campbell family in the picture. Leo let herself stare at the picture for three seconds. One for Mr. Campbell, whose smile had no lines of worry; two for tiny baby Caroline, who was sound asleep and smiling; and three for Mrs. Campbell. Then she turned and looked at real-life Caroline and refused to let any sadness into her voice. “It looks great.” (pg. 126-7)The Bottom Line: The Love Sugar Magic series presents a delicious mix of middle grade’s best characteristics in the entertaining yet thoughtful magical happenings that Leo works through with her friends and family.