Brownies & Broomsticks by Bailey Caites

**1/2

From Signet:

Katie Lightfoot's tired of loafing around as the assistant manager of an Ohio bakery. So when her aunt Lucy and uncle Ben open a bakery in Savannah's quaint downtown district and ask Katie to join them, she enthusiastically agrees.

While working at the Honeybee Bakery—named after Lucy's cat—Katie notices that her aunt is adding mysterious herbs to her recipes. Turns out these herbal enhancements aren't just tasty—Aunt Lucy is a witch and her recipes are actually spells!

When a curmudgeonly customer is murdered outside the Honeybee Bakery, Uncle Ben becomes the prime suspect. With the help of handsome journalist Steve Dawes, charming firefighter Declan McCarthy, and a few spells, Katie and Aunt Lucy stir up some toil and trouble to clear Ben's name and find the real killer...

The Good:

I love the premise of this book.  Katie gives up a life that is not making her happy after being dumped by her fiance.  She packs up everything, moves to Savannah and makes a new start opening her dream bakery with the Aunt and Uncle she adores.  The characters she encounters in Savannah are a little wacky, but mostly good-hearted. 

The Bad:

The love triangle between Katie, Declan and Steve felt unbelievable and forced.  I also thought that Katie's reaction to finding out her parents had lied to her and hidden her witchy heritage was unnatural.  She was entirely too accepting of the news sprung on her.

The Bottom Line:

I did not love it, I did not hate it.  It was a pleasant enough read for a sweltering Saturday afternoon hiding from the heat. 

~Shel

Back To Books Giveaway Winner!

Thank you  I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Buried in Books for hosting the Fabulous Back to Books Giveaway Hop! 

And thank you to everyone for participating in this giveaway! We loved reading about your favorite bakery treats.  Needless to say, we are now all very hungry for some yummy baked goods.


And no one tried to fight me for Peeta? I am shocked but pleased that I didn't need to break out my bow and arrow :-)


And now for the part that everyone is waiting for....





The WINNER of our Back to Books Giveaway is...




Drum Roll Please!

Ellen Elizabeth! 



Congratulations Ellen!  We will be contacting you via email.


As mentioned before, we just might be cooking up another GIVEAWAY in honor of a certain Bibliojunkie's 21st birthday (oh wait did we say it was her 25th before? We'll never tell...).  Check back this coming weekend to find out the details.  Trust us.  This will be a fun one!

Also, to celebrate the release of Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan we will hosting Greek Week October 3rd through 9th.  We have lots of fun goodies in store for you during this event so don't miss it!



~Nat

Starstruck by Cyn Balog

****

From Delacorte (Random House):

Gwendolyn "Dough" X doesn't think she has much going for her—she carries a few extra pounds, her family struggles with their small bakery in a town full of millionaires, and the other kids at her New Jersey high school don't seem to know that she exists. Thank the stars for her longtime boyfriend, Philip P. Wishman—or "Wish." He moved away to California three years ago, when they were 13, but then professed his love for her via e-mail, and he's been her long-distance BF ever since.
At the beginning of her junior year, though, Wish e-mails that he's moving back to Jersey. Great, right? Well, except that Dough has gained about 70 pounds since the last time Wish saw her, while Wish—according to his Facebook photos—has morphed into a blonde god. Convinced that she'll be headed for Dumpsville the minute Wish lays eyes on her, Dough delays their meeting as long as she possibly can.
But when she sees Wish at school, something amazing happens. He looks at Dough like she's just as gorgeous as he is. But Wish is acting a little weird, obsessed with the sun and freaked out by rain. And the creepy new guy working at the bakery, Christian, is convinced that there's more to Wish's good looks than just healthy eating and lots of sun. He tells Dough that a mark on Wish's neck marks him as a member of the Luminati—an ancient cult of astrologers who can manipulate the stars to improve their lives. Is Wish and Dough's love meant to be—or are they star-crossed?

This book was exactly what I was looking for; fun, quick, quirky and not a part of a series.  There was a beginning and an end to this story where everything was taken care of within the pages and finished with a sweet, happy ending that left me smiling and appealed to my little used sappy side.

Gwen was a hilarious heroine.  You know that feeling, when watching a tv show or movie with a heroine that is a complete mess and is about to do something socially inept and you scrunch down in your chair, because you just see it coming and you are completely embarrassed for them?  I had this feeling when watching Never Been Kissed and You Again (among others), but this was the first time I ever had that feeling reading a book.  And it was fabulous.

Wish, for his part, was sweet and lovable.  He was the popular boy we wish all popular boys would be.  You know, except for that whole Lumanati thing, oh wait, we love it when they are a little dangerous and damaged as well! 

Beyond being a sweet love story, the book explored the image issues faced by both girls and boys.  Gwen with her weight and being a social outcast at school and Wish with the lengths he was willing to go to be the good-looking popular boy.  I thought the issues were dealt with honestly without making the story too depressing and heavy. 

I gave Starstruck 4 stars and now am looking forward to reading Cyn Balog's Fairy Tale and Sleepless.

~Shel