Book Review: A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J. Penner

Hey all, Sam here.

In the past year or so, cozy fantasy has really been making a splash in the book world, and I’ve even seen some manga and anime getting in on the cozy fantasy subgenre….and honestly, I’m loving it. I’ve seen cozy fantasy ranging from low-spice, low-stakes, just cozy cuteness…to cozy vibes with some spice, or even cozy vibes with higher stakes. A lot of them seem to have a focus on food and community and friendship and found family.

So obviously I’ve been getting into a lot of them. Basically my social media feeds are becoming an interesting blend of cozy fantasy, steamy dark fantasy, and D&D style adventure fantasy, alongside indie authors talking craft and folks talking about TTRPGs. Now if only those socials would stop trying to give me sponsored ads for makeup and beauty products. I’ve never interacted with them and I’m 99% positive that I won’t be getting any of them.

Anyway, I have a list of books from the end of 2023 and of course the books I’ve read so far in 2024 that I still need to review, and I’m trying to get things written up and scheduled so I can catch up on all the content I’ve missed out on….and today’s book is one I read and loved last year, so let’s go ahead and jump into it.

A human, a dwarf and an elf walk into a bake-off…

In the heart of Adenashire, where elfish enchantments and dwarven delights rule, Arleta Starstone, a human confectionist works twice as hard perfecting her unique blend of baking and apothecary herbs.

So when an orc neighbor secretly enters her creations into the prestigious Elven Baking Battle, Arleta faces a dilemma.

Being magicless, her participation in the competition could draw more scowls than smiles. And if Arleta wants to prove her talent and establish her culinary reputation, this human will need more than just her pastry craft to sweeten the odds.

While competing, she’ll set off on a journey of mouthwatering pastries, self-discovery, heartwarming friendships and romance, while questioning whether winning the Baking Battle is the true prize.

Escape to for a delightful cozy fantasy where every twist is a treat and every turn a step closer to home.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4.5 stars

This book was released in November 2023, and I read it in December 2023. Basically it was showing up all over my socials, and it has a cute cover and sounded like a fun and interesting concept. And happily, when it comes to a lower-stakes cozy fantasy, this one was a delightful quick read.

But, much like with Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, this is definitely a story where you’ll want to have some baked goods or some sort of snack at hand while you’re reading. Which, I definitely expected because the story revolves around a baking competition. Oh, and there’s recipes in the back of the book, which is wonderful. I’m going to have to try them at some point.

Arleta’s neighbors, who enter her into this baking competition, are legitimately a bonus set of dads and they definitely treat Arleta as if she is their daughter, although she doesn’t fully recognize them as her found family parents until later in the story. We meet Theo, the love interest, pretty quickly, and he is adorable…but Arleta basically talks herself out of pursuing anything all the time. Her “poor me, I’m just a magicless human” mentality is probably one of the main detractors of this whole story. I’m just a human and I don’t have magic; I shouldn’t be in this baking competition (because nobody without magic has ever been in this competition before). I’m just a human; an elf couldn’t be into me. Wait, and if he is interested in me, then he’s going to leave me for someone else anyway, because elves have fated partners they meet in their dreams, and there’s no way that could ever possibly be me.

I understand the criticisms of Arleta. Really, I do.

But then we have fellow competitors Jez and Doli, and the side characters are really what make this story great to me. Jez acts all stoic and uncaring, but we know better. And Doli is so opposite to a stereotypical dwarf; instead of being grumpy and about mining or whatever, Doli is all cheerful sunshine and obsessed with tea.

I’ll also say that there’s definitely some elitist beliefs and prejudice going on in this book, mostly from the magical races towards the non-magical humans. There are a lot of folks throughout who treat humans as an “inferior race,” and sometimes that takes a reader away from the cute cozy vibes of the story.

And, I guess I should mention that it takes a while for the baking competition to start. I saw in a bunch of other reviews that it’s around the 40% mark, which means it happens later in the book than the synopsis would have you believe, and you don’t get as much time to really enjoy the different challenges. They do feel like they’re over fairly quickly. The beginning 40% of the story introduces us to Arleta, her home and the world in general, Arleta meeting Theo, and then the pair traveling to the competition. So, it is a tiny bit of a slow-burn start.

But I rated this based on the cute and cozy vibes, of which this book has plenty. A little more time with the competition, and perhaps a little better pacing throughout, and this book probably would have hit 5 stars for me. Still, overall I enjoyed the characters and the world, and I read it fairly quickly.

Luckily, this won’t be the only adventure into the world of Adenashire, because a second book is coming, with the focus shifting from Arleta to her dwarf friend Doli, who I absolutely adored. That book is being called A Fellowship of Librarians & Dragons and should be coming soon-ish. The date online says November 2024, but the author has said that it is a placeholder date and the plan is to release the book sooner.

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All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.