3.5

The twist on healing fiction was so so dark but there are some tender and wholesome moments (they are few and far between)

I think the baker is a very firm but fair character and while he may come across as harsh but I think highlights owning the consequences of your actions.

The description of the food and aroma of the ingredients did make me want to pick up a sweet treat asap ( yes even when he lists his special ingredients).

Overall I love his take on the gener but I don't think this will be for everyone. I'd also encourage people to check the trigger warnings before reading this book.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read an early copy of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the premise and the execution of it was just as good. There is a lot of translated works fighting for the spotlight at the moment but they all seem to be the same. The Wizards Bakery is like no other book I have read and I really think it hits the gap in the market at the moment. I enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to introducing this book to my friends both online and offline. Definitely one to look out for.

I've recently discovered Gu's books and love her style of writing. I thoroughly enjoyed Apartment Women and had high hopes for The Wizard's Bakery. Whilst it didn't disappoint, it was certainly different to what I was expecting. The cover gave me vibes akin to Gilmore's Dream Harbor series, the story on the other hand was quite dark and disturbing.

It's a coming of age story unlike any other I've read before. A story of choice and consequence. Unique and unorthodox.

With delights including Time Rewinder Cookies, Devil's Cinnamon Cookies, Willpower Custard Puddings and Voodoo Dolls on the menu at the Wizard's Bakery, magic has never been so tempting.

1.5 Don’t let the cozy, gentle cover fool you - this book is pure darkness. Originally published in 2009, this seems to be capitalizing on the success healing fiction has enjoyed in English-speaking markets; the only problem is: it’s not healing fiction whatsoever.

Content Warnings: child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, rape, gaslighting, physical violence, sexual violence, suicide, self-harm, toxic relationships, controlling partner, stalking, assault, body horror, murder, demonic nightmares. Many of these range from prominent to graphic.

I was really disappointed in this book, especially having enjoyed “Apartment Women” by the same author. The writing wasn’t as compelling (I mean, it’s an older book so that kinda makes sense) and fell very flat emotionally. The characters, especially the bakery customers, were pretty much all objectively awful people (Bluebird being the exception). The Baker was unstable in a way that made me nervous and the unnamed teenager didn’t have much personality outside of a speech impediment. The bakery sense of place and food writing was entirely missing-in-action or, in the case of the latter, disgustingly subverted. The overall vibe was claustrophobic and tense. While I think the choice of omniscient narrator was to lean into the fairy tale theme, it didn’t work for me as a reader when we were experiencing the story through the teenage boy (who couldn’t possibly have known many of the things in the info-dumpy sections).

I understand that the French language edition has an author’s note where the author shares that they intentionally subverted the ‘healing fiction’ genre, steering away from positively, healing, and, dare I say, saccharine. I appreciate the energy but this went too far in the other direction, into trauma porn territory.

Do not be fooled by the blurb comparisons, especially the one comparing this to the middle-grade book “The Rainfall Market”. Even Dallergut Dream Department Store is an unfair comparison. Did the publishers even read this book? It's more of a horror than anything remotely 'healing'.

Translation Note: This has been translated into British English with noticeable British colloquialisms and language choices.