Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Baker Thief

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault

9 reviews

skudiklier's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I really liked this! After getting into it I sped through most of the book in one day. I was super engaged with the characters, their relationships, all the mystery/problems of the plot, everything. I would definitely read more by this author. And I loved all the queer representation! (I'm genderfluid and experience that way differently than Claire/Claude does in this book, but I still really loved having a genderfluid main character.)

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mpbookreviews's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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hotbitch's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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amynbell's review

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emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don't know how I stumbled upon this or why I bought it. After all, witchy magical fiction isn't my usual genre. I think someone had labeled it as cozy fantasy, but I definitely wouldn't call it that despite one of the main settings being in a French-Canadian bakery. There was too much shooting and tension for it to feel remotely cozy.

By night, Claire is a masked thief. But she steals exocores for ethical reasons. By day, s/he's a baker named Claude. On one of Adele's first nights in the city, a masked Claire brazenly steals an exocore from her and the next morning serves her croissants at the local bakery. Their lives become even more intertwined as Adele is tasked with solving the exocore thefts across the city as her first assignment in her new police role. Eventually, Adele and Claire end up working together toward the same goal.

Wrapped up in this story is a history of a world where witches have been exploited for powers. So, there's an element of otherness-prejudice that exists to overcome. As the relationship between Claire and Adele develops into one of mutual caring, Claire seeks for Adele to understand her specific identity needs as a gender-fluid, aromantic witch. She likes people in her life, but she likes to have her own separate life so that she doesn't feel stifled. So, having Adele accept all of her differences without overstepping boundaries is important.

While I have several friends who self-identify in various ways, I really don't see it in the books I read, which is odd. It's interesting to read the inner dialogue of an aromantic who is interested in having a relationship but needing it to not be confining or overwhelming. I've known people like this, but they didn't have a label for themselves. They just always lived apart from their significant others if they had one. They've been dating for 20 years or their husband live 1000 miles away or whatever.

Anyhow, I vacillate between being completely enamored with this book and finding it a chore to read toward the end. There is definitely a depth of ideas to explore here. I think I was more interested in the dynamics between the characters than the action story that was unfolding with a race to save siblings and exocores. My 4 stars is really 4.5 stars. I can think of people to whom I would highly recommend this, but it's not for everyone. (less)

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mariebrunelm's review

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This book had been tempting me for a very long time. As soon as I heard baker + ace rep, I was sold. But of course a book isn't a series of boxes to tick, and this one is so very charming. It's part mystery, part detective story, part romance (but very light), with witches and thieves, all in a fast-paced narrative wrapped in a very cozy atmosphere. It sounds a lot but it's actually not hard to follow. Despite numerous secondary characters, I was never lost and enjoyed myself immensely.

In Baker Thief, we meet Adèle, who has just been recruited as a police officer after being shooed from her last position because she was too nosy and too bent on unearthing corruption scandals. On the night before her first day, her appartment is broken into by a purple-haired thief with unnatural speed and way too much sass. Our other main character is Claude, the owner of the bakery where Adèle likes to pop by every morning for a cup of coffee and a croissant fresh from the oven. Little does she know the relation between her new favourite baker and the thief...

The author is very vocal about LGBTQIA+ identities in this book. Contrary to those stories in which us queer readers are left looking for scraps, here everyone is clearly labelled. At first I wasn't especially sure about this idea of putting everyone in a box, but after thinking about it, it's nice of the author to make a definite space for everyone in this book. It makes it especially comforting for queer readers, but also quite educational for cis-het readers.

Last but not least, the author includes a full list of trigger warnings at the beginning of the book, with all the chapters concerned by each trigger.

Rep: demisexual MC with a condition close to asthma, brown aromantic fat genderfluid MC. Most secondary characters are queer as well, including two using neo-pronouns (ne/nem and ol/ols).

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