A review by kmhst25
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

3.75

While this book is categorized as YA, I honestly think it belongs in the Middle Grade genre. The overall tone is much more juvenile than I expected and not in line with your average YA read. There's a shocking amount of "Golly gee willikers! It sure is hard being a kid in a grown-ups' world!" And the main character tells you over and over again that she's not equipped to deal with the things happening to her, because she's only fourteen years old. She probably mentions being fourteen every 5 pages. She also has a bad habit of referring to herself as a "kid" and adults as "grown-ups," which is not something I have ever known an actual fourteen-year-old to do. One gets the sense that the MC was younger at some point in the editing process.

Beyond that, it's an easy read and a fun story. There are some exciting twists and interesting plot points, but it's hard to shake the feeling that this isn't a book for adults (which I suppose it isn't, but it's widely read by adults, so maybe my expectations are the problem here).
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