A review by amyiw
Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic, by Meghan Ciana Doidge

1.0

1 1/2 A very little good part, mostly bad for me

Hmm, well, the next could be better since some of the characters started to show personality but... I'm not holding my breath, or going to the next book. My updates below give my feelings but in a nut shell. The characters had none, that is character, until the end. The evil person was obvious,
Spoiler only the finding her and not realizing who was the evil one and then putting in any position of power. Leaving her free and then she captures, werewolves and and a vampire, argh!
and ending was idiotic. Kind of like the ignorance of the main character. But not only ignorance, stupidity
Spoiler Yes, let's go down and let my "sister" do a spell I'm not OK with, with blood and not call my mom and grandmother to confront them about what the fuck they have kept from me. I mean vampire and werewolves are at my door and are pointing all the obvious strangeness. No let's go use forbidden magic that, hey I don't really know what my sister is doing, it smells wrong but I'll go along.
It is obvious who is the evil person from here.
Spoiler Oh, but she's my sister. Justin is looking drained. But in the end it is Justin's fault. The one killed and eaten on the alter. Really? Who there believed that? Why did the vampire and werewolves let the sister go? Oh, to be captured later and for what? The big reveal, a doorway to power and bliss that no one knows what is but the grandmother is the guardian of. Oh, and the other 1/2 of her heritage... they been keeping secret... they don't know what it is either. And they have had to "protect" her from knowing the truth, of what, nothing. That she can infused her power into trinkets and needs to hide it? Well maybe she could hide it more if they told her that this was necessary!
So all the "hidden" information makes her look like a child, yet she's not.

So this was like a NA/YA with no sex though the thought of it is there, where the main character is ignorant of her powers. People have kept vital information from her. She is operating under no information and the people that have some, don't have much. Frustration and stupidity rolled into one.

So the mystery is OK/good but stupidly the
Spoiler bad guy is let go
and it was dragged out. It didn't pull the book up to enjoyment level. I think readers that like NA/YA where the main character is discovering herself and powers, probably will like this. I thought all the reasonings were wrong.

Since the big reveal happened and she won't be plagued by ignorance, maybe the next would be better. I don't care enough about the characters to go on. They were never well developed.



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Update, I'm at almost 50% through and really am disappointed with this one. Was expecting fun and interesting. So far have got, ignorant witch that cannot see the evil in front of her, has been obviously kept in the dark and thinks, "oh, it'll be blown off by Grandma and I'll be sent off to Mom." what is she 12? Then no kidding, the next scene has her thinking about how long it has been since she had sex and that she wanted to play vertical on her bed with the werewolf. Umm, OK. So she runs a cupcake shop so should be at least in her mid-twenties. Still her understanding of her magic and the things around her is that of a 12 year-old. Following her "sister" even when she knows it is wrong. Wow, she is oblivious like a child. This is like a NA/YA combined or something. So she blunders through the, actually interesting but not fun
Spoiler The werewolf that she is attracted to is killed off. Not only that but it is not a surprise after he stands her up and then the werewolves come for her.
, mystery. The only reason I'm still reading.

"You didn't tell me she smelled like Chinese food?" lord to vampire. This was supposed to be funny? And she gets all offended. Out of left field, Chinese food. **sigh** Looks like a 2 star so far.

73%- Frustration, she is just so ignorant of everything and doesn't follow anyone suggestion. She is ignorant so needs someone to help.
SpoilerSo she calls her Mom and doesn't get answers only a quick, "I'll tell you when I get there". Really, can't take a few minutes to fill her in? This is maddening and she thinks Justin is the bad guy, wow, how blind. to make the sister the bad guy and killing off the sexy werewolf, makes me like the people less and connect even less.