Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood

There are some books that I read where I just scream at the main character.  I don't want them to fall into danger or make wrong choices or miss warning signs.  This is exactly how I felt right through Bliss.  Rosemary or Rose for short is a wonderful character.  She is full of self doubt and feels unloved and under-appreciated but she is really a very resourceful and caring girl.

Rose lives with her two brothers called Sage and Ty short for Thyme and her baby sister Leigh short for Parsley.  Have you worked this out Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

The family, four children and mum and dad, live at their cake shop. "The kitchen of the Bliss home also happened to be the kitchen of the Follow your Bliss Bakery, which Rose's parents operated out of a sunny front room that faced a bustling street in Calamity Falls.  Where most families had a couch and a television, the Blisses had a counter filled with pies, a cash register, and a few booths and benches for customers."

Purdy Bliss and her husband Albert are called away on urgent business and so Rose and her siblings are left to manage the cake shop but this is no ordinary cake shop.  There is magic behind the refrigerator and a cookbook filled with secret recipes.  Just as they leave, Purdy gives Rose a little key to this important book "an ancient leather bound volume of enchanting recipes."  Rose promises to keep the book locked safely away and never give the key to anyone.

The dust has hardly settled following her parents departure when a mysterious Aunt arrives on a motorcycle.  Her name is Lilly.  "The figure removed its black helmet with gloved hands, coated in silver spikes. The rider was a young woman - the tallest, most sensational-looking woman Rose had ever seen outside of a movie screen. She had strong black eyebrows, a long Roman nose, and short black hair cropped close to her scalp in a chic pixie cut.  Her full lips were painted red, and her big white teeth glinted in the sun.  She was the kind of woman who looked like she belonged in the pages of a magazine - the kind of woman Rose secretly wished she would grow up to become."

This is a wonderful book. I think it would make a great read-a-loud for children aged 9 and up but be warned this is only book one!  There is a sequel called "A Dash of Magic" and I for one need to grab this second book tomorrow so I can keep following Rose and all the twists and turns of her frantic life.

Here is a review of Bliss.