Bookish Bliss: A Dash of Trouble Review

A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano  

**Spoiler Free Review**  

Riveted Resolution 18. Read a book that has a person of colour on the cover

Get ready for mischief and magical hijinks galore. A Dash of Trouble is a sweet and silly slapdash adventure that is totally irresistible. 11 and ½ year old Leonora “Leo” Logrono is the youngest of five daughters. She and her Mexican-American family live in Rose Hill, Texas a community rich with diversity and a feel-good ambiance. Headstrong Leo can’t wait to begin her apprenticeship at Love and Sugar Bakery, which is often called by its Spanish name: Amor y Azucar Panaderia.

Her older sisters Isabel, Marisol have been crafting delicious confections with Mama and Tia Paloma for a few years and Leo is more than a little envious. Love and Sugar may be the Logrono family business, but it’s also kind of hush-hush. There are secrets sprinkled in every conversation about the bakery and Leo CANNOT stand the wink-nudge-silent-treatment. Her sisters seem to know EVERYTHING and Leo is so over being left out!

The idea of having to wait until she’s 15 to finally become an official part of the Panaderia is enough to make Leo scream. When the youngest of Leo’s older sisters 14 year old twins Alma and Belen are inducted right before Dia de Los Muertos Leo’s curiosity gets the best of her. With encouragement from her BFF Caroline, Leo sneaks into Love and Sugar Bakery. Tucked away in one of the kitchen pantries, Leo witnesses something beyond her wildest imagination.

Mama, Tia Paloma and all of her older sisters can make magic! All of the women in the Logrono bloodline are Brujas: witches from Mexican ancestry. And one of the ways they use their magic is baking. Beyond the tantalizing vanilla, cinnamon and the highest quality flours that go into their cakes, cookies and breads the Logrono ladies careful sprinkle in the most secret ingredient of all: their spellwork. The edible enchantments run the gamut with some increasing the luck of the one who eats it, others encouraging love, and some just for fun transform spoonfuls of flour into snowflakes!

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Despite her older sisters Isabel and Marisol’s careful warnings to keep her experimenting to a minimum- after getting a taste of what making magic is like Leo can’t go back to being just another typical 6th grader. And if that means Leo has to hide her magic from Mama, so be it!

In an attempt to mend the bond between Caroline and her next-door-neighbor slash friend who’s a boy *wink wink* Brent Bayman, Leo steals away with her mama’s spell book. After the premature death of Caroline’s mother, Leo is even more fiercely protective of her best friend and refuses to let Brent’s sudden jerky attitude leave her friend in tears.

A Dash of Trouble is a playful romp in growing up and the power of friendship and sisterhood. Fans of the Pixar movie “Coco” and Hayao Miyazaki’s film “Kiki’s Delivery Service” will be caught in the sweet spell of the Love Sugar Magic series.

There’s so much heart and energy poured into this debut that it radiates off the pages. A lightening fast and attention-grabbing narrative coupled with Leo’s every action bringing about new consequences makes A Dash of Trouble positively unputdownable. Voice is one of the most defining elements of middle grade novels and the one here is pitch perfect. It’s fast-paced and descriptive and doesn’t dumb things down for the audience.

Much like J.K. Rowling’s debut Anna Meriano has a knack for writing with detail, heart and captivating our senses. Through these pages we’re transported into the bakeshop, Leo’s bustling middle school and the fantastical Dia De Los Muertos celebration. Like Rowling, Meriano respects her young readers and lets her imagination reign. By doing so she also makes this a book that teenagers and adults like myself can also escape into. Don’t be fooled by the vaguely My Little Ponyish vibes in the title, this is one of the most outstanding middle grade books I’ve EVER read.

Friendship is at the heart of this female-centric novel. There is a smidge of romance, in that Leo’s BFF Caroline has her first crush, but it’s not the all consuming True Love trope that dominates much of the Young Adult/Teen literature out there today. And I dunno about you, but to have a quirky adventure story without boyfriend/girlfriend baggage is one of my favourite escapist treats. Meriano delivers what  she promises in the teaser and then some.  

I’m SUCH a fan of the paranormal, supernatural and fantasy genre that when I caught a glimpse of this on Goodreads a couple months ago I knew I HAD to get my hands on it once it was published and ready to check out at my library. A Dash of Trouble is so charming and such fizzy fun it exceeded my expectations in every way.  Firstly, there is no deus ex machina solution that’s hurled into our faces. Trial and error is the name of the game and makes even what could be a farfetched fantasy believable!

Secondly, A Dash of Trouble is cheeky and kooky YET grounded in reality. Leo’s actions and the conversations she has with her sisters and her best friend and her mama are so so so real. If you yourself haven’t been Leo or even just a part of Leo when you were growing up chances are you had a friend, sister, classmate, or peer that was!

Additionally, the world building and magical logic is carefully crafted. Case in point: birth order plays a prominent role in the magical abilities that Bruja’s manifest and the laws of magic are clearly explained. The world of brujas in Anna Meriano’s novel is one that’s layered over the non-magical mundane world. Think of it as a deftly frosted tier perched atop a single decadent cake. It’s the same dessert but a different layer. It’s this woven-into-our-reality quality that makes A Dash of Trouble even more irresistible and readable.

I devoured this book in a day and a half. I could NOT put it down. 2019 can’t come any sooner, I need this sequel NOWWWWW….

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