A Dash of Trouble

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A Dash of Trouble (Love Sugar Magic #1)

The youngest daughter of five, Leo Logroño is spunky, ebullient, and absolutely unwilling to be sidelined as her family prepares their panaderia for Rose Hill, Texas’s annual Dia de los Muertos celebration. Despite being told she wasn’t needed at the bakery, the curious Leo sneaks in anyway--only to find that, far from everyday bakery work, her mother, aunt, and sisters are all occupied with brujería! And if being excluded from mundane work in the bakery rubbed Leo the wrong way, being told she’s too young for magic is absolutely unacceptable.

In an ever-escalating mountain of mischief, A Dash of Trouble unfolds engrossingly as Leo takes matters into her own hands, learning a lot about magic--and all the ways it can go wrong--with her best friend Caroline conspiring right alongside her. While the two friends’ escapades drive the story inexorably along, this middle grade novel is also rich with details of small town Mexican-American life, the highs and lows of middle school friendships and crushes, delicious descriptions of baking, and thoughtful, elegantly-written passages about the nature of magic and family.

An absolutely fun and relatable book that also includes some poetic depth and could serve as a mirror for some and a window for others.

Subjects this book includes which some readers may be sensitive to: Death of a parent.