The Heartbreak Bakery

Here's a fun story: I was browsing my library's online catalogue, uncertain what I wanted to read later. I had no intentions of borrowing a book immediately; I have other books I need to finish for a reading challenge right now. Then I saw this book among the new arrivals. The cover called to me, drew me in like a moth to a flame - or a bee to a sugary cake - and wouldn't let me go. So I read the synopsis, and my mood soared with the concept of mixing tons of LGBTQIA+ rep with tons of baking and magic. I love baked goods, I occasionally enjoy baking, and I am all over the idea of food-based magic. I couldn't wait and risk this book being hidden behind a queue of others in line to read it! So I snagged it, opened it, fell in love almost instantly... and now, here we are.

Like the people drawn to Syd's magical baking, I was lured to this book by some incredibly accurate instinct. And like those people, I discovered this book was just what I needed... but also that nothing is perfect. Sometimes, there are bits we don't like in things we love. That's okay, and it being okay is one of the central themes of The Heartbreak Bakery. Life isn't perfect, relationships aren't perfect - nothing is - but some things are worth a little trial and tribulation to keep.

Also, did I mention magical baking and massive representation of the LGBT community? Because there's so much of both and it's an absolute delight.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It's light and fluffy and generally positive despite all the conflicts within. It's easy to read and the main character's narration feels authentic - occasionally even to excess (more on that later). I had trouble putting this book down for the majority of the experience and things felt so organic that I was stunned at the end to realize the main relationship had only developed over a month - far too fast for young folk to be talking about or expecting absolute love and devotion in a new relationship - because everything just felt like it fit in place.

I loved the plotline, and Syd's dedication to fixing an epic mistake so others could be happy was a refreshing change of pace from all the selfish YA protagonists out there. (Not that Syd is in anyway flawless or completely without selfish moments, but still.) Seeing recipes both real and imagined was delightful, as well. Each chapter has a recipe at the end: some for real things like brownies or pies, others clever ways to show a cutscene of what happened between chapters or delve deeper into Syd's emotions. It had the potential to be a little cringey when the fake recipes occurred, but I think it worked to portray how Syd sees the world in terms of baking and often channels emotions through that creative process.

I even loved most of the characters most of the time and thought the romance was cute. In fact, at one point I had the biggest damn grin ever while reading because one of my most hated romance tropes was teased then inverted - thrown away as it deserves to be. No rekindling of toxic relationships here. No 'the ex comes crawling back and the new love interest gets ditched.' Just someone learning to get over an unhealthy relationship!

And the rep? Delightfully inclusive most of the time! We have everything from buzzcut haired agender teens to old man gay cowboys to polyamorous pansexuals and genderflux drag queens. From the spectacular-looking to the ones who blend in with non-queer society: everyone is treated as valued and accepted and welcome. There's even a little extra rep in the form of deaf characters and those who know how to sign to communicate with them (and those like Syd who don't, but find other ways to communicate).

That said, though, I struggled with the middle and a few aspects of the end of this book. At times, Syd felt too realistic as a Gen Z kid. You know the part of Twitter that's toxic and mentally draining and teeming with teens? Yeah, Syd's personality occasionally dips into that territory.

We're talking over-emphasis of race to the point “for obvious being-white reasons” is used twice on one page because it's not good enough to mention Syd feels uncomfortable offering identity advice to a POC struggling with being white-passing without hitting readers over the head with borderline self-loathing anvils about it. And for some reason it wasn't enough just to mention there was an event for queer people of colour that Syd never attended because Syd's white; there had to be an entire paragraph about that not being Syd's space to invade. There's also a bit where, instead of referring to disliking bikes, Syd refers to “I canceled bikes” which... no. Please don't perpetuate cancel culture in a cute, fluffy book, especially when it doesn't even apply to the situation and is only used colloquially.

And sometimes Syd dips a bit too far on the scale of othering straight people... such as attributing random things (even some I as a bisexual woman can relate to) as being “so straight”. For a book about a character who's sick of the gender binary and struggling to find a place to fit in, I didn't expect to feel like I'm not queer enough at times - like I have things I like or feel which label me as “so straight” when I know that's not who or what I am. But apparently it's totally okay, never goes challenged as the utter disrespect it is, for Syd to ask Syd's mom how she fell in love with her husband, then complain that it better not be too straight of an answer. Even though Syd's mom is straight. And it's totally okay to look at Syd's parents being adorable and romantic and constantly other them for being straight. I expect better from a character as concerned about inclusivity and everyone having a right to exist, and was very let down by how similar some of those thoughts felt to the way bigots in my hometown other LGBT people - don't want to see them being cute and romantic, label random behaviours as ‘for gay people,' etc. I don't want the character championing inclusivity to echo some of the thought patterns of the very people who keep me hiding in the closet irl, scared to admit who I am to people who will judge and ostracize me for it.

But I digress. Were it not for these bits and a few others I'm about to mention, this would have been a solid five-star book for me. So I'm probably being a little too strict on the parts that rubbed me the wrong way.

Other annoyances include:

- A teenager decides that their love interest not having been deeply in love with a recent ex-girlfriend is a reason they can't be a couple now... when the breakup was barely a month prior. (Because said teen wants instant love, devotion, and whirlwind romance. As a teen. When they've only been romantically involved with their crush for less than a month.)

- A character who was generally nice and also directly involved in spying on a couple has a sudden heel turn into a complete and utter jackass, attacking the other person who spied for talking to the observed couple about what was overheard. She also belittles the person based on age, treats that person like total trash... and never once has to apologize because the conflict gets swept under the rug and soon they're close friends again.

- It's treated as completely acceptable and fair to deliberately strand a kid with magical powers like one's own abilities, not inform that kid they aren't alone in the world, and bluntly refuse to mentor or help the kid get their bearings when dealing with that newfound power. I just... no. That is a level of negligent selfishness which I need to have challenged for how fucked up it is, not blindly accepted as totally okay.

- Everyone, include Syd's internal narrative by the midway point, treats Syd like being 17 is being a “baby child” but being 18 is the magic solution to being no longer such a thing. That's not how ages that close work in terms of maturity and personality, and I needed to see more challenging of that mindset. (I'm super okay with this in regards to relationships and such, but we're talking in terms of baking, being a friend, etc.)

- Syd seemed not to care about Tess (Syd's sister) as much until after deciding Tess might be aroace. Then suddenly spending sibling time together seemed like a priority and suddenly Syd thought maybe Tess could understand matters of identity. But just because Syd had an unconfirmed guess about Tess' identity didn't magically mean her personality was any different. I'd have loved to see a realization that having a common thread of being both potentially LGBT+ isn't required for siblings to bond and understand each other and respect who each other are.

So, yeah. Some of the magic wore off in places. Some of the bites of this delectable treat were a little too salty for my tastes. But overall? I still loved it. I still felt happy and hopeful while reading most of it. (I still plan to try some of the included recipes.) And somehow, despite how ridiculously instant the love is, I thought Syd and Harley were adorable together.

And at the end of the day? I gave this book a heart in the library app before returning it and will probably read more from this author who has an amazing way with words and creates generally cozy, comfortable environments even when characters are in conflict.

Nothing is perfect. And I love this anyway.