Baking Up Magic and Mayhem: A Cozy Dive into Secrets, Spells, and Chocolate by Marisa Churchill
- Kim Bartosch
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
If The Great British Bake Off collided with Harry Potter, you’d end up with something a lot like Secrets, Spells, and Chocolate—a sweet and spellbinding debut from Marisa Churchill that mixes magical education with culinary charm. Though it falls in that elusive space between middle-grade and young adult fiction, it offers an enjoyable blend of cozy magic, heartwarming themes, and fast-paced twists.
Thank you to the author and Page Street YA for the book and my honest review. Book tour sponsor is Toppling Stacks Tours. Scroll down to read more!
Our heroine, fourteen-year-old Sylvie, is determined to follow in her mother’s enchanted footsteps—combining the art of baking with the power of spells. It’s a premise that immediately hooked me. I mean, who wouldn’t love magical desserts with a purpose beyond satisfying your sweet tooth?
From the start, the tone is whimsical and inviting. Churchill clearly knows how to create a world that feels warm and lived-in, full of curious shops, enchanted ingredients, and rival students. While the magic system intrigued me, I’ll admit I wished for a little more clarity on its rules and boundaries. It often felt like the spells worked when the story needed them to—but left me wondering what their actual limits were.
As a fan of baking shows and cozy reads, I was excited to sink into the cooking portions of the novel. But here’s where the book lost a few sprinkles for me. While the idea of magical baking was front and center, the execution didn’t always satisfy. The culinary moments didn’t feel as immersive or detailed as I’d hoped—especially for a book so rooted in the concept of magical recipes and tests.
The same goes for the magical school setting. While I understand the need to keep things tight for pacing—especially in YA or upper-MG titles—I would’ve loved to spend more time in class with Sylvie and see how this magical world functions day to day. A few extra scenes of school life or background worldbuilding could’ve really elevated the cozy, academic atmosphere.
Now let’s talk plot. The second half of the book takes off—and I mean that in both a good and slightly dizzying way. Twists, betrayals, big reveals… they come at you hard and fast. At times, I found myself scrambling to keep up, and some major developments felt like they could’ve used a bit more breathing room. If the book had been a bit longer, it could’ve spaced these moments out and really let the emotional arcs land—especially when it came to Sylvie’s relationship with Georgia, a dynamic that had real potential but didn’t get quite enough time to bloom.
The jump to a new setting later in the story is where the pacing started to wobble. It felt simultaneously rushed and drawn out—a tricky feat, but one that left me a little off balance as a reader. And while the final test (which had been built up throughout the entire book) was meant to be the climax, it wrapped up far too quickly for my taste. I was ready for something intense, nerve-wracking, and spellbinding… and instead, it blinked by in a few pages.
That said, I do appreciate how the ending leaves room for a sequel. Despite its flaws, this world still has a lot of charm and potential. And with stronger pacing and deeper character arcs, a follow-up could absolutely deliver more of what worked—and expand on what didn’t get enough time to shine here.
Final Thoughts 🌟
Secrets, Spells, and Chocolate is a sweet, light fantasy with cozy vibes and a heartwarming core. It’s ideal for readers looking for something that blends magical school settings with culinary flair, without diving too deep into darker themes. It’s fun, imaginative, and brimming with potential, even if some parts felt undercooked.
Would I read a sequel? Absolutely. I’m still rooting for Sylvie and her journey—and who can resist a little more magic and chocolate?
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
About the book:
Genre: Young Adult
Publishing date: December 9, 2025
Publisher: Page Street YA
Synopsis:
The culinary world is full of secrets. For one, recipes can become powerful spells. Of course, fourteen-year-old Sylvie Jones knows this. Sylvie has been dreaming of attending her mom’s alma mater, Brindille School of Culinary Arts and Magic, since she was old enough to reach the stove. Unfortunately, the last name Jones has a horrible stain on it—something that could destroy her dream. So, when Sylvie is given the opportunity to prove that she’s got the skills to be a great chef and put an end to the rumors that her famous chef mother cheated her way to victory at the world’s greatest magical cooking competition, The Golden Whisk, she takes it.
But the opportunity she’s been given may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. If Sylvie truly wants to make her own mark and earn a place at Brindille, she needs to uncover the truth about what happened all those years ago. But some will go to great lengths to ensure Sylvie fails, and she soon finds herself tangled in a web of deceit.
With the unlikely help of frenemy Georgia Shaw and rising-star-student Flora Jackson, Sylvie must find a way to get to The Golden Whisk All-Star competition and uncover the past before time runs out. Will she be able to redeem her family’s name and save her future, or will it all end in burned butter and broken dreams?
Meet the author:
I graduated from the California Culinary Academy and embarked on a 10-year adventure, working in some of San Francisco’s most notable restaurants: Rubicon, The Slanted Door, Ame, LuLu and Yoshi’s, where I was named “one of the city’s top pastry chefs,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s head food critic, Michael Bauer.
My culinary adventures have taken me to some places I never imagined: competing on the cooking/reality show Top Chef, building cities out of chocolate and Rice Krispies on Food Network, and eventually across the globe, to Greece, where I had my own cooking show on Alpha.
I’m also the author of two cookbooks. My recipes have been featured in Food & Wine, Oprah.com, The Talk on CBS, Access Hollywood, and more. For the full list, check out my press page.
Stepping Out of the Kitchen
After meeting my husband and having kids, I began to wonder, what’s next? I knew my days of slaving in a hot kitchen, no matter how much I loved the creative push and adrenaline rush, were over. Trying to do that work, day-in and day-out, when you’re no longer twenty something takes its toll. More importantly, I wanted to be at home to put my girls to bed and have dinner with my family. Life was great. But my creative mind started to grow restless. At that point, I was writing about food for multiple national platforms. Then, an agent asked me a question that helped an idea grow. Have you ever considered writing a story with a magical cooking angle? With one simple question, my life’s purpose changed.
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