Never Found the Body: After the siege, all that is ever found of Lord Oberon are some of his personal effects. Mona decides she doesn't much care whether he's actually dead or if he got away, so long as he's gone. But Mona’s comfortable life is suddenly overturned when she discovers a dead body on the bakery floor one morning. An assassin stalks the streets of the city, hunting down the magic folk, and it appears he’s set his sights on Mona. The story is told through Mona's perspective, where she injects wit and humor into everything. But I also loved how she realized and discussed with herself that this should have been completely handled by the adults. It should never have come down to a kid like her having to be the one to make people aware of the dangers against the magicas or be forced to save the day. The adults should have been, well...the adults should have been the adults. They should have realized what was going on and put a stop to it. A dead body is an awful thing to find on the floor of a bakery, especially when you’re a fourteen-year-old baker’s assistant with just a minor talent in magic, enough to make gingerbread men dance and biscuit dough turn fluffy on command. It’s worse when the city inquisitor decides to accuse you of the murder, for no particularly good reason. It’s even worse when you realize that there’s a mysterious assassin on the loose, targeting people who have magical powers, no matter how insignificant. Extremely sweet. I'd likely have been more impressed if I hadn't read Minor Mage first, but if you liked that, this is a similar concept and I think often funnier.

One morning, Mona finds a dead body in the bakery and from that point on, her life is completely turned upside down.When you’re different, even just a little different, even in a way that people can’t see, you like to know that people in power won’t judge you for it.”

Mona’s understanding that the adults who should have figured this out were collectively asleep at the switch and that saving the city shouldn't be up to her but is anyway is something that Harry Potter fanfiction handles better than the original stories. The situation shouldn’t have been allowed to get so far off the rails that a 14-year-old is not just their best but their only hope. After all, when Leia talks about Obi-Wan being her “only hope” at least her expectations are fixed on a grown up. Thirdly, as a female protagonist, Mona avoids several other clichés besides that of the badass action hero. There is no romance, for one thing, since her closest male ally is a boy from the streets who becomes a surrogate younger brother. She has a healthy attitude toward her own body, meaning she can appreciate her strong arms and enjoy her pastries without worrying about how she looks. There are no instances of putting other women down to make the heroine look better. Mona has a loving and respectful relationship with the aunt who taught her to bake, and later in the novel, a female ruler is portrayed as flawed but still competent.It Made Sense at the Time: Selected Sketches. (November 18, 2004). Sofawolf Press. 978-0-971267-06-0 Cruz, Larry (July 16, 2010). "The Webcomic Overlook #127: Digger" . Retrieved February 17, 2011. best known for Digger Before becoming a published children's book author Vernon was primarily a freelance artist and illustrator, and she still regularly produces new works of art. Her work includes the creation of digital art as well as the use of more traditional mediums such as watercolour and acrylics, with much of her more recent work being mixed media. Most of her art work is available as prints. Vernon has also taken commercial commissions such as book covers and game art. That said, there's plenty to enjoy here. The baking is probably the most fun. Bob the sourdough starter is hilarious and steals every scene (and that ranks right up there with things I never thought I'd say about a book, along with spiders are cool). I kept waiting for the little gingerbread man to run down the road shouting, "you can't catch me," but that could be because I just read The Big Over Easy.