#BUT you get a cookie for combining two of my favorite genres!! 🍪

[elshells]

Happy STS! I hope you’ve had a good week :) your OCs are forced to spend the night in a haunted house, how does that go? Does anyone try to take charge? Who is the most scared?

Happy STS! The week was a little unproductive in terms of writing, but I'm still feeling good about things! Hope you're doing well 💕

Hehehe. I love this prompt so much! Anything spooky immediately has my attention, and thinking about it in terms of Agent Ace makes it even better!

Sophia would naturally take the lead, gun ready and ears pricked up for anything unnatural. She's been a fan of horror since she was little, so even if she didn't already have the experience of a Guardian and Watch agent, she'd be in her element. However, Janus would take this opportunity to sabotage her at every turn. While Sophia does everything she can to keep the group safe and together, he's wandering off down random hallways shouting to the ghosts and insulting them for their cowardice. Generally just causing shenanigans and putting himself in danger he knows he can narrowly pull himself out of.

Jet would wander, too, but for a different reason. He'd scout the house for threats—specifically dolls. Not much unnerves him, but every doll in his path is getting immediately decimated if it so much as looks at him funny. Bellona would eventually join in on the rampage, not because she was convinced they were haunted, but because she was bored waiting for the others and this looked like fun.

August would arrive decked out with salt, candles, smudge sticks, a crucifix, the whole shebang. He'd set it all up in his designated 'safe room' while Sophia insisted to no avail that it wasn't necessary. For the rest of the night, he'd then attempt to strike up conversations with the ghosts, and when Sophia snapped at him to put it away, he'd argue that they may have something important to say.

Ahren would designate himself as the 'babysitter,' watching over Harley and her friends so Sophia could focus on doing her job. He would try and fail to hide how anxious he was, but he's the one who will jump at any little thing that might happen. Max, once he saw how frightened Ahren truly was, would sit with him and try to comfort him, even though he'd be scared shitless himself. He'd teach him the grounding techniques he uses to recover from panic attacks, and I imagine they'd actually bond a fair bit over this (which is nice, since the two of them don't get much one-on-one time)!

Jade hates the house, and she would start filming everything she does so there's proof of what happened to them in case they didn't make it out alive. Harley tries to intervene before Sophia gets annoyed with it, but she ends up joining the video and they turn it into a ghost-hunting documentary. Sophia lets it go because she sees that it actually helps Jade feel better, and they're both having fun with. Harley leads and narrates them through the house while Jade follows and backs her up with commentary. Along the way, they'd write nice messages for the ghosts in the dust and shut any windows to keep them warm. The others all make their own cameos with varying degrees of composure and sanity. At this point, I'll leave that up to your imagination!

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Rubi Ramos's Recipe for Success Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

❝ Broken down to its smallest particle, baking was edible alchemy. A communal combination of science and magic. ❞

❓ #QOTD What's your favorite treat to bake? ❓

🦇 With graduation only a few months away, Rubi Ramos is doing everything to follow her parents' predetermined recipe for success: 🍪 A dash of captaining her Law and Debate team 🍪 Spoon in an OC tournament win 🍪 Add an A on her trig midterm 🍪 Adhere to the Ban on Baking 🍪 Whisk in an acceptance to Alma University 🍪 Fold in a pre-law major until smooth 🍪 Sprinkle in a dash of Ivy League law school 🍪 Set, and watch Rubi rise Her parents chose the ingredients before Rubi was born, never consulting her about the ingredients to ensure a flawless, delicious recipe. Even age-old recipes need the occasional spin, though, and for Rubi, it's the First Annual OC Bake Off, minus her acceptance from Alma. Instead, she's wait-listed; a plot twist that's more bitter than sweet. When Rubi makes it through the first round, she allows her passions to boil despite her parents' plans, discovering new recipes for herself along the way.

💜 As a child of immigrants, I understand and empathize with Rubi's desire to connect with her roots, strive to meet her parents' expectations, and navigate ignorant prejudices (which she nearly does with grace, if not wit). It's easy to cheer her on; every word of wit, passionate foodie ramble, and show of spunk is bound to warm your heart better than any oven. Jessica Parra does a delightful job of balancing food puns with delicious metaphors as well (a tasteful balance that is no easy feat). Her strong, vivid descriptions are both eye-catching and mouth-watering, bound to transport you to Rubi's workstation in the bakery or at the Bake Off. The story pairs ingredients and conflicts with ease as well. Parra has a way of folding seemingly unconnected concepts (like trig and baking) together in unexpected ways. While there are many mixing bowls and subplots at the beginning, they all seamlessly work together to produce a culinary and literary masterpiece. Every secondary character feeds into the story without stealing the spotlight, from Rubi's queer fashionista bestie Devon and new "boyftu" Ryan to the Bake Off's punny host and judges. Even the romantic aspect of the story doesn't steal from the show as it tends to with most books in this genre.

🦇 While I connected with Rubi's familial situation, it's not until the last few chapters that we get a real taste of Rubi's experiences. One or two more interactions with her mother could have helped readers unfamiliar with the sacrifices immigrant parents tend to make for their children. This book was meant to honor the sacrifices Parra's own parents made, but I wish we saw more of that in Rubi's story. There are scenes the story didn't need (Devon's coming out seemed rushed and out of place). It was a bit silly that Rubi thought she could disguise herself with a cap during the competition (her name is at her station). Madeline's "mean girl" language felt a bit unnatural, too (I couldn't help but hear Libby from Sabrina the Teenage Witch). The pacing was a little off between scenes, chapters, and conflicts as well.

🦇 Recommended to anyone who loves a heartwarming coming-of-age YA. Perfect for fans of the Great British Baking Show! Warning: Make sure to bake yourself a sweet snack (like my chai cookies) before taking a bite out of this delicious, tantalizing read (because it WILL make you hungry). I can't wait to see what Jessica Parra whisks up next!

🍪 Debut Novel 🧁 Child of Immigrants 🍰 Tasteful Baking Puns ⏲️ Coming-of-Age 🍪 Delicious Prose 🧁 Sweet Pop Culture References

🦇 Major thanks to the author (Jessica Parra) and publisher (St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books) for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.