A fun, tangled, sweet plot with a little bit of fantasy & mystery mixed in with its realism. A little bit Savvy, a little bit Garden Spells for the middle-grade set. Includes cake recipes, even a garlic cake (p. 185), to match the character who is "not as terrible as it seems, on the surface, to be." 
 "Dolores tried to make her words soft like butter, so they might actually melt in." (121)