Alice Éclair Spy Extraordinaire A Recipe For Trouble - Sarah Todd Taylor

 

Ok, so, before I start this review, I have to declare that I have a serious weakness for all things Paris, including books set in Paris, so when I saw information about Alice Éclair starting to appear on Twitter I kept my fingers and toes crossed that one would make its way to me - it did!

However, next I had the dilemma of whether to drop everything and read the book immediately or save it until August and read whilst I was actually in Paris.  I went with the latter (thanks to Hannah Prutton for her advice on this) and, although the wait was agonising, I can say that it was absolutely the right thing to do and reading it last week whilst sat in the Jardin de Tuileries and later whilst eating macarons, made the perfect accompaniment to this rather wonderful book. 

Thirteen-year-old Alice lives with her mum and together they run Vive Comme L'Éclair pâtisserie in Paris.  We quickly learn that she is an incredibly pastry chef who bakes the most wonderful creations, but we also discover that she has been secretly receiving spy training from an unknown mentor.  When that mentor reveals themselves to Alice, it leads her to a temporary job on board The Sapphire Express, Paris's most luxurious train, as a pastry chef; however, she also needs to discover the identity of an enemy spy before the train reaches its destination.

Alice is a wonderful character and one that readers will love from the start.  She is evidently a creative and very skilled baker (the images in my mind of the wedding cake from the opening chapter are still making me drool!); however, we very quickly learn that she is also independent, strong, quick-thinking and level-headed.  I can completely see readers wanting to be Alice and imagining themselves in her shoes as a spy - I was definitely doing that and know that children at school will do it too!

I mentioned earlier that Alice is a pastry chef and the descriptions of the cakes and creations she conjures up throughout the book are mouth-watering to say the least and I highly recommend having a steady supply of sweet treats at your disposal as you read (I blame Sarah Todd Taylor for the macarons I bought in Paris and am just chastising myself for not also including éclairs as part of my reading snacks).

Alice Éclair Spy Extraordinaire is a delicious adventure that builds to a thrilling ending with twists and mouth-watering treats at every turn.  The perfectly sized chapters make it impossible to put down (just one more chapter...) and I can't wait to see what Alice gets up to next.

My thanks to Nosy Crow for sending me the book, to Hannah for telling me that waiting until Paris was the best way to read it (if you happen to be heading to Paris soon I highly recommend Alice as your travelling companion, and if you are already there I know that Shakespeare and Company have copies in stock!) but most of all my thanks go to Sarah for creating such an enticing book.  Roll on January and book 2!