A Recipe for Disaster by Ardyth DeBruyn (Children's, 9 years +, 9/10)

December 2012, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 

170 pages, eBook & Paperback

Review copy

Themes: life for villains, lots of mischief, a temper tantrum throwing princess, a greedy & spoilt prince, an accident prone apprentice, lots of magic & mayhem, lots of humour, lots of mild peril, 

Summary from Ardyth's website

Villain apprentice Cal desperately needs cash to take his girlfriend to the Dreaded Ball. Prince Bueford needs out of an arranged marriage. Mullog, Bueford’s manservant, would love to marry the princess and has the perfect solution: Bueford can buy a potion for disaster from Cal to disrupt the betrothal. Then Mullog can rescue the princess, and everyone can live happily ever after.

Nayuleska's thoughts

I'm probably a little biased because Ardyth is a good friend of mine. There is just so much mishap to laugh about in this book. Cal tries numerous ways to get cash - most of which fall through. I hated Prince Bueford for being so spoilt, but had to admire how he pushed himself in the trials. Mullog is a real piece of work - didn't like hiim at all. The princess is one big Brat - but she ended up being my favourite character. She is far from stupid, knows how to get what she wants (often not in a good way) and made me laugh a lot.

The reason this gets 9/10 is mostly because I read this when I was tired and not feeling brilliant. It is a hilarious read, it's meant to be silly - which ended up making me rather confused about what was going on. I know if I was more awake and feeling well I'd have been able to keep all the plots straight in my head. It's normal for me to understand things less when ill, so I guess this would be a 10/10 read. 

You can find out more about Ardyth & her other books on her website 

Suggested read

Do check out Ardyth's A School for Villains which is in the same universe that this novel is based on.