Despite being a Fanarlem--a lifelike doll girl created from magic and treated as a second-class citizen--Sorla's baking skills have earned her eager customers from miles around--and an invite from Prince Seldon himself to work at the royal bakery.
Dorr is a soldier revived from a battlefield death: scarred, broken, and needing to get home. He's also the perfect ride-for-hire to the capital, if she can put up with his aggravating grimness for a few days... just as he'll tolerate her relentlessly sunny outlook.
Maybe her company isn't all bad. Since Dorr was brought back from the dead, food has tasted terrible...all except Sorla's pastries. And maybe her cheerful attitude is a bit adorable, although he won't tell her that.
When Sorla gets to the capital, she finds that Seldon has a nigh-impossible task for her: the hero of the realm was also revived from the dead, and the kingdom needs him back on the front lines immediately—but he's not taking to it well. How can pastries alone convince someone life is worth living? She'll need the help of her grumpy new acquaintance, the one who can't help coming around to buy her wares...
Doll Girl Meets Dead Guy is a cozy, slightly spicy, secondary world fantasy with humor, heart, and cute-goth vibes, for readers of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy oranyone who's ever wished for more Jack x Sally.
"With achingly sweet moments and unforgettable characters, A TASTE OF MAGIC was the cozy fantasy romance I didn't know I needed. Take one brooding and broken boy returning from the battlefield, one bright girl with a gift for making just the right pastry to bring him to life (literally), and add just the tiniest hint of spice, and you have the ideal book to warm your heart." - Brigid Kemmerer, NYT Bestselling Author of A Curse So Dark and Lonely and Defy the Night