The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

Content Warning: This section of the guide refers to terminal illness, mental illness, and attempted suicide.

Sadie Revelare sees several bad omens on the way to work in the café she runs with her grandmother, Gigi. Similar bad signs continue throughout the morning. She sees a flooded river, which symbolizes someone returning, and thinks about her fraught relationship with her brother, Seth, who has been away for a year. The family magic is infused into the baked goods they serve at the café, which they advertise as having an array of supernatural effects. Sadie and Gigi discuss Sadie’s curse—she is doomed to suffer four heartbreaks, but she can avoid this fate if she gives up her magic. Gigi’s suggests that “love is more important than magic” (9). Sadie’s best friend, Raquel, arrives. She expresses concern about Sadie’s fear of abandonment. Jacob McNealy, Sadie’s first heartbreak, arrives in the store.

The interlude is a recipe for carrot cake cookies with cream cheese frosting. The first-person introductory paragraph, which is from Gigi’s perspective, suggests that the recipe will “humble the eater” (14) and remind them of their roots.