A Dash of Demon has its roots in the Achewillow Podcast. (That is to say, it is Achewillow in book form.) Our Protagonist is a young woman named Miriam DuFour. Miriam very much wants to be a famous chef. Unfortunately, she is incredibly opinionated and extremely abrasive. This causes her problems, when she decides to tap dance on her teacher’s last nerve. After this incident, she’s kicked out of the school.
Shortly after, she gets an unexpected windfall in the form of a dead, completely unknown greataunt
She has inherited this greataunt’s cafe and second floor apartment. This is a great windfall for Miriam–she can use the money from selling the property on paying off loans and supporting herself until she can find a new school. Unfortunately, she finds out that she cannot sell the place once she signs to it. This is not great, but Miriam is determined to find a way around the clause so she can sell the place.
This property is in a town named Achewillow. The first weird thing thing about this town is that it’s placed precisely on either side of the Canadian/United States Border. There are even two mayors, whose favorite hobby seems to be arguing with each other. Miriam does not want to be in this weird little town: there is no way to become a famous in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It is also super creepy that everyone expects her to be the second coming of her greataunt/or know instantly what their “usuals” are. (On the other hand, she is slowly falling in love with the cafe, and settling into running it.)
This kind of reads like the Weird Mirrorverse of one of those Hallmark Christmas movies where business women who end up in little towns and discover true love and the meaning of Christmas. (And then dump their fiances so they can date their childhood crush, or a former bully who has been reformed.) We got the potential love interests, who are not actually potential love interests because this is not a Hallmark Movie, and at least one of them is pretty suspicious.
I enjoyed reading this book. It’s fun with a good balance of humor and horror. Miriam is a fun character to read; She has a big ego that clashes with the egos of others. She is very much convinced that she is the only one who does things “correctly.” Miriam’s ego has also given her grandiose ideas of her skill, which makes her seem very arrogant! Miriam is one of those characters you end up liking, while also wanting to yell at them when they make bad life choices.
This review was based off a galley copy from NetGalley.
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