A thirteen-year-old chef has a lot to prove as she tries to run a five-star restaurant, repay a greedy loan shark, and outsmart the Elven mafia in this entertaining novel that combines all the best ingredients--fantasy, humor, adventure, action, cute boys, and a feisty heroine!

Lailu Loganberry is an expert at hunting dangerous beasts. And she's even better at cooking them!

For years Lailu has trained to be the best chef in the city. Her specialty? Monster cuisine. When her mentor agrees to open a new restaurant with Lailu as the head chef, she's never been more excited. But her celebration is cut short when she discovers that her mentor borrowed money from Mr. Boss, a vicious loan shark. If they can't pay him back, Lailu will not only lose her restaurant--she'll have to cook for Mr. Boss for the rest of her life.

As Lailu scrambles to raise the money in time, she becomes trapped in a deadly conflict between the king's cold-blooded assassin, the terrifying elf mafia, and Mr. Boss' ruthless crew. Worst of all, her only hope in outsmarting Mr. Boss lies with the one person she hates--Greg, the most annoying boy in school and her rival in the restaurant business.

But like Lailu always says, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. And she's determined to succeed, no matter the cost!

With elves waging war on scientists, it's up to thirteen-year-old master chef Lailu Loganberry to save both her restaurant and her city in this final book in The Mystic Cooking Chronicles, which Kirkus Reviews calls "perfect for Top Chef fans with a penchant for the fantastical." Lailu is in hot water. After the events of the Week of Masks, Wren keeps sending insect-like automatons to attack Lailu. However, they're more irritating than dangerous, and Lailu is more worried about the elves, who have been quiet so far. Too quiet. When Lailu heads out of the city on a hunt with Greg, the elves finally strike. They put up a magical shield separating the Velvet Forest from the rest of the city. Now no human can enter...and unfortunately for Lailu and Greg, no human can leave, either. Ryon shows up to save them both, claiming they were caught unintentionally, but Lailu isn't sure she believes him. Tensions between the elves and the scientists are reaching a boiling point, and the question is which side will snap first. And in the middle of it all is Lailu. Trusted by both sides, she's selected to deliver messages and help negotiate a truce between the parties before war becomes inevitable. Easy as pie, right? Not so much. Lailu's new role as mediator may be one recipe that's headed for disaster!

With elves waging war on scientists, it's up to thirteen-year-old master chef Lailu Loganberry to save both her restaurant and her city in this final book in The Mystic Cooking Chronicles, which Kirkus Reviews calls "perfect for Top Chef fans with a penchant for the fantastical."

Lailu is in hot water. After the events of the Week of Masks, Wren keeps sending insect-like automatons to attack Lailu. However, they're more irritating than dangerous, and Lailu is more worried about the elves, who have been quiet so far. Too quiet.

When Lailu heads out of the city on a hunt with Greg, the elves finally strike. They put up a magical shield separating the Velvet Forest from the rest of the city. Now no human can enter...and unfortunately for Lailu and Greg, no human can leave, either. Ryon shows up to save them both, claiming they were caught unintentionally, but Lailu isn't sure she believes him.

Tensions between the elves and the scientists are reaching a boiling point, and the question is which side will snap first. And in the middle of it all is Lailu. Trusted by both sides, she's selected to deliver messages and help negotiate a truce between the parties before war becomes inevitable.

Easy as pie, right? Not so much. Lailu's new role as mediator may be one recipe that's headed for disaster!

"A zingy, buoyant adventure." --BCCB

"A wildly inventive fantasy." --Booklist

Thirteen-year-old chef Lailu Loganberry must stop a war between the elves and scientists in this follow-up to A Dash of Dragon, which Kirkus Reviews calls "a recipe for success."

It's the Week of Masks, a festival held to chase away evil spirits. But Lailu doesn't have time to worry about demons. She has bigger fish to fry--or rather, griffons, now that she's been asked to prepare a mystical feast for the king's executioner, Lord Elister.

Unfortunately Lailu's meal is overshadowed by the scientists' latest invention: automatons, human-shaped machines that will respond to their masters' every order. Most people are excited by the possibilities, but the mechanical men leave Lailu with a bad taste in her mouth.

Even worse, the elves still blame the scientists for the attacks on them weeks ago, and Lailu worries that the elves might be cooking up revenge. So when she and her sorta-rival-turned-almost-friend Greg stumble across the body of a scientist, the elves are the prime suspects. With help from Greg, her best friend Hannah, and the sneaky, winking spy Ryon, Lailu has to discover the truth behind the murder, and soon--because hostilities between the elves and the scientists are about to boil over faster than hydra stew.

And just ask any chef: war is bad for business.