Karma Bites by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas

Here's a quick bite from the books website: Life kind of bites for Franny Flanders. Her best friends hate each other, her parents are recently divorced, and her crazy grandmother has just moved in. Franny can’t seem to catch a break. The only karma she’s got is bad karma.

Franny’s not sure she can take another moment of her miserable life in suburban New Jersey. She considers heading to Canada on a Greyhound bus, in search of greener pastures. But just when things are at their absolute worst, help arrives in the strangest of ways.

Franny finds a box of recipes, hidden deep in the bowels of her hippie grandmother’s closet. These aren’t just ordinary recipes. They’re magical recipes. Fantastical, delicious, enchanted recipes that could fix all of her problems and possibly even change the world. Recipes so amazing, they could get her best friends speaking, alter the social order of middle school and maybe even get her parents back together again. Life is finally looking up. Way up.

But magic isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Especially when you’re a novice. Franny is about to learn that magic and karma aren’t to be toyed with. Turns out, when you mess with the universe, it can bite back. Hard.

My Take
 
I got this book through the Traveling ARC Tours. This was a fun little book full of little messages.  If I found a box that could make my desires a reality, it would tough not to abuse that priviledge I think.  Being twelve doesn't make it any easier.  Poor Franny gets in over her head before too terribly long. 
 
Franny was a great character.  Things are turned upside down for Franny and she thinks with the help of the box, she can set things right again.  I loved the fact that the recipes and directions for all the things were included in the book.  I really need to copy them to use later.  Such fun! 
 
My favorite character was Franny's Granny.  She is a total hoot.  What fun to have a granny like Mathilda.  This book was terrific!  I would say it's middle grade.  Maybe upper middle grade, since it's kind of a long book.  Nice clean fun with nothing too terrible.  Favorite line: "The light in me honors the light in you."  ;)
I'm giving this one 3 1/2 smooches!