#NetGalley Review! The Second Book in The Pies Before Guys Series!

 As someone who enjoys cozy mysteries and all things cozy, I obliviously watch the Great British Bake Off.   I loved that A Good Day To Pie  takes place at the baking competition. What sets this book above other books with a baking or cooking competition is that it is the first time I've read a cozy that uses a reality TV competition vrs a one day baking competition.  Misha Popp's baking competition is like Great British Bake Off  meets the Lifetime TV show Unreal if Agatha Christie was the executive producer.  

Setting the second book in  a cozy series in a different location and introducing almost all new characters AND using swear words is a bold move. This series continues to break some of the classic cozy tropes, but I think it stays true to the genre at its heart. Having the baking competition taking place at a mansion where all the contestants and crew have to stay for the full two weeks of the show's taping is quite a clever closed room mystery.  

The baking scenes are also mouthwatering.  I could really go for a pie, cake or cupcake just thinking about these scenes. 

All in all this was a book I really enjoyed and I give it 5 stars. 

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are mine! #AGOODDAYTOPIE

Harvest Cookies and Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder Thanks NetGalley!

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder is the first book in a new series by Valerie Burns. I was able to read an ARC from NetGalley. The story takes place in a small town in Southwestern Michigan right on the shores of Lake Michigan. This is a charming area of the United States and a good place to set a cozy as there are many cute towns that cater to tourists with picturesque little downtowns and many people visit throughout the year. Tourists are always helpful in cozy mysteries when you don't want to kill off all the townspeople.

The star of this series is Baby the Bull Mastiff. Baby is left to Maddy in Aunt Octavia's will along with Aunt Octavia's "BabyCakes Bakery" and Aunt Octavia's gorgeous lakefront house. Maddy is pretty annoying at the beginning of the book, very self-centered, and materialistic.  She is very smart though and quickly realizes she is at a crossroads, she can continue to live off her father or she can be her own person. I liked her growth in this book. 

I look forward to seeing where things go in book two. There is a setup for more murders and betrayals ahead --and that's putting it mildly!

4 stars

#NetGalley #TwoPartsSugarOnePartMurder

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Harvest Cookies

I used the Tastefully Simple Ah Sugar! Sugar Cookie mix--just add butter and milk and topped the cookies with candy corn.  Candy Corn is, of course, very controversial--but I will go out on a limb and just let you know I do like Candy Corn in the fall. How about you? 

The cookies came out flat because I used almost melted butter instead of just softened butter.  Live and Learn!

 

Sugar and Vice-- The Second Book in the Cookie House Series-

 

The second book in the Cookie House Mystery book is delightful and well worth the read. I listened to the audio version of the book via credits I had on the audible app, but you should be able to find it available from your local library as a paperback or digital or audio. 

In this book, much to Kate's dismay,  her ex-boyfriend has shown up and he thinks it is going to be a piece of cake to woo Kate back to being his fiancee. Boy did his cookie crumble!  Pun Intended!  The way everything works out with her ex is nice because he is just terribly clueless about how to be a good boyfriend--but he isn't cruel, mean, or abusive so if he pops up in another book, I won't mind it.  He could get a redemptive arc, but still, I'd rather not see him with Kate. 

As I was listening to this book, I was reminded of how we discussed the last book in the Cozy Mystery Book Club.  We all agreed that it was great that Kate didn't get involved with any man. We all agreed she needed to find her place in Coral Key and focus on herself. You have to love a writer who is able to create a character that readers are invested from the start of book one and who are rooting for that character to live her best life. 

This book is pirate-themed, so if you like a good pirate tale, you are in luck! Again, as in book one, I found the main mystery and the culprit to be a nice twist on the usual M.O. of cozies. Definitely add this book to your TBR. I'm looking forward A Tale of Two Cookies! 

New Christmas Cozy Out Tomorrow! #MurderattheChristmasCookieBakeOff #NetGalley

 Are you like me?  Do you love cozy mysteries and cookie bake-offs? If so, get this book ASAP!  This is the second book in Darci Hannah's Beacon Bakeshop series.  The setting is a small town on Lake Michigan. Lindsey is our overwhelmed bakery owner and amateur sleuth. Already in book two she has become known as a crime solver. There are nice twists and turns and a false ending--so if you think you know who the killer is, you might be right, or you might be wrong! 

This book doesn't have an overwhelming number of characters, it's easy to follow the story without having read the first novel. There is no love triangle, wahoo!  This book has the perfect amount of Christmas coziness including a visitor from the North Pole. As the book goes on you can see the community of Beacon Harbor really embracing Lindsey as one of their own. 

The cookies themselves were described in the most mouthwatering way, I was so thrilled to see that Darci Hannah has included all the preliminary and final cookie recipes in the back of this book! Because this book does work as a stand-alone and because it has so many cookie recipes in the back, it could be a really fun book to give with a cookie tray as a Christmas gift!  

4.5 stars to Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off by Darci Hannah!  

Thanks so much #NetGalley for the ARC of this book! All the opinions are my own! #MurderattheChristmasCookieBakeOff