Jenn McKinlay

Read it and Weep (Library Lover’s Mystery #4) By: Jenn McKinlay

ReaditandWeep_(1)-210

Read it and Weep (Library Lover’s Mystery #4) By: Jenn McKinlay

Plot:

Answering Shakespeare trivia comes with the job description for library director Lindsey Norris. But when the Briar Creek Community Theater mounts their newest production of the Bard, she has no intention of leaving the stacks for the stage. Unfortunately a villain is waiting in the wings… Former Broadway actress Violet La Rue is holding auditions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream—and everyone from the sour spinster librarian Ms. Cole to Lindsey’s youthful library pages are trying out for parts. Brought in to play the mischievous Puck is the flirtatious professional actor Robbie Vine, who seems to have eyes for Lindsey. Before her blush has faded, the Bard’s dream turns into a nightmare—when one of the cast is poisoned. Now Lindsey and her crafternooners must take center stage to unmask the culprit before the final curtain call…

Review:

OMG the tension between Lindsey and Sully was crazy! It was like a romance and I honestly didn’t care about the mystery I just wanted to read scenes with these two. SPOILER There was no satisfying ending with them and it looks like McKinlay will be spreading the relationship issues through another book.

Even with the distraction of Lindsey/Sully I guessed the ending fairly quickly but I still enjoyed it and it’s not something done too frequently. I did find it annoying that a love triangle has been introduced, again. She just got rid of her ex-husband and now another man turns up. He’s not a bad guy either, really tired of love triangles.

The side characters didn’t play as big a part in this book, but that could just be me only remembering the heat between Lindsey and Sully.

I really love this series.

For some reason neither library system I have access to has the next book in this series, so I’ll have to search my used book stores or wait until I have some cash.

4.5/5

Dark Chocolate Demise (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #7) By: Jenn McKinlay

Dark Chocolate Demise

Dark Chocolate Demise (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #7) By: Jenn McKinlay

Plot:

Scottsdale, Arizona, may not be the liveliest place on earth, but it’s never been as dead as this. Hundreds of fans have gathered together for the first annual Old Town Zombie Walk, and Mel, Angie, and the Fairy Tale Cupcake crew are donning their best undead attire to sell some horror-themed desserts to the hungry hordes. But the fun turns to fright when Mel finds a real dead body in a prop casket outside of the bakery’s truck—and the corpse looks alarmingly like a zombie of their own. Knowing that Joe, Angie’s brother and Mel’s former flame, has been working on a dangerous mob case, Mel worries that the murder is a hit gone wrong and that someone near and dear was the real target. To keep any of her friends from winding up six feet under, Mel will do whatever it takes to find a killer—no matter how scary things get…

Review:

Lots of relationship stuff with this one, which I loved. In fact it was most of the book. There was, of course, a mystery but it wasn’t like the others. It had more to do with what’s going on with Joe and his case against a mob boss.

I love the relationships and characters in this series. The side characters bring as much to the story as the main character.

Lots of sugar and I find myself wondering how these people don’t have diabetes the amount of cupcakes they eat. Anytime something happens let’s eat two cupcakes. Ummm… I’d love to do that but I’d be the size of a house and shooting up insulin. Oh to live in a book world.

Anyway, I’m caught up with the series and now must wait like everyone else. Waiting sucks, but at least the cliff hanger on this one isn’t as big a deal to me. I mean it’s a big deal, but I can set it aside and not die a little bit everyday while waiting.

4.5/5

Sugar and Iced (Cupcake Bakery Mysteries #6) By: Jenn McKinlay

Sugar and Iced

Sugar and Iced (Cupcake Bakery Mysteries #6) By: Jenn McKinlay

Plot:

Normally Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura wouldn’t be caught dead at a beauty pageant, but when Mel’s mom asks them to provide cupcakes for the seventy-fifth annual Sweet Tiara contest as a favor for her best friend, they can’t say no. Plus, between cooking up a daily display for the three-day event and sponsoring a cupcake creation challenge for the participants, Fairy Tale Cupcakes will get great publicity.

But the world of pageants is even hotter than Mel’s kitchen. A high-strung judge and a pushy stage mom target Lupe, a young friend of Mel and Angie’s, at the competition and aim to take her out—by any means necessary. When the same judge shows up dead underneath Mel and Angie’s cupcake display, Lupe is crowned the lead suspect. Now Mel and Angie will have to find the real killer quickly or Lupe may be strutting the catwalk in prison pinstripes…

Review:

I started reading this almost immediately after the last one and ended up not being in the right frame of mind. I was mad that in the three months since the last book ended the characters hadn’t learned to straighten up and fly right and I was feeling slightly depressed about life in general. By the end of the book I felt so much better.

Things are not perfect with Mel, Angie, and Tate, but they’ve made significant progress. The ending was another relationship cliffhanger and I don’t know how long I’m going to hold out on reading the next book in the series.

McKinlay certainly let you know what she felt about pageant shows and the picture was not pretty. In the last book pretty much all the characters introduced were nice, not so in this one. Honestly I didn’t care who was the killer because they all deserved to get a dose of bad karma.

Happy with the series and I’m really looking forward to the next one.

5/5

 

Going, Going, Ganache (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #5) By: Jenn McKinlay

Going Going Ganache

Going, Going, Ganache (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #5) By: Jenn McKinlay

Plot:

After a cupcake-flinging fiasco at a photo shoot for a local magazine, Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura agree to make amends by hosting a weeklong corporate boot camp at Fairy Tale Cupcakes.  The idea is the brainchild of billionaire Ian Hannigan, new owner of SWS (Southwest Style), a lifestyle magazine that chronicles the lives of Scottsdale’s rich and famous. He’s assigned his staff to a team-building week of making cupcakes for charity. It’s clear that the staff would rather be doing just about anything other than frosting baked goods. But when the magazine’s creative director is found murdered outside the bakery, Mel and Angie have a new team-building exercise—find the killer before their business goes AWOL.

Review:

So happy to be able to continue this series. By the end of the first chapter I was craving cupcakes and it didn’t get any better. I love Mel, Angie, and Tate, but I think Marty is my favorite. He’s part grouchy old man and wise old sage. He was easily my favorite in this book.

Now, onto what I didn’t like. This was easily the weakest book in the series so far. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, just not my favorite. The love triangle I was afraid was happening two books ago reared its ugly head in this book big time. I hate love triangles so freaking much. I feel like it’s an easy way to create drama and it makes the relationship the lead ends up with seem less somehow. Well it makes it feel less when the lead seriously thinks about dropping her original squeeze for the next. Mel’s reasoning for what she ends up doing is weak and makes me doubt her.

Angie and Tate’s relationship is finally making some progress but it’s still going at a snail’s pace.

I’m hoping for more progress in relationships in the next book and a resolution on the love triangle.

4/5

Death by the Dozen (Cupcake Mysteries #3) By: Jenna McKinlay

Death by the dozen

Death by the Dozen (Cupcake Mysteries #3) By: Jenna McKinlay

Plot:

Melanie and Angie are determined to win the Challenge to the Chef to promote their Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery. Mel’s mentor from culinary school, Vic Mazzotta, may be one of the judges, but Mel and Angie will have to win fair and square. But, when Vic’s dead body is found inside a freezer truck, Mel and Angie will need to use their best judgment to find the cold-blooded killer or they may lose more than the contest- they may lose their lives.

Review:

Another great installment in the series. Her cupcake/pastry descriptions are really making me want to bake.

This time Mel had someone she was close to murdered, however they were still a heel so as a reader it didn’t really affect me. It worked well as believable motivation for her to investigate, though. The killer was obvious only if you’ve watched too much Law and Order but was still very entertaining.

The Tate-Angie-Roach love triangle is still going strong and I’m happy that the love triangle I foresaw in the previous book for Mel did not come to pass in this book. Really hoping the relationship stuff gets settled soon, people can be happy in their relationships and still find themselves surrounded by murder, right?

4.5/5