Kathy Aarons

This is a pretty average cozy. The writing is decent, the protagonists are reasonably interesting, the supporting cast is distinct from each other, the mystery has some good (but not great) twists, there are sweet moments of day job stuff and romance… but it’s also not super memorable or captivating and I’m not likely to read another in the series.

Aarons gets points from me for including queer characters without making that a plot point and for constructing a mystery that feels a bit more modern and topical than some other cozies do. However, she loses points on side plots, because it’s not just the three I mentioned in the summary and the romance felt kind of wedged in and by the book too. There’s a lot happening and a lot to keep track of, and I think she’s playing a long game with some of it but it didn’t quite work for me.

All in all, it was a good “fill the gaps in my day” book, which is what I generally use cozies for, but it never really grabbed me or felt “real” the way I like my books to, and like I said, I have no interest in following the series.

Warnings: Will make you crave chocolate.

5/10… (meer)

Michelle Seranno and Erica Russell are co-owners of Chocolates and Chapters, a bookstore and gourmet chocolate shop. They will soon be celebrating the one year anniversary of their renovation with a Great Fudge Cook-Off which has snowballed into a part of a town-wide Memorial Day weekend celebration. They are very busy and Gwen, the mayor, just keeps piling on more. Good think Erica loves to organize. When their friend, neighboring storeowner and fellow committee member Denise is found dead with a box of Michelle's chocolates, her store gets shut down. It is time to solve this murder to get Michelle off the hook and her store back in business.

I liked the fact that there was a team of sleuths involved in this mystery. Not only Michelle and Erica were nosing around, but Erica's brother and best selling crime author, Ben (aka Bean), helped out with his many connections. One step forward and two steps back happened throughout the book with a few suspects but not as many as in other books I have read. Crazy reporter Reese, computer whiz Zach and police detective Bobbie all added to the story and filled out this little town. I enjoyed following the life of the townspeople, the attempts to try and solve the mystery as well as the festival they were planning. The suspect became apparent near the end of the story and the reason behind it was quickly unveiled. I will check out more in this series.… (meer)