essjay's Reviews (635)

A good portion of this was genuinely offensive in its stereotypes. The mystery itself wasn't particularly mysterious, I'd half figured it out from the very beginning. Also, wtf is going on with the cover, it doesn't look like anyone in the book.  Starting to realize that "cozies" aren't that at all for me. 

This was just so so so good, I don't even know what to say about it. 

Fine for what it was, but definitely a whole book of set up for the series that I don't think I'll continue. 

Very predictable (the killer AND the red herrings were telegraphed at the very beginning). 

Set on a knockoff GBBO, this book takes place over the filming of the first episode. I don't know how many people are going to die over the course of filming one season of television, but knowing that each book is one week is enough to turn me off. 

Reads like a first draft (and given the fact that the author dropped the first ten books in this series in less than a year, it probably was). Hugely predictable in every way, poorly edited (not in the sense of misspellings, but wonky sentence structure and overuse of words that any editor worth their salt would have caught), and boring. At least it was short. By the time I had decided to quit reading, I was almost halfway through, so I decided to waste the half hour necessary to see if I was right. I was. 

And why the fuck do so many cozies have their protagonists lusting after cops? I'm to the point where I refuse to read any others with LEO love interests.  Yuck. 

Something about this just wasn't landing for me. I might come back to it, but I kind of doubt it. 

Reads like a really rough first draft. No one says anything, they squeak, they sneer, they pout. The dialogue is stiff, and I can't imagine reading a whole book in this MC's voice.