thecandlelightlibrary's Reviews (1.25k)

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s Press for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. 

 

Under Lock and Skeleton Key is a locked-room mystery with an impossible crime, where plot twists and misdirection will keep you guessing until the last page. Mysteries aren’t my most-read genre, but I’ve been picking up more and more of them recently. In this book, misdirection is a major theme in the plot and is used many times throughout the story. I will definitely need to reread this book to see what I missed the first time through, and I think it will stand up well for rereading multiple times. 

 

Three things really stood out to me in this novel: the seamless blending of cultures in Tempest’s family, the magical sense of place, and the number of twists. Tempest’s family is a blend of American, Scottish, and Indian and food plays a major role in their family. I loved reading about their family dynamics and the mouthwatering dishes they make throughout the story. Tempest’s father also owns Secret Staircase Construction, which specializes in secret magical spaces, and their family home is designed with every puzzle and secret room we’ve all ever dreamed of. Their home, Fiddler’s Folly, is such a cool, magical, and mysterious place that I hope gets even more chances to shine in future books. 

 

I made my guess for the murderer fairly early on but was unprepared for the amount of twists throughout the story, which left me second-guessing my choice throughout almost the entire book. Every time I thought there couldn’t possibly be anything else, another twist would sweep onto the page. Most of the twists were delightful, but a few I didn’t enjoy. The clues I noticed were fun to work out and mull over as the story progressed. 

 

However, I wish the pacing was faster throughout the story: I was 56% through the book before I really felt engaged with plot and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I think this was partly because there was so much information introduced in the first part of the book, and every time a new place or character was introduced we also were introduced to Tempest’s full backstory with said place/character. At the start, this was just too much information to keep straight, but once the introductions were complete and we were through part one, things did pick up. 

 

I think I will appreciate Under Lock and Skeleton Key more after a reread, but it will probably be most accessible to fans of mystery who’ve read widely in the genre. Thank you again to NetGalley and Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity of reviewing an ARC. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for sending me a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

 

We all know cookies are one of the major food groups, and what could possibly be better than a book dedicated to expanding your variety of tasty experiences? The Cookie Bible is a detailed cookbook focused on an impressive number of cookie recipes, organized by their method of preparation (such as rolled by hand or bars). Beyond the recipes themselves, there’s also tips and tricks for every step of the cookie-making process (from things to prep before you begin baking to cookie-specific storage information), suggested recipe adaptations, and notes on specific equipment and ingredients recommended. 

 

My favorite part of this cookbook was the substantial amount of detail included with each recipe. Every recipe includes: 

However, this book is less “I want to make cookies this afternoon & need inspiration” and more of a “I’ve always wanted to make [INSERT COOKIE NAME] & need a reliable reference” kind of cookbook. Both types of cookbooks have their uses, but I don’t tend to use reference cookbooks near as much as they deserve.

There were also a couple of drawbacks for me with this particular book, starting with how the copy I received only had photos for about 70-80% of the recipes. For a book that has so much work put into it, I wish each recipe had a photo - especially for the recipes I was unfamiliar with and had trouble visualizing.
 
I’ve already mentioned how I loved the level of detail, but something that was glaringly absent for me in each recipe was the total time required. While each recipe includes a bake time (for one batch of cookies at a time in the oven), they don’t include: the total oven time for the recipe, the time commitment for preparation (such as taking ingredients out to come to room temperature beforehand), or chilling information before baking (which many of the doughs require). When I want to bake a new recipe, I don’t want to have to read each recipe to find something that fits my schedule. While you definitely should read each recipe through before you start baking, having the estimated time commitment from start to finish would make deciding what recipe to bake much easier.

Even the less involved cookies still require a hefty time commitment: I made the Peanut Butter & Jelly Buttons (with the chocolate filling variation instead of the sour cherry one), and even though this recipe was fairly quick and easy (not that many ingredients and few dishes to clean), it still required 1 hour of prep, a minimum of 1 hour of chilling dough, and 20 minutes of baking for two batches of cookies. If you’re looking for recipes you can just whip up in an hour or two, this probably isn’t the book for that.
 
On a final note - and this is entirely a personal preference - some of the recipes require half an egg. I’m really not a fan of recipes with partial ingredients to them and would rather the recipes were scaled up to begin with. If the recipe truly makes too much cookie dough (is there such a thing?), most doughs freeze quite well.
 
Overall, though, this cookbook is a wealth of information for a wide variety of cookies. Thank you again to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.