Publication Jan. 21, 2025
After floundering for years to find her niche in the family baking circle, Felicity is finally coming into her own. Her fortune cookies are a hit and their family bakery is doing well. Is it luck, talent, or magic? Maybe a bit of each? Felicity does have a knack of writing just the right personalized fortune cookie message for customers. She's even learning the possibilities and limits of that magical touch this go round. But, first, she has a wedding party to cater. Everything is going well until, yikes, the body of groomsman Miles is discovered under the table holding Felicity's tarts. That stops the wedding in its tracks and Felicity finds herself involved in the investigation when the murder weapon is discovered to be her long-time friend Kelvin's gardening shears. In other words, it's personal.
There turn out to be ample suspects, all involved in the wedding. Detective Rylan Sun, no surprise, warns Felicity to stay out of it. Does Felicity listen? Oh, you already know the answer to that. Kelvin is her friend, one she's known practically forever, and she'd do almost anything to protect him. Let's just say her feelings run deep, even to the point of pretending to be his girlfriend while investigating. As it turns out, one of the bride's party finds him quite attractive, too. Oh, boy. Does that make things happen. But, between baking and dealing with customers much of the day, not to mention dealing with an unexpected arrival that she may or may not have conjured up by a wish, Felicity is one busy woman. I liked how she took in the bridal party almost like family, albeit one of them was surely a murderer. Family looms big in this novel. It was fun to see how well the author intertwined the regular cast of characters with the guests, too, even including Kelvin's father in the mix. Again, family. Will her snooping get Felicity in trouble? You already know the answer to that one, too.
Bottom line, an entertaining, heart-felt read. I liked Felicity from the start when I read book one, so it was nice to see her story expanded this go-round. We learn more about her family as well as Kelvin's, not to mention her mother's tendency to "adopt" others such as Detective Sun, who has just moved into the neighborhood. The point is made repeatedly that the Jin Bakery's family goodies are made with love and there seems to be more than enough of that to go round and pull others into its embrace. I'm looking forward to seeing how the more-or-less addition of Det. Rylan Sun to the family goes. There's definitely a lovely twist at the end, another that makes me anxious to see where this is all going. Thanks to #StMartin'sPress - #Minotaur for allowing me to drop in early to Pixie Park and Jin Bakery to catch up with characters I've grown to feel like I know. I definitely appreciated the well-rounded characters given the wedding party, too, which extended that family feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment