All i can say is there better be next book in this series! THE CAN'T END IT LIKE THAT! ( )

All i can say is there better be next book in this series! THE CAN'T END IT LIKE THAT! ( )

Hannah is on her honeymoon with new husband Ross Barton and having a bit of trouble adjusting to being a newlywed. Maybe she and Ross don’t click quite as well as she (and readers everywhere!) originally thought. Back in Lake Eden, Minnesota, Victoria Bascomb, sister of the mayor, is found dead by Hannah’s mother Dolores. Some of the recipes were really good in this one, especially the orange/lemon sugar cookies. I enjoyed the mystery in this one, and the scenes with the Swenson family. I will always be a fan of the series, however the Ross/Hannah storyline really isn’t my favorite. ( )

Sigh. Unfortunately, this book reads more like a cookbook than a cozy mystery.

Much of the book's 355 pages is made up of recipes. After most chapters, Fluke includes one or more recipes, all of which correspond to the food eaten in the novel. Each recipe included is pre-emptively mentioned in the chapter before it's introduced

When an author adds recipes or other extras to the book, it can add a cute and special touch. However, any add-ons to the story should be placed at the end of the book or in a separate book altogether. In this book, the recipes break up the flow of the story and are a bit excessive, in my opinion. Sometimes, I felt like Fluke was shoe-horning food references into the book so that she had an excuse to include a recipe.

While Hannah does engage in active investigation work, it seems that the main focus of the story is on Hannah's life. This style of cozy mystery can work well for some cozies but I don't think it worked for this one because the characters were not very well-rounded or realistic.

What's frustrating to me is that this novel has a lot of potential! The relationship between Hannah and her sister Michelle is cute and I generally like how Hannah involves other characters in the investigation process. However, my issues with this book overshadowed these positives.

Do note that this book does not really work as a standalone because there are references to past and future books. This is a clean mystery with no gore, sexual content, or foul language.

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Well I don't much care for Ross so that ending was great, best part of the book. Ross is such an underdeveloped character, I can't believe he became Hannah's chosen one. I hope he's gone for good but I kind of doubt it. ( )