ethuiliel's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Confinement
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Blood, Cursing, Grief, and Death of parent
caramiaculpa's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Nice fluffy mystery.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Violence
Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse
saurahsaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, Death, Drug use, Grief, Addiction, and Blood
Minor: Cursing, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, and Fatphobia
writtenbydnicole's review
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Cursing
asparagusisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ARSENIC AND ADOBO is the first in series with humor, , and delicious dishes... one that could be linked to a killer.
In A&A, Lila returns home after a horrible breakup to help her family's famikunf restaurant. However, by doing so, she has to deal with them trying to set her up with a man and being around a food critic that is up go no good (and also happens to be her ex boyfriend.) When he comes in one day for a meal to critique, he drops dead. Everyone including the cops starts pointing fingers at her even though she didn't do it. As her family's restaurant is on the verge of shutting down and she could spend life in jail for a murder she didn't do, she begins her own investigation.
As of right now, I'm giving this a 3-3.5 stars due to having mixed feelings about the execution of the story, the killer reveal, and the lack of connection I had with the characters.
Some of my absolutely favorite things I'm books are a theme of food, humor, and strong family (blood or found) bonds. This has all three intertwined beautifully and I just couldn't get enough of it. I would be drooling over the food descriptions to being in awe of the familial relationships to then laughing from the character banter. The lightheartedness of this trad was exactly what I needed right before finals. It's a quick and fun, easy read.
Even though I was interested in this story and found myself wanting to know more about all of the restaurants and cultures, it unfortunately fell a little flat. I wasn't feeling a lot of the mystery vibes I was looking for. There were moments that I wanted to skim read to finish faster or confused/frustrated by the random, short conversations Lila would have with other characters. Speaking of characters, there were quite a few in this, which is to be expected with mysteries and the restaurant setting, but it began to feel like too much. I couldn't remember names or the direct relationship characters had. Ex: Who was related to, married to, or exes of who.
In A&A, Lila returns home after a horrible breakup to help her family's famikunf restaurant. However, by doing so, she has to deal with them trying to set her up with a man and being around a food critic that is up go no good (and also happens to be her ex boyfriend.) When he comes in one day for a meal to critique, he drops dead. Everyone including the cops starts pointing fingers at her even though she didn't do it. As her family's restaurant is on the verge of shutting down and she could spend life in jail for a murder she didn't do, she begins her own investigation.
As of right now, I'm giving this a 3-3.5 stars due to having mixed feelings about the execution of the story, the killer reveal, and the lack of connection I had with the characters.
Some of my absolutely favorite things I'm books are a theme of food, humor, and strong family (blood or found) bonds. This has all three intertwined beautifully and I just couldn't get enough of it. I would be drooling over the food descriptions to being in awe of the familial relationships to then laughing from the character banter. The lightheartedness of this trad was exactly what I needed right before finals. It's a quick and fun, easy read.
Even though I was interested in this story and found myself wanting to know more about all of the restaurants and cultures, it unfortunately fell a little flat. I wasn't feeling a lot of the mystery vibes I was looking for. There were moments that I wanted to skim read to finish faster or confused/frustrated by the random, short conversations Lila would have with other characters. Speaking of characters, there were quite a few in this, which is to be expected with mysteries and the restaurant setting, but it began to feel like too much. I couldn't remember names or the direct relationship characters had. Ex: Who was related to, married to, or exes of who.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Grief, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Addiction and Toxic relationship
Minor: Kidnapping, Cursing, and Drug use
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