mccoconut's review
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Kidnapping and Death
Minor: Addiction and Drug use
coacklebee's review
- 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? No
3.75
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Body shaming and Vomit
emmehooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Kidnapping and Murder
Minor: Addiction and Death of parent
caseythereader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
- I loved Lila's family - really the whole town they lived in. I'm not a small town kind of person but Shady Palms was so lovely. And the food! So many wonderful descriptions, displaying Filipino food with such love.
- This book wasn't perfect - some clunky dialogue, some rushed exposition - but that hardly mattered while we were trying to catch the murderer.
- I was also a fan of the fact that while Lila has love interests, they aren't her main priority (she hardly even notices one of them!). The book isn't terribly interested in having her paired off at the end. Also! Bonus queerness! Her best friend is a lesbian and there's mention of a few other queer people as well.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Death, Injury/injury detail, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Racism, Drug use, and Alcohol
nerdglasses08's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Blood
Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, Homophobia, and Kidnapping
aargot1's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, and Death
Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
bookwormie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Medical content and Kidnapping
Minor: Vomit and Bullying
asparagusisreading's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Murder, Grief, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Addiction and Toxic relationship
Minor: Kidnapping, Cursing, and Drug use