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flyinglark's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
As a new season arrives in Shady Palms, a new person is found dead. This time it hits too close to home to the “Calendar Crew” April, Mae and June.
The Calendar Crew breathes gossip, but unfortunately, it has caused many foes in exchange, even with the best of the Aunty intentions. The mystery of who killed Divina and vandalized the Calendar Crew’s new laundromat wasn’t that interesting for me. I’m not sure how to word it, but it felt disjointed, or it was a more check-in on the characters after the events of the previous books. The morally grey characters and their motivations didn’t hit for me. Overall, it felt too short for all the things trying to cram in.
What I liked was the community in the book. A lot of the cast from the previous books returned. This being the fourth book means there were a lot of names to remember, even with Lila’s introductions, and at times got messy.They all helped Lila with the investigation, even calling her out when Lila went too far with the interrogations.
As usual, the food and drinks mentioned are mouthwatering. The romance between Jae and Lila was sweet,with him joining her on her investigative outing to make sure she was safe. Just because this book wasn’t the best for me, doesn’t stop me from anticipating the fifth book coming out in November.
POV: 1st Person
The Calendar Crew breathes gossip, but unfortunately, it has caused many foes in exchange, even with the best of the Aunty intentions. The mystery of who killed Divina and vandalized the Calendar Crew’s new laundromat wasn’t that interesting for me. I’m not sure how to word it, but it felt disjointed, or it was a more check-in on the characters after the events of the previous books. The morally grey characters and their motivations didn’t hit for me. Overall, it felt too short for all the things trying to cram in.
What I liked was the community in the book. A lot of the cast from the previous books returned. This being the fourth book means there were a lot of names to remember, even with Lila’s introductions, and at times got messy.
As usual, the food and drinks mentioned are mouthwatering. The romance between Jae and Lila was sweet,
POV: 1st Person
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Infidelity
Moderate: Bullying, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Cancer, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Author’s Trigger Warnings: Infidelity, physical violence, mentions of attempted suicide, bullying, slut shaming, gambling addiction, substance abuse, parental incarceration, and parental death.skye_era_books's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I just love this series so much 😭 I love that the calendar crew was the focus of this book because they’re such menaces.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Drug abuse and Grief
emherrick's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Drug use
onegalonelife27's review
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
5.0
Lila is back to sleuthing in this next installment of Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries. This time the focus is on the Calendar Crew-Lila’s three godmother and it looks like their love of gossip may have gone too far. I love it in series when side characters get some attention! This time the Crew is starting a new laundromat in Shady Palms and they are having Apri’s niece, Divina, from the Phillipines to help out. Yet the reasons for Divina’s immigration are mysterious. Not long before the opening of the laundromat, there’s vandalism and then murder with Divina’s body found with a threatening message nearby. This is another great mystery to follow Lila as she tries help her godmothers and get justice for Divina!
With this one, I found myself reflecting on the themes of gossip and how it affects both those who gossip and those who are gossiped about. Fortunately, the Calendar Crew’s information is accurate so we don’t have to worry about them slandering anyone. One character brings up, “If they don’t want to be gossiped about, they shouldn’t do bad things,” but everyone makes mistakes, bad choices, and perhaps decisions in order to survive, and has to live with them. And it’s especially embarrassing for everyone to know and judge for those actions. We are told what happens to some characters that the Crew talks about, some are able to move on, some even find their lives better and some…well you’ll have to read to see what happens to them.
Lila says she doesn’t want to deal with any more dead bodies early on in the book, but I’m so glad to read more of her sleuthing! I’d be happy to read many more books in Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries, but maybe one day someone Lila loves will be involved in a much less lethal crime, and thus Lila will step in to save them from a frame up. We’ll have to see!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, and Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Cursing
kshertz's review
funny
lighthearted
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
4.0
It’s always an interesting read for these culinary cozy mysteries. They’ve all been so unique and so entertaining. It’s definitely a light fluffy situation where you can’t overthink it too much and you have to get lost in that world but I always do and I definitely enjoy it. Even though it makes me hungry
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Infidelity, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting
bookishmillennial's review
challenging
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
Gosh, I simply ADORE this series. I never, ever want it to end. This was yet another banger by MPM and I will follow Lila’s mysteries to the ends of the Earth! If you haven’t tried this series yet, PLEASE DO! They are the coziest, goofiest mysteries, and I love the FilAm representation 🤎🇵🇭
Gosh, I simply ADORE this series. I never, ever want it to end. This was yet another banger by MPM and I will follow Lila’s mysteries to the ends of the Earth! If you haven’t tried this series yet, PLEASE DO! They are the coziest, goofiest mysteries, and I love the FilAm representation 🤎🇵🇭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, and Grief
joannchristine's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
uranaishi's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Classism