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rants_n_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kimdavishb's review against another edition
5.0
Melanie “Mel” Cooper owns Fairy Tale Cupcakes Bakery with her two best friends, Angie DeLaura and Tate Harper. Angie is part of the baking team while Tate is the financial backer. Mel is happy that Tate and Angie have finally acknowledged their romantic relationship, but part of her starts feeling like a third wheel, especially when they want to franchise their bakery and she doesn’t. However, to keep the peace, she agrees to go to Las Vegas with them and meet Holly Harzmark, the gorgeous showgirl who is willing to pump cash into opening a franchise.
Tate and Angie get distracted by the siren call of the casinos and can’t make the appointment with Holly, their attorney, and the realtor showing them a storefront. Fuming, Mel is determined to deep six the franchise but after the storefront explodes, ultimately killing the realtor, she starts to form some regard for Holly. But can Mel contain her jealous insecurities, not only around the beautiful showgirl, but in being willing to share her closely guarded recipes to make the venture a success?
The next day when the group goes to view another possible storefront, just as they start to leave a car races towards them, crashing through the window. The new realtor would have been killed had Tate not pulled him out of the way, and by the time they try to grab the disguised driver, he had too far of a lead and they lost him. Realizing both incidents are more than a coincidence, Mel starts to worry that the mob is retaliating. Angie’s brother, Joe, who is also Mel’s ex-fiancé, is a county prosecutor and is in the middle of a huge trial to put one of the mobsters away for a long, long time. Could one of the mobster’s cohorts be following them? Holly admits that she’s had an unknown stalker, plus a manager who does not want her to leave the stage. Could one of those persons be out to sabotage the cupcake bakery before it even opens?
With Marty and Oz, employees from Mel’s Scottsdale bakery, trying to blend in with the 3,000 Elvis impersonators swarming Las Vegas, chuckles are bound to happen. One mishap follows another and before you know it, wedding bells are chiming and Elvis is preparing to perform a marriage ceremony. No spoilers here, but the ending left me gasping (in a good way), wondering how I am ever going to survive waiting for the next installment in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series!
VANILLA BEANED is a lighthearted caper but with plenty of plot and character development. I enjoyed getting an insider’s glimpse into the underbelly of the showgirls working at the casinos along with Las Vegas wedding chapels. Jenn did, in fact, renew her wedding vows with her husband of 15 years, at a wedding chapel in Vegas with Elvis as the officiant. I’m sure she had fun doing her research for this book! Even though Mel and the gang are in Las Vegas for this book, there’s still plenty of cupcakes recipes, which all sound phenomenal!
Tate and Angie get distracted by the siren call of the casinos and can’t make the appointment with Holly, their attorney, and the realtor showing them a storefront. Fuming, Mel is determined to deep six the franchise but after the storefront explodes, ultimately killing the realtor, she starts to form some regard for Holly. But can Mel contain her jealous insecurities, not only around the beautiful showgirl, but in being willing to share her closely guarded recipes to make the venture a success?
The next day when the group goes to view another possible storefront, just as they start to leave a car races towards them, crashing through the window. The new realtor would have been killed had Tate not pulled him out of the way, and by the time they try to grab the disguised driver, he had too far of a lead and they lost him. Realizing both incidents are more than a coincidence, Mel starts to worry that the mob is retaliating. Angie’s brother, Joe, who is also Mel’s ex-fiancé, is a county prosecutor and is in the middle of a huge trial to put one of the mobsters away for a long, long time. Could one of the mobster’s cohorts be following them? Holly admits that she’s had an unknown stalker, plus a manager who does not want her to leave the stage. Could one of those persons be out to sabotage the cupcake bakery before it even opens?
With Marty and Oz, employees from Mel’s Scottsdale bakery, trying to blend in with the 3,000 Elvis impersonators swarming Las Vegas, chuckles are bound to happen. One mishap follows another and before you know it, wedding bells are chiming and Elvis is preparing to perform a marriage ceremony. No spoilers here, but the ending left me gasping (in a good way), wondering how I am ever going to survive waiting for the next installment in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series!
VANILLA BEANED is a lighthearted caper but with plenty of plot and character development. I enjoyed getting an insider’s glimpse into the underbelly of the showgirls working at the casinos along with Las Vegas wedding chapels. Jenn did, in fact, renew her wedding vows with her husband of 15 years, at a wedding chapel in Vegas with Elvis as the officiant. I’m sure she had fun doing her research for this book! Even though Mel and the gang are in Las Vegas for this book, there’s still plenty of cupcakes recipes, which all sound phenomenal!
ariel_ransom's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
melinda1962's review against another edition
4.0
Most of the gang in Las Vegas during an Elvis convention, yes please. I’m pretty much reading this series for the characters and their personal stories rather than the mysteries now. I love the characters growths. In this instalment I figured out the killer right away. That part was ok. I hope Holly is in some of the other books with Manny. The ending had me laughing. Of course something went wrong.
amalies's review against another edition
4.0
After several books, Tate finally gets his chance to really present and follow through on his idea to enlarge fairytale cupcakes into a franchise. The employees of fairytale cupcake all eventually end up in Vegas during the subsequent murder and it's mystery. It's full of various twists and turns and the evolution of the main characters and their love interests. Can't wait to finish this series.
librarianlinda82's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoy the series. Love the characters but really end this book that way. Good thing I took the next one out of the library already.
hugbandit7's review against another edition
5.0
Love this series and once I got over the disappointment that it took 116 pages to explain why what happened at the end of Dark Chocolate Demise wasn't continued right away, I was fine. I don't want to reveal too many details if you haven't read DCD, but if you have you know how it ends!
Mel, Tate and Angie are off on another adventure this time in Las Vegas - and just in time for an Elvis convention, after all what is Vegas without Elvis?! And the plan to franchise the cupcake shop. It is set up for us not to like Holly, the franchisee, at first but she is more like Mel than you would think at first. However, someone does not want to see her succeed...or is it tied to Joe's mob case back in Scottsdale? It could be either.
I laughed at the antics of Marty and Oz, they are quite the characters (and not just in the book!). The mystery is well written because I didn't suspect who it was until right when he/she was revealed. The romance portion has its ups and downs and the ending leaves you hanging again, much like in DCD.
Now I have to wait forever for the next book to come out...ok, maybe not forever, but long enough!
Mel, Tate and Angie are off on another adventure this time in Las Vegas - and just in time for an Elvis convention, after all what is Vegas without Elvis?! And the plan to franchise the cupcake shop. It is set up for us not to like Holly, the franchisee, at first but she is more like Mel than you would think at first. However, someone does not want to see her succeed...or is it tied to Joe's mob case back in Scottsdale? It could be either.
I laughed at the antics of Marty and Oz, they are quite the characters (and not just in the book!). The mystery is well written because I didn't suspect who it was until right when he/she was revealed. The romance portion has its ups and downs and the ending leaves you hanging again, much like in DCD.
Now I have to wait forever for the next book to come out...ok, maybe not forever, but long enough!
dnemec's review against another edition
4.0
Love Jenn McKinlay, and her Cupcake Bakery series. Ending left me a bit annoyed, but I do enjoy this stories!