Review by bribreez - The Golden Spoon

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bribreez 's review for:

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

3.25

dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

*Thank you Atria for sending me this book, as always I appreciate it.

3.25⭐️

Guess it’s time I deep my foot into murder mysteries/ a bit of a thriller. The last thing you would expect to hear when being compared to, “The Great British Bake off”, is a murder mystery, but that’s exactly what, “The Golden Spoon” was. A group of individuals competing in a baking show all gather at a manor where the host, Betsy lived. What started out as a fun and exciting chance to win a major prize ended with a murder on the grounds of Grafton manor.

This story had baking competition, but make it a murder mystery. Everyone from the contestants, the hosts, and even the certain individuals from the crew were all possible suspects. In the beginning it started off slow, and I wasn’t completely sure if I was going to like this story. As I read a bit more, then I started to see the small details that had me wondering what exactly was going on. From coming up with possible theories or motives for certain characters, then I started to see the appeal of the story.

I expected to read this story through one individual character, but that wasn’t the case. With the contestants obviously playing a role throughout the storyline, it was an interesting take to have each of the contestants point of views from Peter, Hannah, and others. Again, with this being a murder mystery it actually made sense having everyone’s perspective because, certain things that the characters said or did could potentially point to a bigger thing in the grand scheme of things. Even tiny things that happened during the competition led me to believe that either someone wasn’t playing nice with the other contestants or someone had a bigger plan than originally intended.

This was an interesting read for a few reasons. For one, in the beginning I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly especially once I started reading everyone’s perspectives. For starters, I realized that not only was everyone different in personalities, but also their actions and behaviors revealed a lot about them. For example, Hannah was my least favorite character, but in the beginning I kind of liked her. Hannah seemed like the young promising baker with aspirations that could make her a grand competitor in the competition, but slowly through each of her chapters, it started to show just how much she drastically changed. Lottie was a sweet older woman, whom I didn’t know much about, but once she revealed more of her past, I got instantly hooked! So between the main characters, Lottie was my favorite.

As I got more into the story, my perception of the book changed. I started to see all the clues coming together, ESPECIALLY in terms of Lottie’s connection to Grafton manor and how she was somehow connected to Betsy. I had my suspicions, but I definitely didn’t see it turning out the way it did! Plot twists and big reveals that in the end surprised me!

With the premise of this book combing the vibes of a murder mystery, but with the added twist of it being set in a baking competition it was interesting. Everyone had their own stories that as the story progressed revealed more about them, and coincidentally connected to the overarching plot. I think out of all the characters, Lottie’s story was the most fascinating, but also heartbreaking especially towards the end. Just as I thought I knew who was the villain, it turned out to be someone I didn’t originally expect. There were some moments where the pacing felt slow, but it could have been just me taking a bit longer to get into the story. I definitely liked the way the story unraveled towards the end, and it made the book more exciting with the drama and mystery. I also liked the way the story ended with the contestants, everything seemed to be tied up nicely. Would I say this was a mind blowing murder mystery? Probably not, but I thought it was a kind of cozy, interesting story that for the moment was good to read.

Content Warnings