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A review by kberry513
A Cookbook Conspiracy by Kate Carlisle
2.0
This one was a slog. While I didn't hate the ending the same way that I hated the previous one, I think a lot of it was just sort of...blah. Also, it retroactively irritated me even more about the previous one - there was this weird twist set up of Vinnie and Suzie inheriting a child and then they didn't even show up in this one.
I felt like this was a bit of a rehash with Brooklyn's sister finding the dead body, touching it, and then being the prime suspect. Almost this exact thing happened with Robin (but done better) in a previous book. And yes, Brooklyn acknowledged it, but that doesn't really excuse it.
The addition of Derek's brother did nothing to enhance the plot and actually made it weirder. First of all, the way the author has started adding in side-romances that are almost-but-not-quite-incestuous is a little...icky. First there's Robin -best friend since childhood who spent most of her time at Brooklyn's house and is like a fourth sister- hooking up with Brooklyn's brother and then Derek's brother Dalton (really? your parents named both of you D names? does every family in this universe have a weird theme for their children's names?) hooking up with Brooklyn's sister. To me, sisters dating brothers is just weird, but I suppose there isn't anything technically wrong with it, per se... In addition to that, in both those cases, the relationships go from 0 to 100 immediately. I don't care how attractive you find someone, it is weird immediately after being introduced to ask if you can touch their bald head and then spend the next several hours awkwardly stroking it in company. Also, I'm starting to get annoyed by the way every man that comes across Brooklyn's path seems to both be drop dead gorgeous and subtly (or not so subtly) interested in her.
Savannah's naivete is annoying instead of endearing. And she is stupid about pretty much everything not the least of which is dismissing Brooklyn's search for the cookbook, especially considering a valuable book could easily be a motive for murder.
Brooklyn and Derek were just sort of there; they didn't do much investigation. Plus, the whole woo-woo factor has increased in the last few books - Brooklyn's mom's spells, rather than being an example of her weirdness, have been "working" and the reason Brooklyn finds so many dead bodies is that she is "Nemesis" and finds justice for the dead, for some reason. I think at this point, she really should transition to being a PI or something because it's starting to get really far-fetched.
I suppose this is a familiar issue in cozy mysteries; if the heroine is someone who does a job where they should rarely (if ever) come across a dead body, after the first few murders there must start to be a reason. Other series do a better job of either explaining it or making it seem so natural that you no longer question it or have their friends start coming to them with problems because they solved 2 murders on their own or something like that.
Things I'm glad about - Derek has stopped calling Brooklyn "darling" so much - which feels condescending. Gabriel did not pop up (although Dalton was an equally irritating substitute). The mystery itself was pretty entertaining, but I think it could have been done better and with about 75 less pages.
I'm debating whether or not to keep reading this series...I hate not finishing, but I don't really like them anymore...
I felt like this was a bit of a rehash with Brooklyn's sister finding the dead body, touching it, and then being the prime suspect. Almost this exact thing happened with Robin (but done better) in a previous book. And yes, Brooklyn acknowledged it, but that doesn't really excuse it.
The addition of Derek's brother did nothing to enhance the plot and actually made it weirder. First of all, the way the author has started adding in side-romances that are almost-but-not-quite-incestuous is a little...icky. First there's Robin -best friend since childhood who spent most of her time at Brooklyn's house and is like a fourth sister- hooking up with Brooklyn's brother and then Derek's brother Dalton (really? your parents named both of you D names? does every family in this universe have a weird theme for their children's names?) hooking up with Brooklyn's sister. To me, sisters dating brothers is just weird, but I suppose there isn't anything technically wrong with it, per se... In addition to that, in both those cases, the relationships go from 0 to 100 immediately. I don't care how attractive you find someone, it is weird immediately after being introduced to ask if you can touch their bald head and then spend the next several hours awkwardly stroking it in company. Also, I'm starting to get annoyed by the way every man that comes across Brooklyn's path seems to both be drop dead gorgeous and subtly (or not so subtly) interested in her.
Savannah's naivete is annoying instead of endearing. And she is stupid about pretty much everything not the least of which is dismissing Brooklyn's search for the cookbook, especially considering a valuable book could easily be a motive for murder.
Brooklyn and Derek were just sort of there; they didn't do much investigation. Plus, the whole woo-woo factor has increased in the last few books - Brooklyn's mom's spells, rather than being an example of her weirdness, have been "working" and the reason Brooklyn finds so many dead bodies is that she is "Nemesis" and finds justice for the dead, for some reason. I think at this point, she really should transition to being a PI or something because it's starting to get really far-fetched.
I suppose this is a familiar issue in cozy mysteries; if the heroine is someone who does a job where they should rarely (if ever) come across a dead body, after the first few murders there must start to be a reason. Other series do a better job of either explaining it or making it seem so natural that you no longer question it or have their friends start coming to them with problems because they solved 2 murders on their own or something like that.
Things I'm glad about - Derek has stopped calling Brooklyn "darling" so much - which feels condescending. Gabriel did not pop up (although Dalton was an equally irritating substitute). The mystery itself was pretty entertaining, but I think it could have been done better and with about 75 less pages.
I'm debating whether or not to keep reading this series...I hate not finishing, but I don't really like them anymore...