thaliareads 's review for:

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I went into this book expecting one mystery and it turned out there were actually three mysteries to be solved. I love the setting of the baking competition and I love the variety in the cast of characters. The pacing wasn't quite what I typically prefer. It seemed to start with a bang, slow way down, and then go full force in the last few chapters. I almost thought that the murder part of the murder mystery would go unsolved, but they snuck the answers in at the last minute. I could easily see this being adapted into a movie or series. I thought it was very dynamic and I loved that the audio book had so many different narrators. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Grief

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault

As a murder mysery, most of the content warnings come with the genre. I don't think I'd consider this a "cozy" mystery despite the baking aspect. There is a secondary mystery dealing with the grief felt by one of the contestants who's mother mysteriously dissapeared while working in the house that the competition was hosted in. In addition the story does include a toxic relationship that is currently unfolding, as well as another contestant who shares a similar historical incident of sexual harassment in the workplace.