A review by oceanelle
The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This was a breezy, quick read, but I couldn’t help feeling that everything I love about Bake-Off was tarnished by a distinctly American cynicism and lack of genuine human connection (which, incidentally, has always been why I don’t think the show would work in the US, but I digress).

The pacing was too fast and I would’ve liked more time to get emotionally invested in the characters; the characters were flat yet their professed development and connections happened suddenly and without reason, making it feel like there were things happening off the page that the reader didn’t get to see. It seems like the author tried to weave in some darker themes—
alcoholism, depression, sexual assault survivorship, anxiety blackouts, foster care, the murder of a parent, grooming, etc.
—but all of the representations of these experiences were clichéd, one-dimensional, and too neatly “resolved.”

As for the mystery, some of the twists and turns were satisfyingly surprising, but for the most part, I felt let down. In short, comparing the book to Only Murders in the Building and Knives Out is a stretch and a half; this was neither cozy nor clever enough to compare. 
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