Cozy mysteries are always a joy to turn to when I need some comfort reads, so this was a great time to catch up on Jenn Mckinlay's Cupcake Bakery series before the next one comes out later in April. This was a fun one as Mel and Angie head to their high school reunion- and on top of the crime they end up having to help solve, Mel gets to realize how much she's grown and changed since high school. This was one of my first cozy series and I continue to love it!

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Class reunions can be murder! In this case, Melanie Cooper, cupcake baker extraordinaire finds the girl who bullied her all through high school dead in the bathroom. With their past and Mel’s name scrawled in lipstick on the wall, she becomes the prime suspect. She didn’t want to go to the reunion in the first place, but Angie convinced her they could attend and show off the success to all their classmates. Plus with the hunky Joe DeLaura by her side, all the women would be green with envy. Well, that didn’t happen. Now, to save her business and herself she has to find who sent the *itch from her past to the great beyond.

It is always good to catch up with Mel, Angie and the gang. The Fairy Tale Cupcake crew is baking up 500 cupcakes for the girl’s reunion and when the party ends with murder everyone is there to support Mel.

Cassidy Havers was just downright nasty and to think even 15 years past high school the woman has gotten even worse. The author really takes on the issue of bullying and it doesn’t just affect kids, bullies can carry their abusive behavior into their adult life. I enjoyed the awakening Mel had. As an adult, with Joe and her friends by her side, she was able to take a step back and see the whole picture. These characters have all grown over the series but Mel’s growth just over the pages of this book was heartwarming and inspiring. Now if she could find the real killer.

Ms. McKinley’s story was fast paced with plenty of twists. The reunion brings together a room full of suspects. It was no surprise that Cassidy had made many enemies over the years. It was so much fun to tag along as she followed each clue, eliminating people and circling back around as new information came to light I was kept guessing right up to the very end.

This is such a fun series. One thing I have learned is that “Cupcakes always make everything better”.

These books are a real treat! Not only do we get a wonderful mystery, but we also get the recipes for the cupcakes that had our mouths while reading the book. The ingredients for Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes have been added to my grocery list. I can’t wait to try them.

I have a reunion coming up this summer. I know it won’t be as eventful as Mel and Angie’s. 🙂

One of my faves in this series.
I really love the gang at the bakery.

Another great installment to the series! McKinlay doesn’t disappoint! It’s always great catching up with Mel, Tate and Angie. This time they’re going to their high school reunion. McKinlay really catches the emotions most of have felt about these types of events. Great mystery, lots of twists and turns with a terrific ending!

"Squeee!"

Mel, Angie and Tate are invited to their fifteen year class reunion. The bakery has been asked to make the cupcakes. Mel doesn't want to have anything to do with the event. She was bullied in school and has no interest in revisiting the past. Cassidy Havers-Griffin, the classic mean girl, attacks Mel almost as soon as she steps foot into the venue. Mel becomes the prime suspect when she discovers Cassidy dead in the ladies room.

I love the relationship that Mel, Angie and Tate share. I love that they always have each others back no matter what. Then throw Joe into the mix and I am a happy camper.

I felt so terrible for the abuse that Mel lived through in school. To have it shoved in her face at the reunion was enough to make anyone go ballistic. We learn quite a bit about the mean girl's hold over her set of friends. it's just sad that such cliques exist.

I missed seeing the DeLaura brothers and Joyce in this book. They always add a bit of fun to the storyline.

The bakery is heaven. I could spend my days there playing movie trivia with the gang. Oz and Marty have grown as characters and I look forward to seeing them manning the cupcakes.

The recipes always get my attention. I think I might even come to like fondant if is was made like Mel's recipe.

A fun series that keeps me coming back for more. I highly recommend it.

Class reunions are killer.

First I'd like to say that I got an ARC of this book thanks to First to Read! I didn't know this was the 11th book in a series when I requested it, but it was pretty easy to follow despite that. In general, I enjoyed reading this. It wasn't the best book out there, but it kept me entertained and helped me shut off my brain, so, hey, there's some benefits to that!

My biggest complaint about this book is that it was really repetitive. It constantly hits you over the head with how Mel “feels” about certain characters she hasn’t really talked to in years, and it gets really annoying. It felt like the author didn't think the reader was capable of remembering who Mel thought was innocent and why.

The other, smaller, issue I had was how childish this book felt. The characters were frequently over the top and (considerably) absurd, and I just wasn't that into it. Nevertheless, the childishness didn't make me hate this book. I just didn't care for it. A more specific example of this was all the movie references in this book. They weren't cute. At all. The references read like an unnecessary "eccentric" thing the characters did to be more unique.

All in all, this was cute and ridiculous. The murderer wasn’t that big of a surprise, but that’s okay. The big reveal was super over the top, but like, whatever. Clearly, this book was leaning more towards humor and ridiculousness, so it’s fine. It was clearly trying to do its own thing, so it can’t be judged by what it wasn't trying to be. Plus, for a murder mystery, it was a pretty light and fun read. I liked it. It could have been better, but it could have been way worse. It kinda felt like watching a Hallmark movie, but with more murder. Eh. It was okay.