A review by lisaluvsliterature
Muffin But Trouble by Talia Hunter

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I enjoyed the first book in the SmartyPants world by this author, Tough Cookie, so I was excited to read another in the Donner Bakery world. It took me a minute to remember those characters, but once we met Mags, Magdalena, and she talked to her sister on the phone, Carla, I remembered her and Noah.

Mags was much different than Carla. Whereas Carla wasn’t much of a social person, Mags was from NYC and was a very loud and big personality. A big city personality. In fact that is why her first meet up with Cy was probably more cute for the readers than for her or Cy. I mean she called him Deliverance! Which most people know is the movie where some hillbillies kind of were scary people. That sucked for Cy as he had dealt with the bad reputation his father gave the family for his whole life.

Her treatment of him made me a little mad at first, and that’s even before we got his side of the story. But as we learned more about her interactions with the contact she had saved in her phone as “scary drug dealer”, her wariness made more sense. And oh my gosh, her ex-boyfriend, a rock star, wow, he was a total and complete loser! But as she kept putting her foot in her mouth over little things with the small town characters of Green Valley, I liked how she ended up handling those things and learning from her mistakes. Not to mention how the small town grew on her, like I think it would any of us who got the absolute wonderful chance to live in this fictional world.

Cy was cautious with letting his niece be known as part of his family. He wants her to have a fair chance in this town without that bad past. His niece is a little bratty, but again, as a teen, it is understandable, especially with what she has gone through and with where her mom is at the moment. Cy was a wonderful guy, and definitely loved his side of the story.

Oh, and I loved the dog that just showed up and made Mags his owner. Another great story from this author in the SPR world and I hope we get more of this family and these characters in future releases!