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onegalonelife27's review
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Lila is back to sleuthing in this next installment of Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries. This time the focus is on the Calendar Crew-Lila’s three godmother and it looks like their love of gossip may have gone too far. I love it in series when side characters get some attention! This time the Crew is starting a new laundromat in Shady Palms and they are having Apri’s niece, Divina, from the Phillipines to help out. Yet the reasons for Divina’s immigration are mysterious. Not long before the opening of the laundromat, there’s vandalism and then murder with Divina’s body found with a threatening message nearby. This is another great mystery to follow Lila as she tries help her godmothers and get justice for Divina!
With this one, I found myself reflecting on the themes of gossip and how it affects both those who gossip and those who are gossiped about. Fortunately, the Calendar Crew’s information is accurate so we don’t have to worry about them slandering anyone. One character brings up, “If they don’t want to be gossiped about, they shouldn’t do bad things,” but everyone makes mistakes, bad choices, and perhaps decisions in order to survive, and has to live with them. And it’s especially embarrassing for everyone to know and judge for those actions. We are told what happens to some characters that the Crew talks about, some are able to move on, some even find their lives better and some…well you’ll have to read to see what happens to them.
Lila says she doesn’t want to deal with any more dead bodies early on in the book, but I’m so glad to read more of her sleuthing! I’d be happy to read many more books in Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries, but maybe one day someone Lila loves will be involved in a much less lethal crime, and thus Lila will step in to save them from a frame up. We’ll have to see!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Addiction, and Infidelity
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Cursing
uranaishi's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Bullying, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Drug use, Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Blood, Violence, and Drug abuse
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