Description (from cover):'When Devereaux "Dev" Sinclair hosts a cupcake contest at her five-and-dime store, she discovers that someone is just dying to win...
Kizzy Cutler finds it so delicious to be back in her hometown of Shadow Bend, Missouri, that she seems to have forgotten why she fled twenty years ago. For now, she's excited to kick off her new line of cupcakes with a competition, which Dev has agreed to host in her shop. But before the first yummy cupcake is even baked, Kizzy's assistant, Fallon, dies from a mysterious ailment.
While the medical examiner attempts to discover what killed Fallon, Kizzy declares that the show must go on. However, after Kizzy escapes several near misses, Dev is convinced that someone in Shadow Bend has it in for the cupcake queen. Is the secret from her past so dark that someone still wants to kill her for it?
With a list of not-so-sweet suspects, Dev's in a race against the time to solve the murder before someone else gets iced...'
My thoughts:
I haven't really been a fan of this series all that much, but I haven't quite given up on it yet. I read this book expecting to be bored and not really impressed and I have to say that I did actually enjoy this book better than the others in this series. I just can't get into the romantic love triangle thing and that does feature heavily in this book. I am not a huge fan of romance in novels and it seems like this series has that in droves. This book did tone down the romance issue a lot though as compared to the others. Dev's character is a little off for me as she seems to be fickle. Just choose a dude already and move on. I am sick of the back and forth and dragging of the feet.
Kizzy Cutler was a small town girl from Shadow Bend, Missouri, however she left and now has created a name for herself in the cupcake bakery world. She is back in Shadow Bend to launch a new cupcake line and what better way to do that then to host a cupcake competition. Of course, Dev is in the thick of things and is hosting the event at her shop. It appears when Kizzy's assistant is found dead that someone wants Kizzy dead. And if her character is anything to go off of, well I can understand why. I think the author did a good job of making the reader dislike Kizzy and I can completely relate to the plot line of the mystery. I didn't get this one figured out right away, but I wasn't all that intrigued either.
I will say that this book is a huge improvement in this series. If we can work on the romance issues, I would enjoy these books a lot more. I get that some people like to read books like this, but it's really not my thing. I read mysteries for the mysteries not the soap opera romance things that go on. I feel like this series has potential, but I am not sure if that is going to work out. I have a feeling that the author likes the soap opera romance and I think I have to agree to disagree. I am curious to see what the next book brings, but if the soap opera goes on, it might be the last I read in this series.
Overall Rating: 3
Title: Dying for a Cupcake
Author: Denise Swanson
Series: Devereaux Dime Store Mystery #4
Publisher: NAL
Publication Date: March 3, 2015
Pages: 272
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was selected from the library by myself and I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
