SOMETHING BORROWED,
SOMETHING 90% DARK
Bean to Bar Mysteries, #6
by
Amber Royer
Cozy Culinary Mystery
Publisher: Golden Tip Press
Date of Publication: September 12, 2023
Number of Pages: 288 pages
Scroll down for Giveaway!
Felicity Koerber's bean to bar chocolate shop on Galveston's historic Strand is hosting the friends and family coming into town for her best friend Autumn's wedding. As matron of honor, Felicity has a ton of tasks to complete - including making chocolates for the gift bags. She doesn't have time to solve another murder. But when one of the bridesmaids becomes a prime suspect in the death of a visiting real estate agent, Felicity has to put her detecting skills to use again to keep the wedding plans from getting derailed.
She's already nervous about the impending deadline she's given herself to finally choose between her two love interests - and figuring out where life goes once she makes her choice. But add in a missing Pygmy goat and a new coffee shop that wants to partner with her, and she's frazzled.
She begins to discover that not everything is as it seems among the wedding guests. Can she handle the wedding preparations, pull off turning her shop into a concert venue, and unmask the killer before anyone else dies?
My Review:
This is the sixth Bean to Bar mystery and it's an absolute treat. Previously I've only read the fifth book in the series, so I've missed a lot of Felicity's adventures. However, reading #5 and #6 really makes me want to jump into the first several books to see where it all started.
The mystery in this book has a LOT of twists and turns. There are so many suspects and so many interwoven elements. It made this case much harder to solve and I wasn't able to predict the culprit. The clues were scattered enough to leave things mysterious until the reveal. There were so many red herrings and potential ways for things to play out. I was very invested all the way through.
I know a lot of this series' readers, like me, were invested in the "who will she choose?" element. Personally, I'm satisfied with the decisions made and the paths taken. I wasn't sure how things would pan out, but I'm happy. I think the right choice was made - especially with the new developments I learned about in this book. It was well handled, even though the question of who drove me NUTS as she went back and forth. In a good way! I was invested.
This book has a very intricate mystery, a broad scope, and several other fun plot points to enjoy. I love the broad cast. Some characters were more present in this book than the last one, so there were some character shifts. I enjoyed that since it felt fresh and new compared to the previous installment. I recommend the Bean to Bar series and look forward to not just catching up on the series, but finding out more about the eventual seventh book! I give Something Borrowed, Something 90% Dark a Lone Star rating of ✯✯✯✯ stars.
Amber Royer writes the Chocoverse comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series and the Bean to Bar Mysteries. She is also the author of Story Like a Journalist: A Workbook for Novelists, which boils down her writing knowledge into an actionable plan involving over 100 worksheets to build a comprehensive story plan for your novel. She also teaches creative writing and is an author coach.
Amber and her husband live in the DFW Area, where you can often find them hiking or taking landscape/architecture/wildlife photographs. If you are very nice to Amber, she might make you cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes, of course! Amber blogs about creative writing technique and all things chocolate.
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TWO WINNERS:
Each receives an autographed paperback copy.
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 9/21/23)
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I love how you said that despite this book being #6, it still had fresh elements to keep you interested. NICE! I look forward to reading it soon and finding out about THE CHOICE! ha!
ReplyDeleteAwww! Thank you for such an enthusiastic review!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the lovely review! I'm glad you enjoyed the plot twists -- and the relationship drama.
ReplyDelete