Pies and Prejudice

I enjoyed this magical pie shop mystery very much! Seeing the shop come together was so fun, and the cast of characters supporting our sleuth is adorable. The mystery itself has some intriguing twists and details. And the end definitely left me wanting more!

[Slight spoilers ahead]
Really the only reason I didn't give five stars is there's a very unlikable foil character who doesn't get her comeuppance (lol) and there are the makings of a love triangle. I don't mind either factor very much in principle, but together they did leave me a bit frustrated. Overall, though, I still really enjoy the book and look forward to the next one!

I know Adams is a big favorite of a lot of booktubers who cover cozies, so I went into this with pretty high expectations and almost DNF'd about 30% in.
The bad: I'm immune to “southern charm” and all of the characters are just walking stereotypes who do exactly what you expect.
Grown women still dealing with mean girl issues.
Ella Mae is really immature.
It's pretty damned sexist toward men.
The good: There is a scene in which all of the LaFaye women go out to dinner and all of their personalities are highlighted and it felt like something special was coming.
I think the device of cooking feelings into pie is pretty great, even though I've run into it in other books.
The reason behind the murders is real (I couldn't believe it and looked it up). There Adams did her research. I spent a good bit researching that and learning some stuff. I'm trying to stay spoiler-free here.
The final quarter of the book kind of exposed where I hope the series is going: more Practical Magic and less boring. Set up books can be like that, and then hit their stride in the second one. I'm hoping that's the case here. I'd be open to reading the 2nd one in the series, or a different series from Adams.

So... I liked it. I read it because of a bad review, and for once the book wasn't crap :-D

Of course, there are things I don't like. It's your ordinary cozy mystery, and it follows the formula pretty well, and there are things I don't like about in cozy mystery formula. Like the need for the bitchy “female competitor”. Or the incompetent police.
Except that I don't know who's the male lead in this book series :-D It isn't her husband, and it isn't her first love, and I don't think it's the vet either... though it could be. So I suppose I need to read the next book to find out :-D
I don't like much how the author decided to reveal her “magic”, it is pretty much as another reviewer pointed out. I knew pretty quickly after I started baking how my mood and thoughts affect my baking, and this girl had very clear things. I mean, people crying blue tears? How often does that happen? Like, never. But she just brushes it off as if it was totally normal.

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