Lila, her friends and family are back in the second of the Tita Rosie's Kitchen mysteries. She is still recovering from the events of the first book but still preparing to set up her own cafe. Plus, there are the two eligible bachelors floating in her vicinity. Now, Detective Park is asking her to help with why someone would have sent a note threatening the local beauty pageant.
Lila is reluctant to get back into the beauty pageant world. It brings up some memories of her mother that she's rather not have at that forefront. Pile that on top of the fact that she is still dealing with PTSD from her near murder in the last book and there's a lot going on in her head right now. But she goes and appreciates the updates that Valerie Thompson has made to the program, dragging everyone kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Is it perfect? Maybe not, but at least there's no evening gown section. Lila is also excited to get to know Sana, one of the other judges. Too bad Valerie's brother, Rob, is clearly such a jerk, hitting on every woman there, including the underage ones. Does that mean he should end up dead? Probably not. But he is and Lila is one of the people who find him.
I liked most of the mystery but felt that it didn't really come together well. There were a couple of hints of what was going to happen but it mostly came out of left field. I am mostly enjoying Lila's journey and seeing how supportive her family and friends are. t is also really nice to see an author addressing the fact that an amateur sleuth would be dealing with mental issues if they were almost killed; it makes Lila seem much more real. It makes I also enjoyed the writing style, even snorting a drink through my nose when Lila started talking about love triangles.
Four stars
This book comes out February 9th, 2022
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own
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