Cupcakes To Kill For

Author: AliKatMeow
Reviewer: LadyInLostYearn

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SYNOPSIS

Murder, coming fresh off the oven of Mad Batter.

Young baker Casey Lockhart was looking forward to lazy days tucked under the covers that bone-chilling winter, but life had other plans for him. Nothing could prepare him for the tragedy that hits their family, but Casey's trying to stay strong for himself and his two-year-old son, Wyatt.

Meeting the mysterious gangster, August, turns Casey's mundane life upside down and only makes it harder to trust anyone. As they grow closer, Casey realizes he's falling hard for the charming young man, who's nothing but trouble. Is he really someone trustworthy or is it possible he gave his heart away to a ruthless killer?

If Casey doesn't uncover the truth quick enough, someone might take him out of the kitchen for good.

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Disclaimer: While I was reading your book with my best effort to stay unbiased, I might not catch your intended style for your characters, storyline, or purposes. By the end of the day, you control its narrative. I was just passing through, exploring around, and giving a deduction.

Overall review:
Give my best compliments to the cover designer because if I'm a normal reader who found this by chance, I'd read the book. The catchy alliteration in the title helps. The blurb, however, doesn't pull me in. While it's simple (because simplicity still could achieve this), it doesn't evoke a sense of intrigue. Spark some unusual sentences, like "a bloody tragedy found in the winter" or "a mysterious, cupcake-loving, gangster, August..." These are unpolished examples but you get the idea.

The way you described environments is an uncommon skill to find. Because even when you elaborated on them, rather than concisely, I felt they weren't dragging at all. An example, "Daytime seemed to wick away quicker than a candle in the cold" could've turned purple real fast, but it flowed well instead. You made Casey truly attached to his world and situations without trying, to the point I could imagine it like a film. This is difficult to pull off, whether from 3rd person POV or 1st person POV.

That being said, good work on Casey's body expressions, but I need more from the side characters. Especially from the love interest, August. I couldn't connect with any of them so far since their facial nuances weren't expressed enough, just in bits and pieces. Liven them up more through dialogue tags and action beats. Their dialogues combat that a little because their current tones mostly sounded neutral. I think only Wyatt was quite alive through words.

Their appearances, including Casey's, weren't defined if I'm not mistaken. Only a few side characters' were. Unsure if this was intentionally vague or an oversight. If the former, it worked surprisingly well since there's no limit to the reader's imagination. If the latter, you need to work on that.

The pacing was slower than expected. I understand mystery requires a sense of normalcy at first, however, it's hard to know if this story falls into a common tale or if it's full of unique twists. So, I can't say much about the plot despite having reached Chapter 4 and the crime scene. Chapter 5 was where things picked up and got an interesting twist (his poor father though), but I want to point this out since some readers are not willing to read more if the exciting parts don't show up soon enough. If you're not concerned about it, that's good. Really hope this story has unexpected tropes and ideas along the way.

Into the book lists.