WHY ARE THERE EIGHT(!!) RECIPES SHOVED INTO THE STORY‽ ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY'RE ALSO INCLUDED AT THE END (where they should be)‽ I swear every time the story actually built some tension, BAM a FULL recipe was added at the end of the chapter. They didn’t even include any cheeky instructions to make it semi-worth including. 

Also, pretty much everyone sucks. Annie brings her friends along, yet none of them bothered to see *how* they were getting there until they were already in a cab in their way (to where?). But how would they know when to leave? Makes no sense. Also because she brought one too many guests, there weren’t enough beds. So even though she was the one supposed to be there, her friends made her sleep in the crappy cot, and partied into the wee hours. They also made zero attempts to help her get new clothes when her bag was missing. 

However that is not nearly as egregious as the “romance” that’s supposed to be in this. Ghost boy is pining after a woman who drugged and

raped

him (possibly more than once during that night), took pictures of him while he was unconscious, and then threatened to post them on the internet unless he dated her (or helped her skip town). They were together for a bit until she splits, then harassed him upon returning to town because she wanted to see him. Uh, wtf? If a male character did this to a female character, people would be losing their minds. Not cool at all, in any sense. And it’s written as the guy did something wrong because he didn’t propose. 

Then there’s the potential love interest with the hometown cop. She used to babysit him and he thinks he’s been in love with her since he was a kid, so he’s the one who’s entitled to her, and basically forces himself on her when she says she doesn’t want to make out. Twice. 

I wanted to like this book, but this is not a cozy murder mystery. Casually dropping

rape

and never having anyone address that what she did is not okay is by far from my definition of a cozy read. There were some parts that made me laugh, but the awful romance, the eight entire recipes stuck within the story, the bad characters just weighed it down. Discovering she had two editors is insanity. I definitely won’t be reading anymore of this series. Not surprised that this was probably one of my free Bookbub finds. Sigh.