Thank you to the publisher for the invitation to participate in the blog tour for this book. I was provided with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review and I chose to purchase a copy of the book from my local indie bookstore to read and review.
Synopsis
Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can't bring herself to open her new cafe after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt's Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started.
To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila's little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago--a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case--because it looks like one of them might be next.
My Review
Homicide and Halo Halo is book 2 in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series. I read book 1, Arsenic and Adobo, and right away I started reading the next book in the series. I was looking forward to reading the next book, that I nearly didn't post my review on Goodreads and I just posted my review for book 1 on my blog today.
This book focuses on family, friends, past relationships, grief and loss, and also looks to the future with new friendships and the start of new relationships too. Food and family is still very much a big part of this book. The author provides a warning at the beginning of the book as this book does deal with some more serious subject matter than the first book. For me, it wasn't an issue, but I appreciated her honesty.
I enjoyed reading more of Lila and her family and friends and of the cafe, and the family recipes. I definitely recommend starting with book 1 of the series as the characters and events lead from one book to the next and they are enjoyable mysteries with Filipino food and family connection being a big part of the story.
I look forward to reading book 3, Blackmail and Bibingka, which has a publication date of October 4, 2022.
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