Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes by Karen Rose Smith
I read this for the Cozy Mystery Book Club, and you can check out the discussion here.
I love culinary cozies and I’m a tea fan, so I liked that aspect of the storyline. The mystery was fairly intriguing as well. However, the writing style seemed really basic. I was always aware I was reading a book because everything was told and explained instead of shown through action and dialogue, so that was disappointing.
Daisy was a weak character, too. She had no personality and deferred to men so much. She was a widow and mentioned her late husband a bit, which is understandable, but she never got into her grief, so even bringing him up felt hollow and didn't add anything to the story.
Beyond that, she kept saying she “didn’t know why” she had feelings for handsome, kind Jonas, but also went on dates and seemed trying to force something with Cade, which had been her prom date but was really dismissive and somewhat controlling of her. I found it off-putting that she kept acting like she wanted to be with him even after admitting how he treated her annoyed her. Get a backbone!
I did like the aspect of an adopted daughter wanting to find her birth mother and how that was handled. It felt really rushed at the end though, and a lot of that action happened off the page. And also, it was all facilitated by... guess who? A man! So that was kind of a bummer.
I think this would have been a much better book is Daisy (and her aunt Iris) were stronger characters - and stronger women. I wouldn’t have finished this if it wasn’t for book club.