Sugar and Iced: A Cupcake Bakery Mystery by Jenn McKinlay

    It’s cupcake and mystery time!

Road Trip Treats/Artwork by Kate Dorsey

    Things between cupcake baker Melanie “Mel” Cooper and her mother, Joyce, have not been going well.  Ever since Mel and her boyfriend Joe broke up, Joyce has refused to talk to her daughter.  That’s why when Joyce and her friend Ginny come asking Mel and her Fairy Tale Cupcake bakery to make cupcakes for a local beauty pageant, Mel is furious.  Now her mother will talk to her.  When she wants something.

    The situation worsens when her two business partners, Angie and Tate, say they think baking for the pageant is a good idea.  This backs Mel into a corner.

    Reluctantly, Mel agrees to making the cupcakes.  One benefit of doing this is she will be around to support Lupe, who has decided to enter the pageant.

    Lupe is a friend of Oz, Mel’s intern now-turned employee.  She is not the pageant type, but decides to enter when she learns there is possible scholarship money she can win.  With Joyce and Ginny helping her, Lupe has a shot at the prize.

    Unfortunately, the pageant is not a pleasant event to be a part of.  Some of the other contestants and their mothers are downright nasty.  Definitely not people who are kind to others.  Then there is the head judge, Mariel Mars.  She has it out for Lupe, for some odd reason.  This vendetta is why when Mariel is found dead, Lupe becomes the main suspect.

    Mel knows Lupe is innocent, and will do whatever she can to prove it.  She must battle three suitors, an angry mother, and fights with friends while she clears Lupe’s name, but she’s determined to do so.  Knowing Mel, she will.

    I had a big problem with this book.  So few people considered Mel’s happiness in the Joe situation.  They were all more concerned with their own feelings.  Mad at Mel for breaking off the relationship.  None of them thought how she might be better off on her own.  Or that maybe they weren’t a good match and should be with other people.  No, everything was about them.

    That is why I was thrilled when Mel finally lost it.  As usual, Tate was trying to push her into something.  Both Tate and Angie do this all the time.  Finally, Mel had it.  The people in her life had walked over her one too many times, and she said something about it.

    On a more positive note, the situation with rival baker Olivia is looking up.  Ever since she started dating Mel’s employee, Marty, she has been trying to be more pleasant.  Even attempting to get along with Mel and Angie.  This is a relief, because the antics the two sides of this rivalry pulled were really obnoxious.  One set of bad behavior resolved would be a very good thing to see.