Caramel Crush

By: Jenn McKinlay

Narrated by: Susan Boyce

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

Love is in the air at FairyTale Cupcakes as Angie prepares for her wedding, but, at the same time, her co-owner, Mel, is about to help with a breakup. Mel's old friend Diane has decided to dump her fiancé after discovering he's only marrying her for her money. She wants Mel to personally deliver a batch of caramel breakup cupcakes to the louse and give her a play-by-play of his reaction. But when Mel finally tracks the man down, the look on his face isn't what she expected: he's dead. After the police arrive and see the incriminating cupcakes, Diane becomes their prime suspect. If Diane hopes to taste freedom again, Mel and Angie must make sure the real killer gets their just desserts.

©2017 Jenn McKinlay (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Rape as a humorous subplot

I love this series but the disturbing use of a college rape of a roofied woman was awful. That it was handled with the “it would have been so embarrassing” angle was horrifying. Not humorous. Horrifying. Please do better.

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Breakup cupcakes that lead to murder

Mel gets strong-armed into baking break-up cupcakes on behalf of her college roommate, Diane, in Caramel Crush, the ninth book in Jenn McKinlay's cupcake series. Diane wants to break off her engagement to Mike in a particularly vindictive way by making Mel bake cupcakes that announce the end of their engagement and deliver them to Mike at his company, Party On. Mel will then stay on the phone with Diane, so Diane can get the blow by blow report. But things don't go as planned when Mel finds the party supply warehouse empty until she spots a hand. Investigating further, Mel finds Mike with his head bashed in. With Diane as the chief suspect, Mel feels obligated to try to help her former roommate, feeling instinctively that Diane's actions don't add up to murder.

In the meantime, Angie's wedding is fast approaching, and she has turned into bridezilla. At her final dress fitting, Angie really freaks out, trying to make the seamstress entirely redo the dress. The seamstress reveals to Mel that Angie has surpassed even Diane as her highest maintenance client. Upon the mention of Diane, Mel perks up and learns that Diane's bridesmaid has been having an affair with the groom. Hoping to find evidence to clear Diane's name, Mel goes out to investigate for herself, getting tangled in a crazy web of motives to kill Mike.

This book joins the previous book, Vanilla Beaned, in returning to the delight of the first few books. The series got bogged down for a little while, but the plot of this book contains many twists that make the book interesting. The unique characters continue to make the series all the more fun. Each of the characters has a strong personality that to me is the highlight of the book.

My one complaint is McKinlay's tendency to conclude her books with major cliffhangers. The purpose of using such cliffhangers is to manipulate the reader to feel obligated to purchase the next book in the series. And the cliffhangers in this series, especially in this book, particularly manipulate. I especially did not appreciate the cliffhanger in this book because it indicates that the next book will turn into a whole different focus from the direction the series has taken. Further, this is the latest book in this series, with the next one, Wedding Cake Crumble, not due out in print until April 3, 2018. Almost always the audio edition takes several months later before it gets released. So I now have a year before learning the denouement of the cliffhanger and being given a new one. I hope McKinlay gets rid of this manipulative trick because she should rely on the high quality of her writing to get readers to return to her, not gimmicks.

Susan Boyce does an amazing job of narrating the audio edition of this book. She uses highly distinct voices for all the characters, with such clear voices that she doesn't need to indicate who is speaking for me to be able to identify the character. Boyce really adds joy and fun to the books.

I had a good time listening to Caramel Crush. This book gives the readers a lot of fun, with a creative mystery. I really was unhappy with the cliffhanger. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and give it five stars!

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I so enjoy this series

I highly recommend starting off with book 1 in this series. you have to get to know these likable characters. And the wonderful bond of friendship.

I like the way Jenn McKinlay references characters of her other books. That cracks me up.

McKinlay is definitely one of the best cozy writers.

Fill in time line from before Angie's wedding

Good story as the other cupcake bakery series have been. Drives me nuts to read series out of order. IMO this book should be before the previous title. I'm eager to hear the rest of the story so this left me disappointed and wanting more.

Love it! As fun as all the others!

It's a fun story that has some mystery, some danger, romance and humor all in one story. As entertaining as the 1st eight books.

Loved these characters and want more

I am left wanting more. I hope there will be more books to follow. Need more on the story of what happens to everyone.
AM LEFT WANTING ANSWERS!!!!!!!

Pure genius

I love all of these books because I can never figure out who the killer was. Just a side question though, through all the books in the series it says that Mel and Angie have been friends for at least 22 years. But in this book talking in reference to Ray it says his New York accent has gotten stronger in the 20 years since they moved from New York to Arizona. Which is the correct time frame?