Recent Reads: The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell 

Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date:  March 7, 2023

 

Format: Audiobook
Source: Bought with Audible credits.

Rating:

Goodreads Synopsis: 

For six amateur bakers, competing in Bake Week is a dream come true.

When they arrive at Grafton Manor to compete, they're ready to do whatever it takes to win the ultimate The Golden Spoon.

But for the show's famous host, Betsy Martin, Bake Week is more than just a competition. Grafton Manor is her family's home and legacy - and Bake Week is her life's work. It's imperative that both continue to succeed.

But as the competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it's small acts of sabotage. Someone switching sugar for salt. A hob turned far too high.

But when a body is discovered, it's clear that for someone in the competition, The Golden Spoon is a prize worth killing for...

Review: 

I listened to the audiobook of this one. The audio is read by multiple readers as a full cast. I generally listen at more than 1x speed, but there was one character that sounded far too anxious and mousey for me to do that with this one which was an immediate bummer. 

The book follows six contestants on a baking show. The audiobook is read by a full cast, which is always nice for these kinds of books with multiple POVs. Betsy Martin is the grandmother of baking, like a Martha Stewart meets baking but she is feeling threatened about her show and her age and the new guy they hired to co-host with her. 

I liked the cast of characters, they played well as single characters and as a group off each other throughout the book. I found Betsy so rude and annoying all the time. She was entitled and showed it. I liked the competition aspect of the book, and it felt like watching a show to some degree, but the whole thing was predictable in a lot of ways. If I go into too much detail it will spoil it, so I won't. There was a mystery... but it wasn't necessarily the dead body from the beginning, but that was a flashy start.

Other thoughts - Lottie and Pradyumma's friendship was so cute, like mom and son and I appreciated their helping each other. (apologies for any name misspelling, I listened to the audiobook). Stella was too frantic for me and I had to slow down my listening speed to hear her properly. I liked that the reader got into her character in that way because she was anxious all the time. I didn't like Hannah, she was there for fame and would have done anything for it, which was a bit gross. I wish I had more time with Peter he seemed interesting and Gerald was weird, in a nerdy way... (which so am I) he has some OCD and perfectionist issues which were great for this setting. I wanted more of him being sneaky. 

Overall this book was ok. I liked the characters but wanted more from the mystery - it fell really short.