A beauty pageant with the chocolate cupcake group

In Sugar and Iced by Jenn McKinlay, the employees of the Fairy Tale Cupcake Shop find themselves working at the 75th Miss Sweet Tiara beauty pageant. While Angie is thrilled at the prospect, Mel thinks beauty pageants are ridiculous and doesn’t want to participate. But visiting the location of the pageant, Mel gets caught up in the excitement and agrees to supply cupcakes every day and also bake the recipes that each contestant has created uniquely, with one including Velveeta cheese mixed with spaghetti-Os and another using Red Bull instead of milk in the batter. Part of their incentive for helping with the pageant is that Oz’s female friend, Lupe, has decided to participate because the prize is a full scholarship to college. She has been accepted to Stanford and wants to go to medical school but doesn’t have the money, so this pageant is a big determiner of Lupe’s future.

Things get off to a rocky start when one of the judges exhibits open racism against a Latina’s winning and blatantly gives her much lower, false scores. When Lupe and others confront the judge about her behavior, they end up having a fight, with Lupe telling the racist that if she does anything to harm Lupe’s friends and family, Lupe will go after her. Thus, when the judge is found strangled, attention immediately focuses on Lupe. The team works hard to keep Lupe from being arrested, while Mel’s mother,Joyce, works to help Lupe succeed at the the pageant.

This series is a whole lot of fun in addition to being a well-planned mystery plot. The degree of humor in the book makes it cute as well as clever. The characters make the book enjoyable, as they come to life very vividly.

But the book is not all fun and games either. Mel spends the whole book struggling over what she wants for her life. She worries that even if she marries Joe, to whom she was engaged for several months, she will still lose him. The death of her own father to a drunk driver in the early years of culinary school has left her afraid to commit to anyone or anything for fear they will be taken away from her. The book9 is a very strong book with some strong introspection that I wish the series had covered earlier. Understanding why Mel is so opposed to marriage helps a lot to understand what has been going on. This fear of commitment manifests not just in her fear of committing to people, but also in her fear of increasing her cupcake business.

I really love the narration of Susan Boyce, who reads the book for the audio version of the book. She adds sparkle to the performance and makes the book seem so realistic as I listen to it. I really am deeply impressed by Boyce’s narration and her gift as a narrator.

I really loved the experience of listening to Sugar and Iced. This book does not have as funny a premise as some others, but the book is very strong. I loved the whole book and give it five stars!

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3 people found this helpful

Complete delight!

I really didn't plan on getting hooked in what I thought was chic lit light. I'm so wrong! Jenn McKinlay has a real talent for fleshing out her characters and making them become part of the family that you can't wait to catch up with. She has skill in writing a delightful tale of intrigue and suspense which truly left me guessing until the very last page! I've really enjoyed this series and am hitting the next one in line as soon as this is submitted!

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2 people found this helpful

jtown

Another sweet twist by Jenn McKinlay. Loved the suspense at then end. Can't wait to read the next one.

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1 person found this helpful

Sugar and Iced, and Everything (Not Always) Nice

What did you love best about Sugar and Iced?

I have loved every book in this series, and happened to find it on a whim. I say this every single time, but I feel like this may be on of my favorite in the series. In this book Mel and Angie are helping out with a beauty pageant. This is totally out of their comfort zone.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sugar and Iced?

I loved the very end, but I cannot tell you why!

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved the entire cupcake process when Mel is making the cupcakes the contestants designed themselves. They sounded disgusting with a few exceptions.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Same as my review title - Sugar and Iced, and Everything (Not Always) Nice

Any additional comments?

You will be happy with this cozy mystery.

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1 person found this helpful

cute, funny and thought provoking

Loved it, just like the other Cupcake Bakery Mysteries. Funny but also a thought provoking book

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Another great story and performance!

I thought I’d tire of this series early on, but the author has kept it engaging. By introducing new characters and adding depth to the main players, this series draws you in with the most basic desire of humanness: to know each other, and ourselves, more fully. Add in delectable delights, and we’ve got ourselves another winner!

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WOW!

So many twists and turns! Kept guessing but never got the right killer! Then the final ending came out of nowhere !

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Great Book to listen. love to keep in order.

I love all these books. good stories. hope you love this book also. bye.

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Fun and mystety

Enjoyable story with great characters you root for to figure things out.All of the series is great.

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terrible narrator

The plot is ok, but the narrator is terrible. She sounds very stiff, almost like the book is being read by a computer.

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