Moonlight 🌸's Reviews > Fudge and Jury

3.5 stars!

I accidentally skipped this book and went on to book 6, and I’m glad I found out and could come back to it! This is the Torte series I love. In my review for book 6, I explained that I was stopping the series there because for me, it lost its cozy atmosphere on the cruise ship and I wasn’t looking forward to the other big changes coming. So it was lovely to step back once more before those big changes and enjoy cozy Torte/Ashland!

- This was so snug, and heartfelt, and the Torte team was a pleasure to be around. Sometimes their teasing got a tad too cheesy, hehe, but I got over it.

- I adored Jules even more here! She and her mom’s relationship is so beautiful. I also liked that she stood firmly on her feelings for Carlos this time instead of denying them—Carlos deserves as much! I did find it weird that she and Carlos don’t even call to talk on the phone—I mean they are married and have settled!

- I don’t know how I felt about the whole Thomas’s profession of love for Jules. Usually, the books have a slow burn and so when it gets to the point in the end where the feelings are expressed, I get butterflies. But this time I felt apathetic to Thomas’s long-awaited declaration of love. Maybe because I’m firmly team Carlos now haha. But also because Thomas’s character has been suffering a bit in the writing over the books. I *would* say that I don’t love how Lance refers to Thomas as a puppy dog or whatnot. It’s kinda condescending and also affects Thomas’s character. Let the man have some dignity!

- I loved the Chocolate Fest backdrop. (I was so confused when I was reading book 6 and the Fest was mentioned in passing because I thought it would’ve been more prominent.) It was exactly the atmosphere I love in this series. I also love the rainy season!!! I can’t believe they were at the Fest to give out all their pastries for FREE!! Why??!! They could’ve made so much money. I did love that Torte won the two awards. I feel like Jules and Helen would be wonderful people in real life. And yay new ovens!

- I don’t love how the author keeps acting like Helen being in her fifties essentially makes her an old lady. I’ve seen many fifty year old who are dandy and strong—like my parents. The author constantly calling Helen ‘slower’ and now making her arthritic feels unnecessary and uncomfortable because it makes me panic about my own parents. 50 isn’t 80.

- I enjoyed meeting Bethany here! I met her in book 6 and had wondered how she got involved in the story. She’s so sweet and adorable.

- I’ve not been the biggest Lance fan, even though I think he’s an essential addition to the series. I don’t dislike him, and he IS funny, but I found him annoying in older books. I felt like the writer was purposely trying to make readers like him more here, so my natural reaction was to be resistant. But it was very nice giving him more character and involving him more in the mystery!

- Unfortunately I still think the mystery wasn’t extremely strong. It was strong-ER than some of the other books, and I think the peppercorns-are-nuts angle was clever(!!) but the mystery-baking ratio could’ve been balanced better.

- Unfortunately while reading, I watched the Dune movie and have been in such a massive Dune hangover, that it has affected every media I consumed that wasn’t Dune. From the halfway point of reading, after I watched the movie, I struggled to re-immerse myself in Ashland as I usually do. So it made me feel a bit detached from the story. Buttt I still enjoyed most of it!

3.5 stars, and I highly recommend this series to cozy mystery lovers!