i’m sad ann liang’s writing is so good tho. i would have liked to have more time to connect to the characters relationships but the ending was so depressing

new torture method JUST dropped who’s excited ?!

i felt like my brain was deteriorating the more i read and any longer would have had me hospitalized possibly on the brink of death.

i have concluded that i am no longer in becky dean’s target audience and thats okay. im probably not gonna pick up any more of her stuff bc i don’t want to hate read her books, but that’s not gonna stop me from leaving my last hate review 😏

i am sick and tired of this plot.

with the amount of rival bakeries/ restaurants but the grandchildren are in love books that already exist you would think that someone would try to spice things up.

but no.

becky dean went the opposite route and tried to sweeten it with a candy shop.

that doesn’t do anything—it’s not different enough.

i don’t care if these old people want each other out of business. not a single page went by where i was like wow…both these shops NEED to exist.

in fact, i didn’t even care if the people existed. piper was a fan of murder mysteries—someone should have died.

there were like zero stakes 😭 the stakes were so low sir loins had to call their suppliers for a new shipment (shout out to the few people who will understand that).

and not only were the stakes low, but the climax was so underwhelming i could have ridden a bike over a speed bump and felt more of a thrill.

not to mention how ridiculous these characters were 😭 this is a real conversation that occurred. “piper: i would love to go to culinary school beckett: that’s cool. do you like to cook?” 😃…😃 what can i even say to that? this is the only comedic part of the book and it wasn’t even intentional.

besides the horrendous dialogue, these characters were so aware of their issues from page one that is was just obnoxious to read about. they just moped around for 90% of the story and then voila all of a sudden they “develop”. where is the arc? (me when netgalley rejects me 😔). plus they feel the need to repeat themselves 683837732832832761923 million times.

and the romance… i was going to be sick. it was insta love. i don’t need to say any more on that and im not going to give you an example bc i love you. (just kidding, i would make you share the pain with me but i didn’t highlight any worthy lines bc i was #inthedepthsofdespair).

but basically you can imagine it. nobody gets me like you do 😍 you are so amazing and you deserve the world 😍 don’t let anyone dull your sparkle 😍 i want to bask in your sweet fragrance and indulge in your fudge-like beauty 😍 (disgusted myself). if i wanted cringe inspirational quotes i would have taken a trip to facebook and scrolled my great aunt’s feed. and the overuse of baking/ dessert metaphors was not eating the way becky thought it would 😔

alone, the mcs were already insufferable. together they were worse.

and i have a bone to pick with them 😒 or should i say a fudge to set 😒

firstly with beckett. bro doesn’t know what fun dip is 💀 or pop rocks 💀 and he’s a supposed sugar fiend. just say you had a horrible childhood. oh wait-

secondly, and this one is more serious. our dear piper said, “Anything real might be impossible, but a new friend is nice.” idc if i’m being nitpicky over word choice. yes i know what becky was probably trying to say: she would be fine with just friends instead of a romantic relationship, but bro could have worded that any other way. friendships are real. the way that sounds is just icky.

the old people rivalry was also unfunny and embarrassing.

anyways, thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

i tried reading this years ago but stopped once the mc found the first key. then i was going on a roadtrip earlier this month and was like oh let me try it again. i stopped at the SAME spot.

i forgot how annoying the mc was. if i wanted to read about a chudmaxxing incel i would have just gone to reddit.

also just bc this is a memoir style narration doesnt mean you can info dump for ages 🫩