All Fudged Up by Nancy Coco Review

 Hello Friends :)

How have you all been coping with everything going on lately?

Honestly, I'm finding the current state of our world to be scary and disheartening, and it truly breaks my heart to see how rampant evil has become, even more so lately.

I've mainly only been reading Christian and clean fiction reads for the last six months, and I've had such a better reading experience doing so. However, today I'm going to share a review with you all for a book that is a cozy mystery, and is not a Christian fiction title. I went back and forth over whether I should review this one or not, but I do know there's a lot of Christian fiction fans or clean fiction fans who enjoy cozy mysteries, and I think it's important to be transparent about whether or not a book is appropriate.

Why did I choose to pick up this particular title you may ask?

Well, to be honest I've kind of developed a fascination with Mackinac Island lately. I love the idea of an island that "time seems to have forgot" and I can't get over how beautiful it looks in the pictures. Obviously, I won't be seeing it for myself anytime soon, as I don't see my husband and I crossing the United States border anytime in the foreseeable future. However, I decided to try and look and see if there were any fictional books set on Mackinac Island, and I found three amazing Christian fiction ones that I couldn't wait to read. I also stumbled upon a cozy mystery series set on the island, and I decided to give it a chance. 

I figured if it ended up being inappropriate content wise then I would simply set it back down, and not carry on with the series.

Keep reading to see what I ended up thinking about it.

All Fudged Up by Nancy Coco:

Source: Libby App

Publisher: Kensington

Publication Date: January 1st, 2013

Genre: Cozy Mystery/Adult Fiction

Series: Candy-Coated Mysteries

Synopsis

Welcome to the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop--where life is sweet, revenge is sweeter, and murder is here to to stay…

You Can't Fudge An Alibi

Allie McMurphy is up to her neck in renovations at the grand old hotel that's been in her family for generations. With its quaint Victorian charm--and world-famous fudge shop--the place is one of Mackinac Island's most beloved landmarks.

Sure, every family has a skeleton or two in the closet. But Allie didn't expect to find an actual corpse inside hers, especially one Joe Jessup, who had a long-running feud with her dear departed grandfather. Which makes Allie the number-one suspect.

Can she sniff out the culprit before another victim checks in?

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

I used to read cozy mysteries quite a bit, but haven't found myself as drawn to them lately. I used to love that they tended to be clean and cozy, and that hasn't been my experience with the majority of them as of late. However, in the past few weeks I've developed a bit of a fascination with Mackinac Island (I'd love to visit there someday), and I was instantly intrigued when I saw that this particular cozy mystery series is set on the island. I was hoping it would end up being something I enjoyed, so I decided to go ahead and pick it up.

I want to start off by saying that I think that Nancy Coco does an excellent job at setting the scene for this series. I literally felt like I was on the island experiencing problem after problem with the protagonist Allie McMurphy. I also really enjoyed how a sinister overlay seems to preside over the entire story, and I thought that the eclectic cast of characters really helped with the overall appeal of this story.

The mystery was well done, and while I'd guessed at certain parts of it, I hadn't pieced together the whole story, and I love when that's the case. Everything comes together for a pretty fantastic finish, and I ended up impressed with how so many details were able to easily come together in the finale.

However, I ended up having two main complaints with this one overall, and I don't think I'll personally be continuing on with this series.

First, I found that the writing could often seem kind of choppy and jilted. We'd get pages and pages of things that didn't seem to matter, but every time something sinister happens, the chapter is quickly cut off and carries on to the characters talking about the situation after the fact. I think it would have made for a stronger story if we were given more of the story when the actual events were happening.

Secondly, this definitely wasn't the clean read I was hoping for, and I personally wasn't a fan of the many innuendos included throughout. There wasn't much in the way for language, but throughout the course of the story, Allie's basically infatuated with two different men, and this made up way more of the story than I personally thought was necessary.

Overall, I did enjoy this one, and am glad I gave it a try. However, I didn't love it enough to invest any more time in reading the series, and I don't think it's one that I would be recommending in the future.

Final Rating: 3/5. 

I did go back and forth over whether to give this one two stars or three stars, but I decided to bump it up as I did think the setting and the overall mystery were pretty well done.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)