Syrup to No Good by Catherine Bruns Review

 Happy Monday Friends :)

It's officially October, and I'm so excited for one of my all time favorite months.

I love all the ber months if I'm being honest, and fall is my favorite season, and aside from Christmas time, it's also my favorite time of the year.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving, warm sweaters, walking in the beautiful foliage, and curling up with wonderful atmospheric reads for the season with a cup of autumn tea and a lovely pumpkin pastry.

I'm personally however not the biggest fan of Halloween. As a Christian, I don't get into the creepy side of it, so my atmospheric reads for this month will be fall themed and/or wonderful cozy mysteries.

It just so happens that I finished a wonderful cozy mystery at the start of the weekend, and today I can't wait to tell you guys all about it.

This is another one of the titles from my 2023 Most Anticipated Releases Post, and I couldn't wait for it to make its way into the book world.

If you'd like to check out my review of the first title in this series, you can do so using the link below:

A Doomful of Sugar 

Otherwise, I hope you'll join me down below for today's full review.

Syrup to No Good by Catherine Bruns:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Publication Date: October 1st, 2023

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Series: Maple Syrup Mysteries

Synopsis:

Only a sap would try to ruin a bride's special day… Spring has finally come to Sugar Ridge, Vermont, and with it the end of syrup-making season. But Leila Khoury, new owner of Sappy Endings Farm, won't be making like molasses any time soon. Her best friend Heather's wedding is coming up, and Leila will do anything to make sure it lives up to all her sweetest dreams. Even with Leila's own romantic past stirring up trouble, everything is going to plan until the bridal shower ends up with a body count. Heather's rich and backstabbing aunt had a whole orchard of enemies, so Leila will have her work cut out for her. Can she tap the killer before Heather's dream wedding becomes a nightmare? Includes delicious Middle Eastern recipes!

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

Syrup to No Good is the second title in Catherine Bruns' Maple Syrup Mysteries cozy mystery series, and I've been looking forward to reading it ever since finishing the first title, A Doomful of Sugar. Surprisingly, that one was actually my first experience with a novel by this author, and I was blown away by just how much I ended up enjoying it. She's definitely an author I now lookout for within this genre, and I had high expectations going into this one.

Pretty much the idyllic autumn read, Syrup to No Good is set in Vermont, on the Sappy Blessings maple syrup farm where readers once again join Leila Khoury on a bit of wild adventure. While she's finally starting to find her feet as the recently named owner of her family's beloved maple syrup farm, she's bitten off a bit more than she can chew with trying to help her best friend Heather plan the wedding of her dreams. Everything comes to a head at the bridal shower where Heather's meddling and obnoxious aunt Monica seems to be one more headache Leila has to try and work her way through. Only she had no idea how much this is going to prove to be true when Monica shows up dead in the parking lot at the shower. It will take everything Leila's got to bring a killer to justice, but can she do so before the killer turns her evil ways towards her instead?

A wonderful follow up in the series, and a story I had a hard time wanting to put down. This one truly had a little bit of everything, and while the murder is well plotted and paced and kept me guessing, readers are also treated to more of the bubbling relationship beginnings between Leila and her new man Noah, and also are treated to more of Leila's backstory between her backstabbing ex and her somewhat volatile relationship with her mother.

The characters are three dimensional and come to life on the page, the setting is perfect for a spooky murder mystery, and the plot is engaging and enjoyable from start to finish. This was truly everything I was hoping for, and is another wonderful addition to the cozy mystery genre.

The recipes are also something different from the norm included in a cozy mystery as they're all Middle Eastern inspired dishes. Nothing stood out to me as something I'd want to try preparing, but I enjoyed the originality, and I'm sure there's readers that will love giving these recipes a try.

Final Rating: 5/5.

I truly adored this, and can't possibly recommend this one enough. I hope there will be many more titles to come in this series in the future.

Thanks so much to Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to advance read and review this title!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Poisoned Pen Press) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

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