Arsenic and Adobo (A Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery)

Lila has a breakup with her boyfriend, so she moves home to help her Philipino aunt (Rosie) save her restaurant that is going broke. The financial troubles began when Lila's old high school boyfriend, Derek, who is a food critic, gives really poor reviews to the restaurant, seemingly as a way to get revenge on Lila. Derek dies suddenly and mysteriously after eating at Rosie's. The cops think that she did it, and the landlord wants to kick them all out. Lila accepts the help of her family, her best friend and local barista, to investigate the mystery.

I liked the characters. Nice and easy read. Recipes sound yummy.

This was a cute cozy read. I liked that it was set in a fictional town outside of Chicago. Plot line is quite standard for a cozy murder mystery.

I did not like this book very much and don't plan on reading any other books in the series. The writing felt too simplistic and like it was written by a teenager. I also did not like some of the comments about diabetics. I feel like the author does not really know much about diabetics or what it is like to live with it. I was initially very interested in this book because I'm interested in learning about different cultures and was curious how the food would play into the story. I was very disappointed. The descriptions of the food didn't seem to come at the right places and didn't flow with the story very well. The book also seemed to be void of emotion.

I didn’t hate it but I also didn’t love it. It has some interesting parts. I liked how the author including cultural aspects into the story line but it could have been stronger and more often.