Going into this book, I had never actually read a cozy mystery before, but I was super excited to give it a try! I was especially excited because this book looked to have awesome Filipino representation and imo, that is a voice that has heavily been missing in mainstream literature.

Let me start by saying the food description was probably the strongest part of this book! I was sooo hungry after every chapter. Not only were there traditional foods like adobo, kare kare, sinigang, and more, but there were unique twists on dishes too like calamansi ginger icebox pies and ube crinkle cookies. I wrote down at least twenty dishes to cook at home because this book had me so inspired.

I also loved the characters in this book! Every single person was so vivid and relatable and I loved the incorporation of Tagalog words into the dialogue. Some of the titas in this book reminded me so much of the titas and lolas I grew up with in my neighborhood. Really great characterization.

Where this book lost some points for me was in the plot. Since it was a cozy mystery, I wasn't expecting anything crazy intense or deep, but the overall concept for the murder and investigation was just a bit convoluted, I suppose. I still enjoyed it, but I did have to actively stop myself from questioning parts of the book and just let myself enjoy it.

All in all, this was a fun read and the food description alone is enough reason to read this! Pick it up if you want something light and enjoyable.