Unable to read and review by publication date due to other commitments, Will update immediately upon completion. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher,

I really like the Bakeshop Mystery series, Ellie Alexander paints such a vivid and interesting picture of the town of Ashland, OR that it makes me want to visit.
In this installment, the 10th in the series, Torte is getting ready for Christmas and the Dickens Feast. Julia is once again confronted by a dead body and gets involved in the investigation.

The book is well written, the plot is tight and the characters are as fun as they have been in previous books, I highly recommend this book and the others in the series.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Juliet takes the staff from her bakery out to celebrate at a local inn’s Dickens Feast, a multi-course meal with characters like Scrooge, Santa and Mrs. Claus welcoming guests while diners are serenaded by a Victorian quartet. The power goes out during the feast and when it comes back on they find a dead body.

This is a cozy mystery that I would recommend to fans of Hallmark movies and baking cozies. The focus in this book is heavily on holiday preparations and baking. A Cup of Holiday Fear can be read as a standalone but would be easiest to follow and most enjoyable if you read the series in order. There is not much backstory provided to catch readers up on character connections from prior books.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own. #ACupOfHolidayFear #cozymystery

I didn't enjoy this mystery as much as I would have liked. Although nicely written, it felt like a story I'd heard before. I wanted to enjoy the story but I kept feeling as if it was a bit too close to another cozy with a holiday theme and a murder during a holiday party. And having read none of the previous books in this novel I didn't feel as if I was as emotionally invested in the characters.

I am in full holiday themed reading mode right now! This is my second holiday themed mystery post of the week and I am thrilled to be able to share this book with you guys!

I only recently discovered Ellie Alexander in the last couple of years and started her Bakeshop Mystery series like mid way through but it’s been a absolute pleasure to read.

Not to mention she is from my home state and truly makes Oregon sound like the coolest place to live in! Oregon definitely has it’s perks but whenever I read a novel set here, I have a sense of pride for my state because no one can truly capture Oregon’s magic like a local author!

Summary
Torte, Ashland’s favorite bakeshop is decking the halls and brewing up cups of holiday cheer. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is dark for the season, but spirits are high as twinkle lights illuminate Main Street and snow falls softly on rooftops. Torte is bustling with activity. Jules and her team are rolling out dozens of Christmas tree cutouts and dusting them with sparkling green sugar. Helen’s signature Antoinettes, a delectable almond cookie filled with raspberry preserves and slathered with chocolate buttercream, are an instant hit. As are Andy’s peppermint bark mochas and eggnog shooters. While carolers serenade shoppers in the plaza, Jules packages up festive boxes of holiday sweets. She feels a bit like Santa Claus as she delivers glistening Christmas stolens, dainty tea cakes, and mincemeat pies.

To cap off the merry season, Jules and Helen host their annual staff party at the historic Winchester Inn’s Dickens Feast. The six-course dinner is a beloved tradition, complete with Yorkshire pudding and a Christmas goose. Santa, Mrs. Claus, and even a cheerless Ebenezer Scrooge delight dinner guests with jokes, friendly banter, and surprise gifts. As snow piles up outside the hot buttered rum and mulled wine keep everyone toasty inside. However, just as the dessert course is about to be served the power goes out. When the glow of warm light returns, the merriment evaporates. One of the guests is sprawled out in front of the twenty-foot Christmas tree. Suddenly Jules finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. Her only wish this Christmas is to catch a killer. (summary from Goodreads)

Review
While I have skipped around in this series, I have never felt lost within the books. Sure there are little side plots and characters that have moved fluidly through the series, but with Alexander’s books the focus is first and foremost the mystery. Oh and the food of course…..let’s not forget about the food! Whenever I read one of her books I instantly gain ten pounds, the description of the foods and sweets is just too much to handle and I find myself desperately searching for goodies to accompany my reading!

Unlike where I am at in Salem, Oregon the town of Ashland Oregon often gets snow (I know since I have driven through there in the winter!) and the way that Alexander describes the town is enchanting and I love reading about it!

This book was full of lovely descriptions, yummy food, and of course a murder! With all of Alexander’s books I am usually kept guessing right up until the end who the murderer is, and this book was no different. There were plenty of twists and red herrings to keep me interested and involved in the mystery. But what really held my interest was simply the description of Oregon in the winter time. It’s such a magical place and I loved reading about my home state through Alexander’s eyes! Such a fun read!

This is the tenth book in the Bakeshop Mystery series and I have found that the ones I have read are a delight and I can’t wait to read more! I definitely need to go back and read some of the others in the series though, not to get caught up but just to enjoy more of these charming and memorable characters!

Book Info and Rating
Kindle Edition
Published September 24th 2019 by St. Martin’s Paperbacks
ASIN B07PCL3XS8
Free review copy provided by publisher, St Martin’s Press, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: cozy mystery, holiday

The 10th (though first for me) Bakeshop Mystery gets the Christmas-obsessed mountain town of Ashland, Oregon so meticulously and perfectly described, you should be able to feel the snow in the air and Christmas lights of every color twinkling around you. Similarly, the book's intro to Torte - the bakeshop itself centered in the town plaza across from the local police station and also dolled up for Christmas - brings to full life the smells and tastes and warmth of the coziest bakeshop in the west, co-run and -owned by Jules Capshaw, who also happens to have a nose for solving mysteries. As a bonus to their employees, Jules and her partner/mother have treated their staff, for Christmas, to the Dickens Feast at the local Winchester Inn on the hill, where a six-course period-correct meal will be served by the likes of Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley as live carolers sing, in a hotel redecorated in the same era for the occasion (though the book takes awhile to get the reader to that night, which only happens when page after page of description, exposition, and a lot of baking/cooking have gone by). The first quarter of the book paints a perfect, detailed picture of Ashland at Christmastime that you could almost live in - but the problem, for me, was that the lengthy descriptions never stopped. By the time the murder occurs the author has thrown enough at you, you aren't a hundred percent sure who the victim will be (kudos for that) until the person is found dead ... but that's more than a third of the way into the novel, and for me things went a little downhill from there. Readers get yet more detailed descriptions of baking and recipes, while something as important as any clues from the crime scene or body are never covered or cared enough about to be mentioned (indeed, no forensics team even appears to show up; none are mentioned and no such evidence is ever discussed - instead the story coming off like the coroner just came to collect the body, and left again as the cops started asking questions and investigating). Character development of any depth is relegated mostly to Jules or the ongoing cast of characters, even the mystery itself really taking a backseat to the town, its residents, and the season (truly, a romance plot could have replaced the mystery in this book without extensive rewrites). And, of course, the baking. Even worse (MILD SPOILER AHEAD; nothing ruined but be alert!) is the unforgivable sin this book makes of having its killer nabbed "off-screen"; in other words, instead of the murderer's apprehension in the story, in real-time, readers learn the person's fate the same way the main character does - when someone tells her. This robs the reader of all that time and emotional investment in all the pages that came before, only to not actually see justice done on the page (the killer's motive? Also one of the weakest I've ever read, in over four decades of reading mysteries). Very conflicted about this one, a well-written Christmas-themed mystery that works on some levels but definitely not as a mystery. Can't help but feel that a romance subplot would have fit with the rest of the book's tone and worked a lot better. 2/5 stars

I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Book 10 in the series. I liked it, mostly.

It's always nice to visit Ashland and Torte Bakery. Jules and the bakery gang are fun and likable. There seems to be more Christmas cheer than mystery in this book, with the murder occurring in between holiday happenings. Even with that, it still started off as one of the better books in the series, but kind of lost steam towards the end.

My biggest complaint about the series is the Jules/Carlos drama. I'd like to see that settled once and for all. As a result of the long, drawn out, relationship angst, I really can't give it more than 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review. Cozy mystery fans, do you like quaint picturesque towns, Christmas season, loads of cookies and food on most pages. Then this is the book for you. Lots of characters and Christmas season is upon us in the quaint town of Ashland, OR. This town seems to have every possible Christmas event possible including the annual Christmas Dickens Feast. Excitement abounds throughout the book and by the end you are left wishing you lived in such a great town, with so many wonderful people. Beware if you are diabetic you might OD on all the sugary deserts and dialogue.

3.5 - Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book to read and review.

Everyone knows my love for all things mystery and all things Christmas. Those two loves were bound together in this and I ate it up, no pun intended. This story starts with a bakeshop that you can't help but love for all the adventure and unique combinations that they serve up at Torte. I loved the baking bits and the recipes included at the end. I really enjoyed the subtle references throughout the novel and the town itself.

When I requested this I was unaware that it was the tenth in a series; however, that was my fault. With that being said, there were a lot of characters thrown at me at once right off the back. I didn't feel like there was much background to them, and I understand why now so I am not taking anything away from my rating because of that. My main hiccup was with the character that was killed and my complete lack of interest in finding out who done it because I really didn't care for the character. It was relatively easy for me to guess who done it and most of the how. The suspense was a little lacking becaue of that, but it was still an enjoyable, light read.

I want to mention one more thing that I found offputting, and this may be a personal thing for me. I am not fond of how Bethany automatically compared herself to Andy's date by appearance, especially in the terms that she needed to "lay off the brownies". I am not a fan of this representation and would have liked to have seen a better use of this comparison without weight and degradation included at that moment. It was in passing; however, its something I don't like to see when there are better plot points that can be used.

This is probably a good mystery, but I was lost almost from the get-go. There was no back story for any of the characters, who obviously knew one another and had experienced many events and happenings in former books, or the setting. I had difficulty trying to figure out who was who, what the setting was and so forth. In the book, Jules Capshaw and her staff at the bakery Torte are enjoying a staff holiday dinner at the annual Dickens themed fest at the town’s Winchester Inn’s Dickens Feast, a six-course extravaganza with Yorkshire Pudding, Christmas goose, and all the trimmings, when Jules finds the lifeless, stabbed body of the hotel’s soon-to-be, new owner, Cami. The current owners have sold the place to this woman, Cami who, though she promised to let every tradition and such at the inn remain, reveals that her plans include demolishing the hotel and ending the traditions the inn is famous for. During the evening, the townsfolk, who are at this holiday tradition dinner also find out just how mean-spirited Cami really is, from her continued, rude actions. Jules now plunges into her murder mystery to sort through the clues that will hopefully lead to its resolution and thus a happy holiday.

As I said, there was little or no back story. I had very little idea who the characters were or what their actions meant, not to mention what the author meant with various allusions to what I figured were actions and events that had occurred in earlier books. The characters seemed well done, but I had no idea who they really were or what their relationship to each other or the town and the current situation was, because so much was unsaid. This is the tenth book in the series, so a lot must surely have happened in earlier books to bring all this together. If you have read and enjoyed the other books in the series, this one will probably be equally as good. If this is the first book in the series you pick to read, I recommend you read at least a couple earlier ones, so you are not trying to figure out who is who and what is what as I was. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

This was my first time reading this series. I was lost with getting to know the characters and really should start with the first story before reading anymore. The mystery was good and I enjoyed the bake shop theme.

If you love holiday books and a good murder mystery you'll like this book. After reading this book it got in the holiday spirit and in the mood to bake some goodies. I loved reading this book and how these people celebrated the holidays. I also loved following along as the characters put pieces together and questioning who was behind the murder. As for the ending I was pretty satisfied with how it ended. Now if you don't mind I'm in the mood to cook some of the recipes that I found in the ending.

I really enjoyed this book in one of my favorite series. I love visiting Jules, Mom and the rest of the staff of Torte as they feel like they have become old friends. I loved the setting of the book as well as reading about Ashland's Christmas traditions. The mystery has enough twists and turns and I wasn't sure who to suspect in this one. It's well-written and kept me reading late into the night.

It's Christmastime in Ashford and Tarte is geared up to produce as many luscious baked goods as possible. In appreciation of the hard work and stress from holiday season, Jules arranged to take her staff to a festive Dickins style Christmas feast. Unfortunately, the feast had an inordinate amount of glitches, including a power outage, but then the feast turned deadly. If you're new to the Bakeshop mysteries, this is a fine entry point and I expect that you will be enticed to delve into the earlier books in the series. As for me, I know I am in for a treat with a delicious mystery enleavened by descriptions of amazing baked goods. Includes recipes.

I'm definitely a fan of the Ellie Alexander Bakeshop Mysteries, and this was another great entry. Jules Capshaw is once again a strong and likable protagonist surrounded by a unique cast of characters. This time, she must tackle a murder that threatens to disrupt a beautiful small town Christmas and all its traditions.

A Cup of Holiday Fear is a great cozy mystery with interesting characters and storyline. I must go back and read the other books in this series.

Cozy Christmas Season Murder Mystery
This book is a cozy mystery set in a winter wonderland of the mountains of southern Oregon. The fictitious town is a complete Christmas dream with Dickinson Dinners, Victorian carollers and a town square is full seasonal silliness. One of the main settings is a bakery with descriptions of goodies that will make you drool. Luckily for the reader, the author has included some of her recipes at the back of the book. The story flows easily with lots of suspects and motives. I have read several of this author's works and she is fast becoming a favorite. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

I love this series so much! This book was a very good holiday read. I feel like Juliet and everyone that works at the bakery are my friends. They mystery was very good as it took me to,the end of the book to figure it out. I loved it!

"A Cup of Holiday Fear " the 10th installment in the "Bakeshop Mystery" series by Ellie Alexander, was a fantastic holiday story!

It's Christmastime and everyone is heading to Torte, the most cheerful bakery in town. There's no place like home for the homicide...

Ashland, Oregon, looks as pretty as a postcard this holiday season. The halls are decked, stockings hung, and eyes are all aglow--mostly thanks to the buttered rum. Jules Capshaw and her staff at Torte are busier than ever. . . still, even the town's most in-demand bakers need to take a break. So Jules invites everyone to celebrate at the local Winchester Inn's Dickens Feast, a six-course extravaganza with Yorkshire Pudding, Christmas goose, and all the trimmings. But as the weather outside becomes frightful, things inside turn less delightful when one of the guests ends up as dead as Scrooge's doornail. Now it's up to Jules and her helpers to make a list of suspects--and check it twice--to try to find out who's naughty, who's nice, and who's guilty of murder...

I thought I hadn’t read any of the previous books but the setting, names etc. were familiar so I may have read one awhile ago. I did not have any trouble following along so, yes it can be read as a standalone. I do recommend reading them in order, this way you really get to know the characters.

I had no trouble envisioning Ashland all decked out with holiday lights, snow falling, and carollers singing. Jules and the rest of the characters were well developed, I liked how the story was character driven with a mystery, I like these kind of series as you become invested in the characters and what’s happening around them. I enjoyed the holiday atmosphere that the author created and how Jules and her mum included everyone who had no Christmas plans in theirs.

I did suspect the killer pretty quick, but there were plenty of suspects to choose from as Cami was a pretty rotten person. There were some twists and turns just enough to keep you guessing. Don’t get me started on the descriptions of all the desserts, drinks and food , I think I gained 10lbs just thinking about them. I like that recipes are included in back of the book too, yes in some spots the detailed descriptions on Jules making a dessert became a bit much but then I’m not a foodie, but those that are will love it.

I highly recommend this book and series to all my cozy friends especially the ones that love to bake!

I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Cup of Holiday Fear
(A Bakeshop Mystery #10)
by Ellie Alexander

Paperback, 304 pages
Published September 24th 2019 by St. Martin's Paperbacks


Goodreads synopsis:
It's Christmastime and everyone is heading to Torte, the most cheerful bakery in town. There's no place like home for the homicide...

Ashland, Oregon, looks as pretty as a postcard this holiday season. The halls are decked, stockings hung, and eyes are all aglow--mostly thanks to the buttered rum. Jules Capshaw and her staff at Torte are busier than ever. . . still, even the town's most in-demand bakers need to take a break. So Jules invites everyone to celebrate at the local Winchester Inn's Dickens Feast, a six-course extravaganza with Yorkshire Pudding, Christmas goose, and all the trimmings. But as the weather outside becomes frightful, things inside turn less delightful when one of the guests ends up as dead as Scrooge's doornail. Now it's up to Jules and her helpers to make a list of suspects--and check it twice--to try to find out who's naughty, who's nice, and who's guilty of murder... 


***

4.75 Stars

This is the tenth book in the Bakeshop Mystery series by Ellie Alexander.

It is so easy to slip back into this series no matter where you left off. I am in love with Ashland and all its residents!

I could so easily see myself in Jules Capwell’s place when she found the body of the new owner of the Winchester Inn dead. She just wanted to help out the family as they offered their last Dickens Feast before retiring. As happens in situations like this, anything that can go wrong, did go wrong. Santa was drunk in the basement and all the specialized ornaments were broken. The couple’s son who was playing the role of Scrooge left in the middle of the food service and then the power went out. What a night!

Sometimes books like this give me stress because I can empathize with the characters and their plight. It was really hard to tell who might have wanted the annoying lady dead. I mean, come on, she was rude and exasperating but it didn’t seem like that would be a motive to kill her. Maybe in their minds. Then little by little the truth behind her lies started surfacing and then you discovered why everyone was out to get this vexing woman.

I really enjoyed the ending of this and the surprise that came for Jules. I should have expected it but I didn’t. That momment just made all the stress I had accumulated during the book all melt away in a wash of gooey happiness.

This series is just fun. Torte and all the people in Ashland make you want to keep running back for more time and time again. Definitely check this one out.

Highly recommended.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.