Strawberried Alive is the fourteenth book in The Cupcake Bakery Mystery series by Jenn McKinlay.
I find this series to consistently deliver a fun, fast read that brings mystery and familiar characters together for an entertaining story. Not to mention the mouth-watering descriptions of delicious cupcakes.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the Advance Audiobook Copy to listen to and review. I found the narrator Susan Boyce to be entertaining and enjoyable to listen to. She always adds an extra layer to the characters that draws me deeper in to the story.

I appreciate that the author has allowed the character's relationships to develop and change over the course of the series. In this installment we see the newly married Mel and Joe settling in to their new life together and then (not surprisingly) being pulled in to another mystery.

If you enjoy fast paced and light-hearted cozy mysteries, this book is for you!

I know I've said it before, but I really enjoy this series.

But seriously... I apparently have missed a few, as the last I read was <i>Dying for Devil's Food</i>. But I have clear memories of being annoyed at how every male character was ordering Angie around because she may possibility just barely be pregnant. In this one, we get EVERY SINGLE MALE ordering Mel around, even to the point where Joe demands that she close the bakery.

It was seriously rage inducing. Yes, Mel got shot at late one night behind her shop. Sooooo...let's put her in a safehouse and have round the clock body guards as well as police watching her house, her shop, and herself. It was complete overkill (sorry for the pun). On a practical point, how can the police department justify that much money being spent protecting anyone?

Now to the story. This part was at least realistic. Mel learns that some of the other small business owners are upset with the bakery because they are flourishing, and times are tough for other shops.
Unfortunately, I have no problem believing that some people would take out their businesses frustrations on their successful neighbors. Mel's shop-neighbor gets killed and everyone assumes Mel was the target. Then all hell really breaks loose.

I adore this series, but I wasn't very happy with this one. I liked that the plot was fairly different, but the whole thing seemed so unrealistic. What Joe, Uncle Stan, Tate and all the rest should really do for Mel buy her a gun to carry, take her to the range and teach her how to shoot it. The amount of testosterone and dick measuring going on was enough to drive a woman nuts.

Still...I will buy the next one and track down the ones I missed because I do love them. And now, off to find some cupcakes...

I am a long-time fan of this series. This was the first book I did the audio version though. I did not love the narrator. It was a little choppy. As far as the story, I enjoyed it. It was a little more complex than some of the other stories in the series. I enjoyed seeing the two main couples in their married lives.

Life is going great for Mel, both with her business, Fairy Tale Cupcakes, and with her new husband, Joe, until one night while locking up, Mel nearly gets shot by two bullets. Everyone in Mel’s life goes into protective mode, trying to figure out who would want to kill her, until more area business owners get attacked. Can Mel and her cupcake crew figure out who is out to get local business owners?

This is the 14th book in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series. It can be read as a standalone without problems, but reading the books in order would give you a more complete of the characters’ backstories. I love a good cozy mystery, but this one didn’t live up to my expectations. Many of the characters seemed like caricatures rather than real people. The plot and Mel’s actions got more ridiculous as the story went on. I did enjoy the setting of Old Town Scottsdale; having just been there last month, I was able to feel the setting. I did not care for the narrator at all, especially her nasal, flat voices for the men.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

I love the idea of a cupcake bakery and when it started out with a wedding I was super excited thinking that we are going to get some behind the scenes and some mystery in a cupcake shop but really it was just the bad side of small business magnified by 10,000.

I gave this story ⭐️⭐️. I found certain parts of the story to be difficult to logically draw comparison to real life therefore I did not enjoy the mystery as much as I had hope. The characters are cute there was still comic relief but for me the grungy mystery just was not present in this particular work.

This would be a fun read for someone who does not like gore but enjoys a light fun story with a surprising plot.

A cozy little mystery that helped occupy my mind while working on inventory. It was entertaining and the narrator was expressive. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous books in the series but it really wasn't necessary to enjoy this one.

*This review is based on an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Mel and Joe are kicking off married life with a bang, or maybe just Mel. One night after staying late at the shop Mel finds herself being shot at in the alley. Mel is not hurt physically but the episode kicks off a torrent of anxiety. Within days there are more shootings in the area and other store owners are quick to place the blame on Mel.
This is the 14th book in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series. This (audio)book was engaging and it was hard to stop listening. The characters continue to develop and marriages and babies have not diluted the action. This plot moves along at a good pace. I can’t believe I have to wait for the next book! I recommend this book, which could stand alone, but if you are not familiar with the series begin with book one.

Melanie DeLaura has to deal with a lot in her cupcake bakery. There are difficult clients, there are professional jealousies, and occasionally she gets shot at.

Mel had stayed late at Fairy Tale Cupcakes alone, as she had sent away the help she had during the day and her business partner, Angie, is still off on maternity leave. But when a bridezilla blew up at her over the wrong color fondant on her cupcakes (the bride had changed her bridesmaids’ dresses and the bride’s mother had forgotten to let Mel know until the day before the wedding), Mel took pity on the mother of the bride and stayed up to make a new batch of the fondant to fix the cupcakes.

But as she was locking up and heading home, she saw a figure in black in the back alley, and then she heard a gunshot. As the bullet shipped past her head, Mel tried to get the door back open to get to safety. But as the figure came closer and shot again, she drops her keys and couldn’t find them fast enough to get back inside. As she curls up into a ball, thinking it was the end, she heard a big crash and Oz, who lives upstairs from the bakery yells at the shooter. Mel realizes that Oz had thrown one of his potted plants at the shooter and that it had worked—the shooter was running away. Oz yelled at Mel to get back inside the bakery and call 911, and he runs after the shooter.

Since the gunshots came completely out of the blue, Mel can’t figure out who had been trying to shoot her. Oz got a look at the car the shooter drove away in, but he had no other clues for her when he came limping back to the bakery with a sore ankle. But in the past, Mel has helped solve other crimes, and she’s married to an Assistant District Attorney, so it’s possible that it’s someone from her past who is coming for revenge, or someone from her husband Joe’s past. Mel’s family doesn’t want to take any chances with her safety, so they add some personal security as well as Joe’s brothers around her to make sure danger stays away.

But when Naomi also gets shot, the business owner next door who just opened her soap store and has a resemblance to Mel. Mel worries that the shooter came back for her and had shot Naomi instead. So when the local business owners get together to talk about how to improve safety, Mel finds out that a lot of people she thought were her friends have since turned on her and want her cupcake bakery to close. After al the murders that seem to happen around Mel and her shop, they are ready to close her down. They can’t, as Mel and her partners own the building the bakery is in, but this is the first that Mel has felt any resentment towards her or Fairy Tale Cupcakes.

Mel is determined to figure this out. Who could have shot at her? She wants to find out, to make them pay for what they did to Naomi and to make sure that she and her staff are safe. And she wants to make life safer for her fellow business owners, to prove that she is an asset to the community. But that means she will have to work hard to solve the mystery before the shooter can take aim at someone else.

Strawberried Alive is the latest in Jenn McKinlay’s Cupcake Bakery Mystery series. These mysteries, based around Mel and her family and friends, are traditional cozies filled with delicious descriptions of cupcakes in every flavor imaginable. They are a light read, with gentle humor and a little romance, and with lots of warm friendships along with the murder and investigation.

I listened to this on audio, by narrator Susan Boyce. It was fun to listen to, and I felt like the time just slipped away as I got lost in the story. I have read several of these mysteries, and I always enjoy them (even though they always make me hungry). But I found Strawberried Alive to be unique. Instead of the typical story where Mel finds someone who has been killed and has to find out who the killer is, in this one, there isn’t an obvious victim, and the journey that Mel takes to figure out who the villain is different and intriguing. I thought this book was extra fun and creative for a cozy, and I think cozy fans will really enjoy how the crimes play out and how Mel brings it all together at the end. I definitely recommend this one!

A copy of the audio book for Strawberried Alive was provided by Dreamscape Media through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This is the first book in this series that I have read and I LOVE it
Looks like I need to start at book #1 in the series because I want more of these bakery themed cozy mysteries
:)
I love the bakery inspired theme, the characters are awesome (so enjoyable to get to know, very likeable characters)
The case aka mystery is so much fun and entertaining. Well written and pulls everything together perfectly
Could not put this (audio) book down lol
Bakery/cupcakes/Bridezilla/action/bodyguard/mystery/who done it what more can you ask for.....

Well there is one thing that this book was missing, the recipes to the cupcakes hahaha

I was provided an ARC audiobook copy of this book from Netgalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review. This review I did voluntarily.

This was my first cupcake mystery and WOW the twists! I was so shocked to hear some of the twists near the end of the book, but just when i thought i had figured it out, i hadn't! What more can you ask from a cozy mystery?

I received an audiobook ARC, and I can say it was a very easy and quick listen. The narrator had a good range of emotion and different accents to distinguish between characters.


Also a cute addition was the guessing game of what Dwight's middle name was.

I thought that this was great! It started with the action right from the beginning and it was a kind of unique story. A perfect cozy mystery. I can't wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to Dreamscape Media, Netgalley, and Jenn McKinlay for an advance listening copy of Strawberried Alive in exchange for an honest review. I love coz mysteries and this had all the qualities that I love. The mystery was a fun one that kept me guessing until almost the end. I loved the characters in the story and I loved all the cupcake talk throughout the story. I noticed that this was #14 in a series but in my opinion, it definitely can be read as a stand alone. I look forward to reading/listening to more of this authors work in the future.

I really love this series and this book did not disappoint . It is not business as usual in the neighborhood that Fairy Tale Cupcakes is located in. Mel and Joe are enjoyed their new status as a married couple and Angie and Tate are enjoying being new parents. When someone takes a shot at Mel they have to figure out why she was the target. As they progress, more happens that makes them change their minds. I like how it kept changing until the end.
I look forward to seeing what everyone gets into next.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the audio version. I didn't know this was part of a series but I really enjoyed it. It is a fast and easy read/listen. I am planning on reading more from the series. The narrator did a good job also.

another cozy mystery for the books! i was not expecting so much action to be jam-packed in the first few chapters. i really liked the change in pace and how there were multiple targets throughout the book, even mel! this aspect definitely had me stumped! lots of characters with big personalities make an appearance in the novel. there are so many small/local businesses around fairy tale cupcakes and the town reminds me of “gilmore girl’s” stars hollow even down to the chaotic town meeting! i listened to the audiobook of “strawberried alive” and i felt that the narrator’s voice didn’t vary enough between all the town’s residents. it was hard to figure out when dialogue stopped and when narration began.

to me, there were too many similarities between all the characters. this made it hard for me to keep track of everybody and really connect with anybody. but part of the confusion could be because this was my first cupcake bakery mystery in the series. i’d be willing to read another novel to see if any of the characters stand out more to me. until then, i’m going to find a new recipe to try because all of mel’s cupcake talk had my tummy grumbling and inspired me to bake some treats!

Strawberried Alive by Jenn McKinlay AUDIO opens with a bridezilla throwing a temper tantrum over the color of the fondant on her 350 cupcakes, needed for tomorrow's wedding. Her mother had forgotten to update Mel on the color switch. She bride was awful but the mother was a good customer so Mel stayed very late that night taking off the old fondant and replacing it with the new. As she was leaving, worn out from her day, someone took a shot at her. Well, two, really. Oz, who was living upstairs, chased him off. She immediately called her uncle Stan, who was a detective for the Scottsdale Police, and then, Joe, her husband. Business was slow the next day and at the merchants' meeting that night, someone started a petition to force Fairytale Cupcakes to close. She had thought they liked her. Several more murders or attempted murders happened and, although she was nowhere near them, people seemed to blame her. Of course, Joe and Uncle Stan were overprotective, before she knew it she had a bodyguard, and several De Lauras as well, at tall times. Thankfully Angie and the baby were safe at home.

This is a hometown cozy mystery. My hometown, which is why I started reading it over 10 years ago. Mel and Angie are good friends. Mel is overly curious, granted, and has been involved with more than one murder. One does being to wonder. She and Joe have been married for six months now, and she likes it. They have moved into their own house and Oz has moved into the apartment above the bakery. Things are going smoothly. Why would someone shoot at her? Between the three of them, Mel, Uncle Stan, and Joe, they figure it out and she is safe once more. It is a good novel and a cautionary tale about borrowing money. Take care.

Susan Boyce is the reader and has apparently been ready for Jenn for a while. I was not impressed. She didn't capture the spirit. She also mispronounced half dozen words, which is not good. Jenn doesn't really use "high falutin'" words. Her attempts at different voices were fairly good and all in all it was an enjoyable listen, although I plan to stick to paperbacks in the future.

I was invited to listen to a free pre-release audio version of Strawberried Alive, by Dreamscape Media, through Netgalley. all thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #dreamscape #jennmckinlay #strawberriedalive

You know, if I started with this book in the series, I honestly probably wouldn't stay with it, because it's so over the top. It's like a French farce with cupcakes and killers. However, I've been with this series since the beginning, and it's like that old friend who you can't remember exactly how or why you became friends in the first place, but you now have a comfortable relationship that works. As long as you don't analyze it too closely :>D

I'd give this one a 3.5. Angie, Mel, Tate, and I have too much history to go any lower than that!

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Strawberried Alive by Jenn McKinlay is a delightful listen. I love the cupcake bakery series! The author has written some endearing and well developed characters and scrumptious sounding bakery confections. The added humor to the stories is a plus. The mystery in this book really pulled me in. Susan Boyce was fantastic performing the book. She brought the characters to life. Thank you #NetGalley and #Dreamscape Media for allowing me to listen to this great book!

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

It opens up with a bit of humor, thanks to Marty and Olivia, and then gets right to the action with a bang-literally- as Mel gets shot at while closing up the bakery. From there, the team rallies to figure out what is going on. Even though Angie wasn’t in the thick of it, being a new mom and all, she is still there to listen and offer a new perspective.

You know it’s going to be a great book when the brothers are around and it was nice to see Dwight back again. It was also fun to meet more of the downtown shop owners, even if some of them weren’t so nice right away. 😅

There’s so many things I loved about this book, but the mystery and humor were top notch. I laughed out loud quite a bit while reading and one of my favorite lines was “Mel’s my nickname. It’s short for, uhm, Mel..ancholy baby.” (I promise it will make sense once you read the book. 😂😅😆) And just look at this cover! Ah-mazingly gorgeous!!! 😍

This is absolutely one of my favorite cozy series - I love the characters and the growth they have shown from book one until now and I always look forward to a new one coming out.

That said, this one was tough. It was much, much darker than any of the previous ones and at some points, very upsetting. I have never, ever cried as much as I did with this one. There was just SO much emotion going on throughout this book [I was so glad that Angie and Baby Emari were kept out of this due the danger because I seriously could not have handled it if they had ever been in danger] that by the time you get to the end, you are completely wrung out. Completely. While I kept getting the feeling that this was the last one of this series [and I seriously hope that I am 100% wrong on that front], I can see how the way it ends makes it a good stopping point. I will be so sad because I really love this series. Here's hoping there are more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jenn McKinlay, Susan Boyce - Narrator, and Dreamscape Media for providing this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.