This debut novel was a fun, quirky, and deliciously entertaining mystery. With alternating perspectives and short chapters, it was a quick read that went down easy. The set-up was fun — the baking show, the remote Victorian mansion setting, the locked-room feel — and I liked the mix of characters (though most of them weren’t very likable). The mystery itself was less a part of the story than I expected, and the end wasn’t really anything new or surprising. Nevertheless, I did thoroughly enjoy this book and it was a fun read.

Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the free egalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Publishing and Jessa Maxwell for my early copy of The Golden Spoon which I believe is being adapted for a show on Hulu!

The Golden Spoon is an Agatha Christie style locked room mystery with a unique premise. A baking show is recording their episodes at the beautiful and historic Grafton Manor (I loved the descriptions of this house including the mysterious missing fourth floor staircase and the description of the interior and exterior of the home!)

There are seven different POVs in this book including the six people participating in the baking contest and Betsy, the host of the show. Although there are different perspectives, I did not find it to be confusing to keep up with at all. The organization of the book makes it easy to follow each person and the story line. I also liked how the book was sectioned off into the different competitions that take place on the different says such as the bread, cake and pie competition.

The contestants of the show all have their own unique characteristics and the reader is drawn in to the storyline: Who has been killed and who is the killer? What has been going on at Grafton Manor?

I can't wait for this book to be adapted because it is such a unique premise to one of my favorite tropes.

A murder mystery taking place during a baking competition? Sign me up!

The Golden Spoon is fun, cozy mystery novel that has several different POVs. It is fast paced, albeit a little slow in the beginning for me. I was definitely hooked about halfway through, so many mysteries within the mystery!

Some of the characters were quite entertaining and fun, but I do wish there was a bit more comedic relief!

I would give it an 3.8 rating.

Overall it was a fun read, and I would definitely read another book by Jessa Maxwell! Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 27%. I am disappointed I couldn't get into this baking mystery. The premise was very intriguing - a murder on the set of a Great-British-Bake-Off-like cooking show! But unfortunately, the set-up took over the entire first quarter of the novel, and it was rather boring. There are six point of views for the cooking show contestants, and one for one of the two show hosts, which was very confusing to follow. If this had been cut down to two, or maybe three, narrative voices, I think it would have been easier to identify the different narrative voices. Instead, you only got a few pages for each POV, not nearly enough to feel attached to any one character. It was also pretty boring to read about their welcome dinner and why each contestant chose to apply to the show. I just...didn't care? And from reading other reviews, the thriller aspect of the book doesn't occur until well over three-quarters in, and I am just not invested enough to continue. A shame, because I was really excited to receive this ARC from the publisher. But it just wasn't engaging enough from the start.

I wanted to love this book. A murder mystery mixed with a baking show? It sounded so promising but it fell flat.

The first problem? It lacked mystery. The story was very slow and the mystery wasn’t revealed until well into the 2nd half of the book.

2nd problem? It was told with multiple POVs which I often enjoyed but this time around it was too many. The characters weren’t distinct and it got a little confusing.

I love cozy mysteries but this one just didn’t work. I had to push myself to finish.

This was a fun and quick little closed door murder mystery. I liked the twists and enjoyed almost all of the characters.

Although I finished the book and am enough of a fan of baking shows to be intrigued, the book just didn’t really work for me. The setup felt artificial and not a plausible scenario for a television show.

For fans of The Great British Baking Show and the board game “Clue”, here’s your next story to devour while eating cake and tarts! This book will give each reader fuzzy warm feelings from the start; who wouldn’t want a mix of a British baking show and a murder mystery?! I was smiling as I dove in. The Golden Spoon told of a baking contest, first profiling each of the main players in the story. Each time a bakeoff was assigned, I learned about equal parts baking and backstories of the contestants and hosts I didn’t know I needed! Before I knew it, I picked my favorite contestant and began rooting for him. Then the tension built - after all, a MURDER was about to happen. All while I hungrily searched in my kitchen for anything to mindlessly eat while reading more. It was an absorbing cozy mystery that you will enjoy, maybe even reading yearly while baking for your loved ones. Loved it! Will be purchasing my own copy in hardback for my personal library, next to my cookbooks.

This ARC was provided by Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

3.5 stars rounded up.

Golden Spoon is pitched as Clue meets The Great British Bake Off (TGBBO). I’ve watched pretty much every season of TGBBO and Clue is one of those movies I just have to watch whenever it crosses my radar, so of course this plot was right up my alley.

The cast of characters are well-written, each with a distinct personality, background, and lifestyle. I thought the author did a great job using those distinctions as a tool to explore themes of mental health, ageism, sexism, and classism. While the beginning of the story is a bit slow plot wise, it’s very reminiscent of watching an episode of TGBBO, so I enjoyed that just as much as the second half of the plot, when the action really began to pick up.

My biggest critique is that I wasn’t sold on the author’s attempts to unsettle the reader prior to the bakers’ discovery of the body. For example, at one point Stella is looking up at the house and notices how the windows reflect the sky. She then compares the windows to one-way mirrors and thinks about how anyone could be watching her without her knowledge and shivers. She then goes on to have a completely random interaction with one of the cameramen who shares rumors in an attempt to sow distrust of Betsy. There were similar instances with some of the other bakers and they come off as the author doing a lot of telling and not enough showing to try to set the stage. Because those instances didn’t come across organically to me, I just couldn’t buy into that level of unease at that stage of the story.

Overall I found this to be a very fun and quick read! The plot is exactly what it’s pitched as and I enjoyed both the baking and murder mystery elements equally. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Who was your favorite contestant on series 13 of Bake Off??? Mine was Sandro 😉

The premise of this book was right up my alley as a mix of The Great British Bake Off and Clue and I was excited to get into it.

Six bakers from all different backgrounds are invited to Grafton Manor to participate in “Bake Week” hosted by nicknamed America’s Grandmother Betsy Martin. Things seem to go business as usual until strange circumstances begin during the bakes, and the manor starts to give off an eire feeling. To top it all off someone ends up dead.

While I enjoyed reading about the cakes, pies, trifles, cookies, and other sweet treats described throughout the book. The mystery itself fell a little flat for me. While it’s an attention keeping “whodunnit” I figured out the murder and the alternate mystery being told simultaneously as well. Overall, I enjoyed the book but didn’t love it.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

I read somewhere this book likened to a game of clue, I do agree with that assessment. I am also a huge lover of baking/cooking show competitions (MasterChef 😍). Being an avid cooking show watcher, reading the behind the scenes was an interesting perspective. I enjoyed the character development, and structures of the chapters. The chapters were short, leading to a fast read. Without giving too much away, each bake causes problems for everyone that they are sure they didn’t cause. If you are looking for a good who dunnit, this is your next read!

This is the perfect mystery. I'm not into gruesome gore so this one was perfect for me. I needed to know whodunit while also wanting to eat all the pastries and cakes. You are introduced to many characters right away so that too me a little time to figure out, but I loved all the different perspectives. Stayed up way too late last night reading this one and I'm pretty sure once you start this one you'll need to know what happens too. Out March 7th and one you're going to want to get your hands on!

Thank you@netgalley and @atriabooks for the early copy

4.25⭐️

Compared to a mix of a The Great British Bake Off mixed with Clue, this novel truly was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023. A huge thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me a copy. Each year, 6 contestants are invited to Grafton Manor to win the Bake Week competition and come away with the Golden Spoon prize. However, all is not as it seems when this years' contestants find a dead body. Told in the alternating POV of the contestants with vivid imagery, this fast-paced murder mystery will keep you intrigued and guessing until the last page. Highly recommend!

Great British Baking show meets Only Murders in the Building? Pretty sure I screeched in delight when I heard that, and The Golden Spoon did not disappoint!

At first I wasn’t sure about all the POV. I wondered if that was going to distract me and make the story lack depth, but I found it fairly easy to get to know the characters. The baking challenges were so much fun, but the whole time you’re also wondering - did this person get sabotaged? What is REALLY going on behind the cameras?

Betsy and her mansion are mysterious from the start, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was there along with the contestants. The mystery keeps you guessing. The perfect mystery read that’s not TOO intense. I loved it as much as I love a good cinnamon roll.

Thank you too Netgalley for the ARC! The Golden Spoon comes out this Tuesday, March 7th!

✨The Golden Spoon Review✨
Author: Jess’s Maxwell
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
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If you like the great British Baking Show and the guest list… this is the book for you. I liked it… it was a cute cozy thriller. This is a perfect book for someone just starting to read thrillers.
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Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for this ARC. My thoughts and options are my own.

💥 Great British Baking Show
💥 whodunnit
💥 suspense
💥 rich families

Unfortunately I didn’t love this. Great premise, but the characters and mystery fell a little short for me.

When I read the description of this book, "Great British Bake Off meets Only Murders in the Building," I knew I had to read it. I was not disappointed.

Six unique bakers arrive at Grafton Manor to participate in Bake Week hosted by Betsy Martin, "America's Grandmother," and her new co-host., Archie Morris. They have no clue what they are getting themselves into.
Before the week is over, they will experience sabotage and murder.

This cozy mystery is fast paced and engaging. The characters each have their own reason for entering the competition. The plot kept me guessing. I am looking forward to reading more from Jessa Maxwell.

Thank you, Atria Books, and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book. The opinions expressed are my own.

I love the premise of this book. I enjoyed reading it and found myself intrigued by the mysteries of each character. I did feel like characters felt like they had a single personality trait that made up most of their character. I also wanted a little bit more of a mystery/danger aspect that I ended up getting. Still an enjoyable read.

✨ BOOK REVIEW ✨

The Golden Spoon by @jessamaxwellauthor

Who even am I with two eARC reviews in a row?!

I really enjoyed this one! Told from different POVs you follow the contestants of a well-known baking show and the lead of the show as they compete for the golden spoon. The writing was easy to digest ( 🍰 😉) and I was always engaged! This is definitely not a “thriller” but a slow, “clue”-like mystery. It opens with something going terribly wrong and then flashes back and let’s everything unfold. I say it’s more of a slow burn bc you don’t find out who has been murdered until very late in the book but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed how everything played out and how each character was there for a different reason!

Read this if you’re in the mood for:
🥄 a cozy murder mystery
🥄 slow burn
🥄 family secrets
🥄 British Baking Show vibes
🥄 interesting, flawed characters
🥄 delicious, detailed pastries, pies, cakes, breads 🤤

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was so fun buddy reading this one with my gals @naesreadingnook @lit_with_kristen @the.book.tasting !!!

Huge thank you to @atriabooks & @netgalley for allowing me to be an early reader! All opinions are my own.

DNF

Love the concept of this but way too many POVs for me to get invested about any of the characters. I just didn’t really care enough to keep reading