Star Crossed Egg Tarts is the second in a series but I didn’t have any trouble keeping up with the story starting here. The Jin Bakery is catering a wedding when a groomsman disappears and baker Felicity stumbles over the body. When her best friend, Kelvin becomes a suspect, Felicity begins to investigate a murder with a seemingly endless supply of suspects. There is definite chemistry between Felicity and Kelvin with a romance brewing. The case is unpredictable and the characters feel like your friends for an entertaining cozy with a touch of magic. I will be reading the first book in the series to find out more about Felicity’s fortune writing abilities. Overall this is an interesting cozy I would definitely recommend. My voluntary, unbiased, and non-mandatory review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

After floundering for years to find her niche in the family baking circle, Felicity is finally coming into her own. Her fortune cookies are a hit and their family bakery is doing well. Is it luck, talent, or magic? Maybe a bit of each? Felicity does have a knack of writing just the right personalized fortune cookie message for customers. She's even learning the possibilities and limits of that magical touch this go round. But, first, she has a wedding party to cater. Everything is going well until, yikes, the body of groomsman Miles is discovered under the table holding Felicity's tarts. That stops the wedding in its tracks and Felicity finds herself involved in the investigation when the murder weapon is discovered to be her long-time friend Kelvin's gardening shears. In other words, it's personal.

There turn out to be ample suspects, all involved in the wedding. Detective Rylan Sun, no surprise, warns Felicity to stay out of it. Does Felicity listen? Oh, you already know the answer to that. Kelvin is her friend, one she's known practically forever, and she'd do almost anything to protect him. Let's just say her feelings run deep, even to the point of pretending to be his girlfriend while investigating. As it turns out, one of the bride's party finds him quite attractive, too. Oh, boy. Does that make things happen. But, between baking and dealing with customers much of the day, not to mention dealing with an unexpected arrival that she may or may not have conjured up by a wish, Felicity is one busy woman. I liked how she took in the bridal party almost like family, albeit one of them was surely a murderer. Family looms big in this novel. It was fun to see how well the author intertwined the regular cast of characters with the guests, too, even including Kelvin's father in the mix. Again, family. Will her snooping get Felicity in trouble? You already know the answer to that one, too.

Bottom line, an entertaining, heart-felt read. I liked Felicity from the start when I read book one, so it was nice to see her story expanded this go-round. We learn more about her family as well as Kelvin's, not to mention her mother's tendency to "adopt" others such as Detective Sun, who has just moved into the neighborhood. The point is made repeatedly that the Jin Bakery's family goodies are made with love and there seems to be more than enough of that to go round and pull others into its embrace. I'm looking forward to seeing how the more-or-less addition of Det. Rylan Sun to the family goes. There's definitely a lovely twist at the end, another that makes me anxious to see where this is all going. Thanks to #StMartin'sPress - #Minotaur for allowing me to drop in early to Pixie Park and Jin Bakery to catch up with characters I've grown to feel like I know. I definitely appreciated the well-rounded characters given the wedding party, too, which extended that family feel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read Star-Crossed Egg Tarts, the second book in Jennifer Chow's Magical Fortune Cookie cozy mystery series. I didn't read the first one, but the author provided enough background that I could enjoy the story without feeling lost or confused about character relationships.
The first-person protagonist, Felicity Jin, owns a bakery with her mother, and when the story opens, she has been asked to provide the "cake" (actually a tower of egg tarts) for an outdoor wedding in their tiny hometown, Pixie, a suburb of Fresno. Her best friend, Kelvin, owner of a nearby florist shop, has supplied the flowers. Unfortunately, the beautiful ceremony is marred when a member of the wedding party is found dead under the cake table, stabbed with a pair of Kelvin's garden shears.
When Kelvin becomes a suspect, Felicity decides to investigate, trying to clear her friend's name. Her amateur sleuthing uncovers secrets and motives from all the attendants, and even the bride and groom. After the groom is poisoned and slips into a coma, Felicity and Kelvin ramp up their sleuthing efforts. Eventually, Felicity puts all the clues together and confronts the killer—endangering her own life in the process.
This was a well-constructed mystery with multiple suspects; I didn't figure out whodunnit until Felicity did. There is a light paranormal theme which I didn't quite get, but I'm not a big paranormal fan.
Felicity is a likable heroine, and I enjoyed watching her relationship with Kelvin blossom.

Star-Crossed Egg Tarts is a wonderful addition to this series. Felicity and her mother are co-owners of their family bakery, each of them bringing unique skills to their pastries.
Felicity is catering a wedding, and things go awry when a dead body is found.
Felicity can't stop herself from investigating, since her best friend Kelvin is a potential suspect.
There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing, and of course, the new love interest in Felicity's life made me so happy!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of the book.

Jennifer J. Chow does it again in the Magical Fortune Cookie series, it had that element that I enjoyed from the previous books that I read. I was invested in what was happening and how the characters worked in this story. I enjoyed how good the writing and development was and can’t wait for more.

Kindle Copy for Review from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Felicity bakery is asked to cater an outdoor weeding. All seems to be on schedule except a groomsman seems t o having gone missing. Felicity will discover the missing groomsman dead from garden shears as she will manage to do a little sleuthing once again. Things get more suspicious when the groom is poisoned at the send off party. Is it all rated or is something more evil at large? It’s one egg tart you do not want to miss.