Cranberry Bog Crumble (Pie-Jinks #2)
Selina J. Eckert
My Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Cosy Fantasy/ Contemporary Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF
Blurb:
Something sweet—and terrifying—is coming to Cider Hollow.It has been years since pie witch Reese last saw her candy witch aunt. So when Aunt Kit arrives in a flurry of foul weather, Reese knows something is up. Then Kit disappears during the worst deep freeze Cider Hollow has ever seen. And ice is just the beginning of the crazy and dangerous weather plaguing the town.
To make matters worse, Reese’s boyfriend, Prince Forrest, is confronted by a seemingly unsolvable mystery and the local Fae—who claim Reese is more than she seems. But they leave Reese and Forrest with more questions than answers… and a warning to stay away from the forest by the cranberry bog.
With time running out to save her aunt, questions no one will answer, and still no clue what brought Aunt Kit to Cider Hollow, Reese’s hands are full. If they can’t stop whatever it is plaguing the town, everyone will be destroyed.
Do they dare cross the Fae to do what needs to be done? Or will Reese and her friends ice over like pumpkins left in a field?
Cranberry Bog Crumble is the second book in the Pie-Jinks series, a new contemporary urban fantasy series that is perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls and Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson. If you like light, small town stories, whimsical magic, and a touch of romance, you will love Selina J. Eckert’s new book!
My Review
Cranberry Bog Crumble is the second book in the Pie-Jinks series. i was in the mood for a cosy read, so I picked up this second book. Unfortunately I struggled a bit with this one. I like the daily life scenes, but the plot/ mystery of this book was a bit slow to start and then had one of the same issues I struggled with in book 1 namely others knowing more about it than Reese and not telling her. This bothered me even more as it had happened in book 1 as well.
I felt like a lot of this book was Reese trying to find out more while others wouldn’t tell her what was going on. Lots of secrets and people not including Reese, but Reese is the one who has to solve it eventually ofcourse. And that just was frustrating to me. I didn’t really like Reese’s best friend in book 1, but I liked her even less here when she was rude to Reese. While she could’ve just explained things how she could and let them know she couldn’t say more, which she did later in the book. So now the rude interaction just felt like a way to create drama and for Reese to feel strong emotions and struggle with things. It just felt forced and off to me the way the mystery progressed.
So while I struggled a bit with the plot/ mystery part of this book, I did like how it got resolved. I also liked the cosy atmosphere and reading about the pies Reese bakes. I liked seeing Reese interact more with Lisa and how the two have become friends now and Lissa works in the bakery. There is a great bakery related twist at the end too and I am excited to see how that plays out. While in the first book her boyfriend Forrest was the one keeping secrets from Reese and shutting her out, he seems to have learned from that now and is at Reese side ready to help her out with everything and helping along with the mystery, which I liked. Although I would’ve liked to see them go on an actual date or spend some fun time together as I want to see a bit more of them.
To summarize: I struggled a bit with this second book. Just like book 1 there are people who know more about what’s going on than Reese and won’t tell her, there are lots of secrets and people hiding things for reasons that didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t like it and didn’t find it interesting even less so as that’s what happened in book 1 as well. People shut Reese out, but she’s the one who ends up having to fix everything. I did like how things got resolved and how Reese handled that. I am still not a fan of Reese’s best friend Maple especially after she was rude to Reese in this book, but I did like Reese’s growing friendship with Lissa the vampire. I also liked how Forest seemed to have learned form book 1 and is now fully behind Reese and around to help her with this newest mystery. I hope to see a bit more of them together in a peaceful setting as I want to see more of their romance and connection.
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