Pies and Prejudice by Ellery Adams
A book summary is below the review.
I’m not going to sugarcoat this – I add A LOT of books to my TBR and I can guarantee I won’t read the majority of them. There just isn’t enough time in the world, even if I did nothing but read for the rest of my life. BUT when I’m hunting for the next read, I do love to scroll through it and rediscover something I added to see if it’s a hidden gem.
This book got added to my TBR in 2012. I can tell you that when I plucked it from my TBR, the cover pulled me in. I mean how can you not want to read about pie!!! Well, that and the fact that it was available at the library at that moment. Not always an easy feat.
I tell you all this because it means I did not remember the summary and I walked into it expecting pies, at minimum copious references to Jane Austen*, if not a fun modernization, and all the gooey goodness of a cozy mystery.
I was completely blind-sided by the magical realism. Now after pausing shortly after dipping my toes in, I went back to the description. I was very much palm-to-forehead. Additionally, the “Charmed” in the series name should have been a tip-off. It did not deter me. Oh no! I love me some magical realism too, so it was full steam ahead.
I wanted to love this book. It’s got pie, for goodness sake, and recipes at the back that I’m itching for someone to bake me. (Baking is the thing I struggle with the most in the food area, so someone baking for me, especially pie with a flaky crust, is always appreciated.)
What I have to say is that this book left me wanting. I think Ellery Adams was trying to work with too many ingredients and they clashed instead of complimented. In the end, we got a mystery that felt undercooked, a vein of magic that felt contrived, and an ending that made me go, “oh, that’s the end?”
Sadly, this is my first book by Adams. It might also be my last. I mean I did start this off with a mention as to how sizable my TBR is. I don’t know if I’ll take that leap with her again.
*There was one. Wah, wah, wah! And a passing mirroring of the Bennet sisters in the LeFaye sisters + Reba.
Magical Realism is the inclusion, as fact, of fantastic, mythical, or mystical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. It started in Latin American writings and has found its way across the world.
Book summary (per Goodreads):
When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren’t just delicious. They’re having magical effects on the people who eat them—and the public is hungry for more.
Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn’s fiancé is found dead—killed with Ella Mae’s rolling pin—it’ll take all her sweet magic to clear her name.
Everyday Sisters 