Fondant Fumble by Jenn McKinlay

 Fondant Fumble

Book Summary

The Fairy Tale Cupcakes crew helps two professional football players in knead when the athletes are suspected of murder and their dream of opening a bakery is crushed.  

Professional football players Keogh Graham and Tyler Matthews want to open a Fairy Tale Cupcakes franchise. They’re spending the off-season in Scottsdale working in Mel’s bakery, learning about the business and how to bake show-stopping cupcakes. The popular athletes bring a boom of customers to the store as football fans flock to see the friends mixing batter and piping icing.

Everyone’s excited the athletes are pursuing their dream of owning a bakery—except for those who fear the players will ditch football for fondant and retire early from professional sports. The angry naysayers include their team owner and Keogh's sports agent, along with some very vocal fans.

When the owner of their team, the Arizona Scorpions, is found dead on the floor of their new bakery following an argument with Keogh, the pros become prime suspects. As the investigation heats up, Mel and the rest of the cupcake bakery crew must step up and prove their franchise owners are innocent before it’s game-over for the new bakers.

My Thoughts

Fondant Fumble by Jenn McKinlay has Mel and Angle helping two professional football players open a franchise of Fairy Tale Cupcakes.  What trouble could two handsome, well-known football players be?  I liked the unique concept. Jenn McKinlay manages to be descriptive without being overly detailed.  I could envision the big football players in the bakery kitchen wearing Fairy Tale Cupcake aprons and holding an icing bag in their large hands (in the case of one player, a cupcake or two that were being quickly devoured).  It was great to catch up with Mel, Angie, Tate, Joe, Marty, Oz, and the DeLaura brothers.  Ray continues to surprise me.  Mel is a friendly, relatable character.  The mystery was entertaining.  I had an inkling as to the identity of the guilty party early on, but I needed confirmation.  I joined Mel as she set out to prove Keough’s innocence by asking questions and following the sprinkling of clues.  The reveal made sure I was not left with any lingering questions.  

There is happy news at the end for Mel and Joe.  I love the humor dotted throughout the story.  The scrumptious cupcake descriptions will have you heading for your nearest bakery.  Fondant Fumble is the sixteenth A Cupcake Bakery Mystery and it can be read as a standalone.  The author provides the necessary background details for new readers. Mel fangirling over the new franchise owners (she loves her husband, but a girl can ogle the eye candy) was cute.  Fondant Fumble is a sweet treat with delectable cupcakes, football franchisees, a difficult fan, vanilla vomitus, window repairs, and a jovial family.  

Fondant Fumble is available from Amazon*.  You can find the other A Cupcake Bakery Mysteries here.  Check out Jenn McKinlay's other novels especially her A Library Lover's Mysteries.  Thank you for dropping by today.  I will be sharing my thoughts on Hidden in the Night by Elizabeth Goddard tomorrow.  It is the third book in the Missing in Alaska series.  I'm sorry that my links are still looking wonky.  Blogger has yet to fix the problem (we cannot change the color of links and it is duplicating the links--some funky things are happening).  I hope they fix the problem soon.  I am off to contact HP regarding my main computer (thankfully, I have a warranty).  It decided to die the other day.  The battery went down, down, and then it was dead.  I am glad that I purchased the three year warranty (two year and I would have been out of luck).  My back up computer is not a looker (my cat used her nails to pull up a couple of keys), but it gets the job done.  I hope that you have a joyful day.  Take care and Happy Reading!

Kris 

The Avid Reader

*I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book.  I am not required to leave a review.  The comments and opinions expressed are strictly my own.