Review
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Title: Wedding Cake
Author: Josi S. Kilpack
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Genre: Fiction
Year: 2014
Pages: 304
Binding: Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1-60907-932-1
Price: $17.99
Reviewed by Jaymie Reynolds for the Association for Mormon Letters
“Didn’t I tell you that you’d never be rid of me?” The stalker-like statement, sent in a text, sets off a string of alarm bells in the brain of food-loving, crime-solving Sadie Hoffmiller. Readers who have followed Sadie through her eleven other recipe-filled adventures will be thrilled to see her return as author Josi S. Kilpack guides her heroine through one, final adventure. Even as Sadie starts to settle into life, life refuses to be settled. Characters who have joined Sadie along the way run through the pages with her on her latest and last escapade. As one might expect, Kilpack continues to follow her pattern of packing both mysterious happenings and references to tasty edibles within the pages of her writing.
*Wedding Cake* is the frosted fluff that enfolds the makings of a very pleasant hour or two of escapism. Kilpack’s writing style will be familiar to her faithful readers. It has a smooth flow that carries readers from page to page and event to event. While this is not likely the book that will earn countless literary awards, it is a solid novel that is exactly what it claims to be — a light read offering wedding prep and life-threatening mayhem.
Kilpack’s story stays true to the characters that she has worked with in the preceding books of this series. Past readers will not be surprised by Sadie’s Christian faith. Although some readers may be put-off by the main character’s evident faith, and some LDS readers will be disappointed that the main character’s faith is not more specific, most readers will find that the portrayal of faith is balanced and presented in a way that isn’t preachy.
In this novel, Kilpack targets her previous readers. In fact, just in case there may be any misconceptions about who Kilpack is writing to, she issues a very clear statement in her beginning pages in the form of an “Author’s Warning.” Kilpack states, “Do not read this book until you have read the first eleven books in the series!” While she is targeting a specific audience, she also appears to be encouraging new or potential readers to take the time to read her other books prior to diving into this one. “I really, really, really, really, really mean it when I ask that you not read this book until you have read all the other ones. It’s brimming with spoilers, and I would hate for your experience with those other stories to be ruined.” Yes, those are all Kilpack’s own reallys. One gets the impression that she is very sincere in her desire to share the entire culinary mystery storyline with her readers.
This novel has just enough violence and suspense to be more appropriate for older readers. Most teenagers will not be shocked or bothered, but sensitive readers may want to give this read a miss. Hardened readers, and perhaps those more used to much of the suspense genre’s modern-day offerings, may be pleasantly surprised by the tame nature of those elements in this book. Readers’ enjoyment of this novel will be molded, in large part, by their perspective. *Wedding Cake* is a novel meant to appeal to a certain niche, but, if readers give it a shot, they may find that *Wedding Cake*’s niche is their own little corner of reading enjoyment as well.