Book Review: Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
4/5 ⭐️
Get The Book: Arsenic and Adobo
Synopsis
Lila goes moves back home to her small town in Shady Palms in order to recover from a horrible break up. At home, she lives with her Lola (grandma) and Tita Rosie (Aunt Rosie). And while she's there, she made herself useful by helping out at her Tita's restaurant.
As she tries to get her life together, it looks like it about to get worse before it gets better. Because one morning, her ex-boyfriend, who also happens to be a nasty food critic, dies in their restaurant and it just so happen that it had to conveniently occur while she was having a confrontation with him. So now, she's one of the major suspects. But she's not having it, and does her own investigation.
Review
Not gonna lie, I enjoyed this book so much all because it hit so close to home and I could relate so many family instances. But moreover, it's the food that really brought me to another place. Everything was so delectable and the descriptions were so vivid, I could taste them in my mouth as I read them. I swear, Filipino food deserves more attention in the world. It's impeccable.
On another note, these are also the kinds of mystery books I prefer. It's short, and doesn't beat around the bush that much. I was also not able to predict who the killer was which was why this was a page turner for me. Never thought that it was that person.
Lastly, I really appreciate the last few pages because she shared some of the recipes prepared throughout the story! Definitely gonna give those a try for sure!
P.s. I saw some reviews on goodreads that mentioned about how the characters doesn’t seem to have that worried and urgency feeling. But that’s the thing. That’s the kind of personalities we Filipinos have. That no matter what obstacles come our way, especially if there’s nothing we can do to change it, or in this case, Lila and her family are confident about their innocence, we try to make the situation lighter by spending it with the people we love and comforting ourselves with food.
