Ok, so books like this are the reason I'm not a huge fan of commercial fiction. It was well written, had a nice marketable plot, and was cleverly done with the recipes in the middle and all--I mean, on those characteristics alone it seems like the perfect book, but I got kind of bored with it and fast. 
 We'll start with Goldie, the main character, who's a recovering love addict and has battled to put her life together after an abusive marriage. Doesn't that just sound like a wonderful thing to read about? I mean really, what more heroic struggle could a person go through than that? Think of all the potential with a character like that: inner-reflection, angst, a struggle to change inside perhaps . . . but Goldie doesn't have many inward demons as far as I can tell. At least, not any she works to overcome in this particular novel. In fairness, she fears dating and giving men another chance, which makes her cranky with men -- especially the detective she works with her on this case, but it all seems very surfacy. 
 Next we'll move on to the detective. I just finished reading this and am having a hard time recalling his name. Ah, Tom Schultz. You basically know nothing about him AT ALL. Granted, it is hard to develop characters thoroughly when you write in first person, but really, I have read an entire book where this guy is supposed to be the protagonist's love interest and I know NOTHING about him, and I mean NOTHING--except of course that he's good looking and has green eyes. 
 The other guy in the book, who you know a lot more about, is the Honey Bee distributor. He's memorable because the author puts a lot more time and effort into developing his character. He's a closed off, introspective type which I had a hard time trusting. 
 Not Goldie though, Goldie trusted him in a heartbeat. A recovering love addict who won't even trust a detective to take her on a few dates is going on a car ride with an introspective man whose motives she knows nothing about--her son in the car with her--with out even batting an eyelash. Yeah, that's realistic (I think not!) I would have screamed at the stupid protagonist for being so well . . . stupid, except I had a hard time identifying with her at this point and didn't really care whether she lived or died. 
 I'm by no means an exceptionally smart person, but I'd figured out pretty much the whole of the mystery well before the ending. I think that's probably the main reason I got bored with it. A young, attractive, woman in her 20's has to go to the Gyno twice a week for a special treatment . . . I had that one figured out at the end of the first chapter. And how naive can a 20-year-old girl possibly be?! I had a very hard time buying that Patty Sue was a victim. Bebe yes, Patty Sue no! Bebe, a minor, stuck in a house with her parents and a mother who knew what was happening but refused to do anything about it vs. a 20-year-old girl who lived away from home and could at the very least have called her parents and said, "get me out of this situation!" 
 End of rant. Not a bad book, I got to the end and the plot was well crafted. It just didn't invoke much feeling in me, no tears, laughter, extreme joy -- anything really. I have a new appreciation for Libba Bray, I may have cried my eyes out at the end of her "Great and Terrible Beauty" series, but at least I felt something.