Nancy Drew was one of my favourite series back in second grade. If I was still seven years old, I might have enjoyed this book. Or maybe I'll find it just as empty, boring, and unrealistic as I do now. Although it's been 15 years since I've read a Nancy Drew book, I'm willing to bet that Nancy Drew is 1) a smarter investigator; 2) led a more exciting personal life; and 3) had a more realistic relationship with her love interests. 
 I honestly don't understand how this is an ongoing series. Granted, this may be my first time reading a novel from the Hannah Swensen mysteries, but it'll definitely be my last. 
 Hannah Swensen is a baker and owner of The Cookie Jar, but she also solves mysteries in her spare time. When a visiting reverend gets murdered in the middle of the night, she takes on the challenge of solving the case with the help of her boyfriends, friends, and family. 
 Problems I had with this book: 
 1) To start, Devil's Food Cake Murder was incredibly predictable. Heck, I knew who the killer was before the reverend was even murdered. 
 2) The dialogue was dull, emotionless and unrealistic. I'm unconvinced that Hannah has two boyfriends because she talks to them and treats them the same way she talks and treats everyone else in her town - by baking them cookies and talking about food. 
 The only time Hannah expressed any emotions in this book was when she felt an "unsettling pang" while watching her boyfriend dance with his ex-fiance. That's it? Only an unsettling pang? Nothing more? 
 3) Each chapter starts with Hannah baking something and ends with a recipe of the food she made. This is basically a cookbook with filler dialogue that promotes each recipe found at the end of the chapter. Take this excerpt as an example: 
 "What are you making?" Normas asked her. 
 "Chocolate Euphoria Cookie Bars." 
 "What are they?" 
 "Sit-layer cookie bars with chocolate cookie crumbs on the bottom, semi-sweet chocolate chips next, miniature marshmallows on top of that, white chocolate chips sprinkled on the marshmallows, chocolate cereal layered on top with some milk chocolate chips over everything." 
 "Wow! That's a chocolate euphoria, all right!" 
 "You'd better believe it. I tested the recipe last week on Andrea, and she said that after eating only two, she felt like she was walking on air." 
 ...and it goes on. Every. Single. Chapter. Oh, and guess which recipe was featured at the end of that chapter? That's right. The "Chocolate Euphoria Cookie Bars". 
 The recipes sound like they're so sweet, I got diabetes just reading the ingredients list. 
 [Recipes review to come]