Finished Off in Fondant by Rosemarie Ross is the second book in Courtney Archer Mystery series.

I have to say I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book. It wasn't as engrossing as the previous installment.
It took some time for the action to happen.
Courtney didn't seem so interested in solving the murder as she allotted assignments to others. And the mystery as a whole took a back seat to her love life.
I have to say I really don't enjoy love triangles that seem to be very popular in cozy mysteries at the moment. That said even though she is interested in two guys nothing much happens to resolve the situation.

There were lots of descriptions about the food and clothes which after a while good somewhat tedious.
The side characters lost their appeal, they are whiney and very quickly become annoying.
There were also a few inconsistencies, even though detective wasn't as usual portrayed as stupid he did seem incompetent.

I like the premise of this series and I hope it will improve in the future.

This was my first read in the series. I liked the reality food television setting. Wish that the focus was more on character development than conversations Courtney and other characters have when they are always eating on the set. Difficulty connecting with the characters. The descriptions of the food were very appetizing! That's something I enjoy in a cooking/baking show idea.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for a copy of this book. My review is voluntary.

This is the 2nd installment in the Courtney Archer mystery series. Courtney Archer is a reality TV personality who has her own show Cooking with the Farmer’s Daughter (even though she is not a farmer’s daughter) and has been struggling with the lie and decides to come clean with her audience and hopes all will be well. She is filming her own series along with once again a presenter on the reality bake-off tv show The American Baking Battle. The theme this time around in the Pocono’s is wedding related and her co-host Skylar has a stalker and when he falls ill, her fellow judge Shannon decide to check on Skylar to check on him and find him covered in blood and a dead “bride” on top of a wedding cake. Drake the head of security and the Sheriff are investigating once again to not much success so Courtney is convinced to prove Skylar innocent and find out who did this. Eric her producer is also back and once again a love triangle which I will admit I absolutely hate as this is just sometimes too drawn out. The mystery was solid enough with enough red herrings to keep you guessing. I enjoyed the story and once again the beautiful setting of the Pocono’s. I will read the next installment and look forward to see what happens next for Courtney and her friends.

Finished Off in Fondant by Rosemarie Ross is the 2nd book in the Courtney Archer mystery series, and another wonderful book. I really enjoy this series. Courtney Archer has been hosting her own cooking show, and is returning to co-host The American Baking Battle. When Courtney's co-host becomes ill, and a body is found in his room, the mystery begins. I really enjoyed this book, and looking forward to reading the next book in the series. The story has a bit of everything, humor, terror, and romance, which keeps you reading page after page. I highly recommend this book/series for anyone who enjoys a good cozy mystery.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Finished Off in Fondant is a very enjoyable second novel, chock full of madness and mayhem in the mystery series by Rosemarie Ross, featuring Courtney Archer. Although I haven't yet read book one, Cobblered to Death, I don’t think this spoilt my enjoyment of this particular instalment.

Courtney Archer is a reality TV cooking show host, despite the fact that she’s actually a pediatrician’s daughter. She has a starring role on The American Baking Battle, filmed at a grand resort in the Pocono Mountains. The new season is wedding themed, but things go badly wrong very quickly when her co-host, Skylar, falls ill. Later, blood-covered Skylar becomes the prime suspect when the body of a woman in a bridal gown is found on top of a wrecked five-tier wedding cake in his hotel room...

Protagonist Courtney had a natural curiosity and the characters' banter was witty and fun. The opening chapters drew me into the story and captured my attention immediately. There was never a dull moment with a lot going on and the mystery itself was well thought out with enough misdirection to puzzle over the perpetrator's identity. With oodles of mouthwatering food descriptions, such as the fish tacos using lefse (Norwegian potato flatbread) and cod with a pea and butter topping, there was plenty to keep the reader entertained.

The book had a natural, steady pace and I was totally engrossed until the reveal. Delightful and absorbing, Finished Off in Fondant is a highly recommended, quick, light read for all cozy mystery fans.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Kensington Books via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Courtney is the star of her own show, Cooking With the Farmer's Daughter, and she is also co-hosting an American baking competition which appears to be styled after The Great British Baking Show. Then a woman is murdered in the hotel/resort where they are filming, and one of Courtney's cohosts becomes the prime suspect. Courtney begins to investigate to try and clear his name. This is the second book in a series, but can be read a a stand-alone.

I liked the concept of setting the book around a baking competition. However, I found this book to be very predictable. I had the murderer figured out very quickly, and the red herrings thrown in were not convincing enough to fool me. Courtney's attraction to Eric and Drake seemed silly, juvenile, and hypocritical, as she also spent a lot of time being over-the-top jealous of any other women who interacted with both men. Although I did enjoy the description of the baking competition, the mystery did not hold my attention, and I probably will not be interested in reading the first book in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary.

Finished Off in Fondant is the second installment in Rosemarie Ross's Courtney Archer Mystery series. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own.,

Courtney is a successful chef and has her own cooking show, Cooking with the Farmer's Daughter. When she is asked to host a second show she is happy to step up but worrying about her career is foremost on her mind with recent revelations. When a murder occurs of a co hosts stalker Courtney is determined to solve the murder and save her co host from being suspect number one.
They author writes wonderful friendships and charcters that make this series delightful to follow. I enjoyed learning about cooking shows and what goes on behind the scenes. This is especially fun next in series for all who enjoy cooking shows.

This was very enjoyable! I like the premises of this series, featuring the filming of a competitive cooking show, and I think this one worked out to be a clever and enjoyable mystery. Unlike some other cozy series, so far this is one that both entries so far work excellently as standalones, but there are some nice relationship connections carrying the series through.

I absolutely love this series. It always feels like visiting with old friends. Not only is the main character amazing, so are the supporting characters. . I would love to visit a place like this. Ilive near the a
Poconos so it is always fun to read about this area. I cannot wait until the next book.

Courtney Archer is back for a second season of The American Baking Battle at Coal Castle Resort. This season the theme is weddings. A murdered bride is found in the remains of a wedding cake in Courtney's co-host Skylar's room. The murdered woman spent time in prison for stalking Skylar. Courtney doesn't believe that Skylar is a murderer so she starts her own investigation. What I like about the book is how the author handles the cast of characters. We have a bit of background on each of the secondary characters so they seem to have more of reason to exist than to fill a role in Courtney's world. Even Coal Castle Resort is fleshed out. Looking forward to the next book.

This book was a lot of fun to read. I had not read the previous book in the series but halfway through this one I decided I liked it so much I went and bought the first one.

Courtney Archer is back on the set of The Great American Baking Battle for a second season. Her co-host Skylar, has been acting strangely and when a woman who turns out to be his stalker winds up dead in his hotel room, he is the number one suspect. Courtney does not believe her friend committed such a crime and is determined to prove his innocence, but at her own expense?

I gave this four stars because there was a little too much rehashing of the same things over and over for my liking. However, I enjoyed Courtney's character and her perseverance to prove her friend's innocence. I also very much enjoyed the backdrop of this book being a baking competition because I am a huge fan of those shows and it was delightful to get a behind the scenes peek.

I will definitely follow more from this author and look forward to reading the first book and hopefully the next book!

An entertaining and engaging baking show with a side of murder. Enjoyable cozy mystery. Interesting variety of characters. Lots of food. Visualizing the British baking show while reading.

Courtney knows, just knows, that Skylar didn't kill anyone, even though his stalker was just found dead, smack in the middle of a wedding cake and he's covered with blood. Courtney and Skylar are host a baking show and this season it's got a wedding theme which should be fun but isn't. Cozy readers know that Courtney's going to investigate, there are multiple people who didn't like the vicim, and there will be some red herrings. This turns, however, on the reality cooking show business. I understand that it's a big deal that Courtney has just confessed to being the daughter of a doctor, not the daughter of a farmer as her original show is titled but, really? There are some fun spots here with the contestants and the production crew. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I read this as a standalone and it was fine- so now I will look for the next one.

Finished Off in Fondant is the second book in the Courtney Archer Mystery Series, which I am really enjoying!

Inspired by everyone's favorite, cozy baking competition (you know the one!), this series follows Courtney Archer, known as The Farmer's Daughter (except her parents were definitely not farmers...) We open book two as Courtney comes clean about her background to a live audience during a taping of her show.

She's also getting ready to start filming season two of XXXX. The first season was overshadowed by the murder of one of the contestants, but the odds of a murder happening twice during the filming of the same show are low, right? ....right? Unfortunately, a body shows up in the suite of one of the show's co-hosts, and Courtney can't help but get involved with yet another murder investigation.

I'm excited to see where the series goes...the supporting characters are a lot of fun, and there's a potential love triangle in the works (I have my favorite guy but we shall see what actually happens!)

Thank you Kensington Books for the NetGalley ARC!

This book was a bit quirky, and I didn’t read the first in the series but that didn’t really matter. I felt like it picked up at a good place and I was able to jump right in. Courtney is the host of a cooking show and she is now hosting a baking competition with some other baking show hosts. I knew I would enjoy this one because I love to watch these shows myself.
A woman is murdered in one of the hosts suites and he is the prime suspect. Courtney once again has to prove that the person accused of the crime is innocent. I really thought I knew where this twist was going and I was pleasantly surprised that the author threw in curveballs. I was hoping I couldn’t guess what was going on and hate when I figure things out early.
There is a bit of a romance here and I could feel jealously soaking into me from Courtney here watching someone she has feelings for appear to be smitten with someone else.
Most of all, I loved the description of all the food that was made! I am a foodie and love reading about chefs so this was a welcome addition. Overall it was a cute mystery that kept me entertained. It reminded me of another series I started reading years ago, but with a little less hijinx.

The second season of America's Baking Battle is kicking off and Courtney is excited but nervous because she is also revealing that she is not a farmer's daughter on her cooking show.
The producer of the show is at the resort this season to keep them on track with time and under budget. He's not very nice.
Skylar is acting funny and gets sick on the first day of filming.
Then a woman is found dead in Skylar's room, and he becomes the prime suspect.
Sheriff Perry is back in all his unfriendliness. Some of the new baking battle contestants are great and some are not.
I was sure part way through of who was involved in the murder, I just didn't know the reasons. One of my suspects just ended up being a jerk, the other ended up being guilty.
Courtney was way too trusting in some of her actions, which lead her into danger yet again as the story reaches its climax.
I stayed up late to find out how the story ends. I loved that the relationship between Courtney, Shannon, Skylar and Harrison was stronger and friendlier this second season of the show.
The four stars comes for the following reasons:
1. Courtney was/acted pretty naïve when she had the experience of last season under her belt.
2. I was a bit irritated with Shannon's insistence that Eric has feelings for Courtney.
3. The romantic possibilities for Courtney, Eric, Drake and newly introduced Pamela kind of fell flat for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review a pre-release copy of the book.

When Courtney Archer, host of the television show Cooking with the Farmer's Daughter, decides to come clean with her fans about her real background she knows it might change her career or get her cancelled. But that stress isn't even in comparison to the stress surrounding her appearance as cohost of the show The American Baking Battle, now in its second season. The show went over budget last time because of a murder, so the producer is on hand and making everyone miserable with his changes and demands. To make things worse, she's been assigned a bodyguard from the security company - a woman who seems to have a personal interest in Courtney's own producer Eric - and it's thrown her into a tizzy wondering what's going on inside her.

But then she and Shannon, one of the judges on the show, find Skylar, Courtney's cohost, incoherent in his room and covered in blood. When she discovers a dead woman on top of a cake, questions abound about what happened. One thing Courtney knows for sure is that no matter where the evidence leads, Skylar would not have killed the woman. But the question remains: who did?

This is the second book in the series and I have to say that I enjoyed it quite as much as the first. The characters' dialogue is witty and fun, they care about each other and are pleased to be working with one another. Courtney, while trying to do her job, has an innate curiosity that wants to get to the bottom of things. But of course being fought in every direction by the sheriff and the security team, she needs to keep her questions to herself and find answers wherever she can. Unfortunately, it also puts her front and center as the next victim.

While I knew who the murderer was early on, it never took away from anything going on within the story. Honestly, with all the other action -- especially the filming of the show -- it kept things moving right along and I got caught up in wondering who would be sent home next. I also loved the description of many of the recipes (oh, how I wish some of them were added so I could try them - I love to cook and bake - but I digress). At any rate, we get to see how busy Courtney is, and not only is she trying to find out who framed Skylar, but she has two shows to film - and who knows how long either of them will be around - so we have that question going on along with the murder.

When things start coming together, we see that Courtney is a woman who can think on her feet, which I really like, and while she doesn't deliberately put herself in danger, once she's there she immediately tries to find a way out of it. But I absolutely loved the ending. However, I will add one caveat: these books should be read in order, because in this one the author does mention details of the murder in the first one several times.

The author has given us a new series with a (hopefully) bright promise and I really wish I could delve into the next book right now. Highly recommended.

Second book in the series and just as good as the first! My only suggestion would be to add some of those recipes to the back of the book. After reading about the different contestant culinary offerings I wanted to try my hand at making them as well. Especially since the judges are kind enough to point out ways to improve them. Speaking of the judges, it is nice to see how well they are meshing this time, even though poor Skylar is more than a little steamed over the treatment he receives by the producer. Skylar was in the wrong place at the wrong time being stalked by a woman he had never even wronged, much less murdered. The producer who could very well be a suspect just because his disposition could curdle milk. Courtney comes clean about her background and things are touch and go with Drake, which is okay because I am Team Eric all the way. Courtney needs to take Shannon's advice not only in business but also in affairs of the heart. Shannon knows the recipe for love just like these contestants know which ingredients to mix together to make awesome wedding related menus and meals. I do like the addition of Pamela the personal security guard, because Shannon is bound to get into trouble, after all you can't make a wedding cake or solve a mystery without breaking a few eggs.

I am a devotee of the Great British Baking Show, so I was intrigued by Courtney being a presenter on a similar American cooking competition. She has her own show, Cooking with the Farmer’s Daughter, and despite her fear that she will lose fans, the book starts with her announcing to a small audience that she is really a doctor’s daughter from Chicago. (Would anyone really care--are TV stars prized for honesty and integrity?) A murder during filming puts one of the presenters in the spotlight, since he had the victim jailed for stalking him several years earlier. Courtney wants to investigate, but of course the sheriff wants her to mind her own business. I felt that there were too many characters: four presenters, twelve contestants, the security team, the caterers, the staff, and the producer. It was difficult to get to know (or care about) them. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Finished Off in Fondant is the second installment in Rosemarie Ross's Courtney Archer Mystery series. Courtney is a well-known chef and has her own cooking show, Cooking with the Farmer's Daughter. She was asked to be a co-host for a new show, The American Baking Battle, and after the success of the first season, is back with the crew to film season two. Courtney is excited about the new season but having just come clean about her background, is worried about losing her career. Unfortunately, that's not the only thing she has to worry about. When her co-host becomes the main suspect in the murder of his stalker, Courtney finds herself caught up in yet another murder investigation.

I enjoyed my time with this book and thought it was a delightful addition to the series. As someone who loves cooking and reality television competition shows, the premise of this series appealed to me right away. The author's writing style made it easy to visualize how the show was being filmed and perfectly captured the tension and the excitement contestants, as well as the viewers, feel during a competition show. I found Courtney to be likable, down to earth, and hardworking. The characters of Shannon, Harrison, and Skylar are all developing nicely and I like the friendship between the four. As for the mystery, I thought the culprit was pretty obvious. But I have to give the author credit for making me second guess my opinion.
All in all, this was a fun read, with likable characters, mouthwatering descriptions of food, and a solid mystery. I look forward to the third book. My hope is to see more character development for Courtney's two love interests.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.