Southern Sass and a Battered Bride is the third in Kate Young’s Marygene Brown Mystery series. In the first chapters, Marygene is catering the wedding of her high school sweetheart Alex to his not-so-nice bride Lucy. Trouble starts brewing when Alex expresses his doubts about his impending marriage. Even his family and friends are not enamored of the bride, who has a fascination with death scenes. Lucy decides to turn her reception into a murder mystery dinner and “star” as the murder victim. Unfortunately, the mystery becomes all too real, especially when the deceased bride disappears.

The cast of characters is completely enchanting, especially Marygene’s best friend Betsy and Betsy’s Aunt Vi. Marygene has strong bonds and realistic relationships with her siblings Jena Lynn and Sam, her father Eddie, and even the spirit of her dead mama. (OK, well maybe the relationship with Mama isn’t quite realistic.)

As with the previous books in the series, the author captures the sense of place beautifully, making the reader long to visit the island for a relaxing getaway. I can’t wait for the sheer delight my next visit with Marygene and her crew. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.)

This book was a lot of fun! I'm biased because I enjoy wedding-themed cozy mysteries. If you love this theme, you'll enjoy this book for sure. A lovely whodunnit with plenty of clues to both keep you guessing while making you feel like you're unraveling the crime right alongside the book.

I have really enjoyed the past books in this series, so I was looking forward to this one. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. The characters' personalities seem to change erratically throughout the book. and from the previous books. Betsy was so annoying in this book that by the end I wanted to smack her. I don't know what Alex was doing throughout the book. There seemed to be a lot going on and yet nothing going on when you really looked at it. AT one point I started to think about the fact that the body was missing and why would someone hurt her and I actually predicted the ending of the book. There were too many loose ends and small facts/clues that ultimately did not quite make sense for this to work for me.

With an intriguing and complex plot, this book was totally compelling, I especially liked the quirky southern characters, some of whom I wanted to reach into the pages and shake and others I just wanted to give a big hug. That’s how realistic the characters were; they joined me in my living room each evening and we chatted together about our days and the murders that were happening instead of the wedding that was supposed to happen. Marygene Brown ends up catering the wedding of her teen-aged sweetheart Alex, and he’s not marrying her. Instead he is marrying a newcomer to town, Lucy Carmichael, who has done nothing to endear herself to the little town’s residents since she is self-centered and demanding. Nevertheless, Marygene agrees to the catering job and that wedding becomes the wedding of the century, mostly because the bride is not exactly ready for the reception. Face down and dead in the diner’s catering tent, Lucy appears to be the victim of foul play and Marygene is, of course, a prime suspect. When Detective Thornton is brought over from the mainland to investigate, the conflict really begins. Marygene has to prove that she and her best friend Betsy are innocent and that there is someone who wants the two of them dead, also. This is a fun romp through a mystery with the spirit of Marygene’s deceased mama giving her advice and Marygene falling for someone new, leaving Alex, the grieving groom to handle his grief on his own. I really enjoyed the fast-pace of the story and the handy recipes included at the end. Yum! This tale is told humor, with one surprising revelation after another. This will go down as one of my favorite cozy mysteries this year...highly entertaining with laugh aloud incidents. Fans of cozies and those who just love a well-written mystery will definitely want to read this one!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of SOUTHERN SASS AND A BATTERED BRIDE (Book 3 of the Marygene Brown Mysteries) by Kate Young in exchange for an honest review. Marygene Brown has accepted that her childhood sweetheart, Alex Myers, has moved on to another love, Lucy Carmichael. Marygene, however, is required neither to approve of the deceitful way he acted when beginning to court Lucy nor to actually like the rude, loathsome woman. For the sake of her lifetime friendship with Alex, Marygene agreed to cater the wedding despite Lucy’s bridezilla antics. It seems like the entire town shows up for the nuptials and sees the bride’s body sprawled in front of the wedding cake and covered in batter. Then, the body mysteriously disappears. Marygene is soon dodging attempts on her life and situations designed to frame her for the murder. With a little help from the ghost of her mother and her best friend Betsy, Marygene will endeavor to figure out what happened to the bride.

I liked this book. I recommend this book to fans of the series. I recommend this book to fans of cozy mysteries featuring murder, island life, ghosts, complicated family, and food.

#SouthernSassandaBatteredBride #NetGalley

This was an ok read. The mystery part was pretty inventive, but all of the usual characters were pretty dumb. Nobody seems to use the 'little grey cells" especially the professionals. A few things were also repeated a couple of times.

The ending of the book seems awfully neatly tied up and reads as if the series is ending at three books. I may be wrong, but it seemed a tad final.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

For a quick and cozy read, this was WAY better than I was anticipating. I feel like cozy mysteries get a bad rap. That they're "lesser" books because they're lighter reads. It read like a traditional suspense thriller with a hint of ghosty stuff thrown in. I loved it! I enjoyed the characters, I was intrigued by the plot, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Note: This is the 3rd book in a series, I haven't read the ones previous to this but I definitely felt like I was missing parts of the main characters dynamics. I'd recommend reading these books in order.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3676414024

A cozy mystery to keep you on your toes!
Love the characters and the development of the plot. The author creates an amazing web of twist that merge perfectly at the end.

I love this book series. Marygene has me hooked. She is always getting in the middle of something and this time she is suspect #1. I love her character and how she has a deep love for Peach Cove and the people of the town. Betsy is just a fireball that you can't help but laugh at. I admire her loyalty to Marygene, though. These two are always on the case to figure out who did what. They make an excellent team.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC. I really enjoyed this mystery. It was a fast read and not one of those that I easily figured out the ending..
An ex girlfriend caters her ex boyfriend’s wedding and the bride ends up dead. She becomes the number one suspect.

A unique murder mystery wedding, a few disgruntled ex boyfriends, and a dead body set the scene for this fun book by Kate Young.
I really enjoy this series and this book really kept me entertained from beginning to end.

This is a great series and 1 of my favorite authors. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend this author. I'm looking forward to more og her books.

A fun cosy mystery set in the south, with plenty of good food and romance to go around while trying to solve a murder mystery.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Marygene is catering her friend Alex's wedding. The bride is later found dead. The list of suspects is growing. This book captured my attention from the beginning

Kindle Copy for Review from NetGalley and Kensington Books.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Nothing says love like a dead bride covered in batter on her wedding day.

Marygene never thought she would be catering her childhood wedding as she dream of being his wife. But she finds herself catering his wedding to her dismay and to make things worse finding the bride dead on the floor covered in cake batter. Soon the body will disappear. What a sticky situation!

Marygene, Betsy and her mama will find away to solve the case. A fun cozy read.

I enjoyed this book. It's got a lot going on throughout the book. It's a fast read without any slow spots. I liked the characters. I wasn't surprised by who one of the killers were but I was really surprised by the twist and who the real killer was. #SouthernSassandaBatteredBride #NetGalley

Marygene is such a good friend and better person than I. Alex is marring a she devil but Marygene does her best that is until he accuses her of killing his bride. Betsy is her ride or die friend and they are on the case. I enjoyed the mystery and characters. It’s time she moves on from Alex and finds someone deserving of her.
#SouthernSassandaBatteredBride #NetGalley

Alex and Lucy are getting married and Marygene being a good friend visit catering the affair. Well when the bride ends up dead next to the wedding cake things really get interesting.
Lunch is not exactly well liked, but who would have killed her? Who wanted her dead? Why?
A good mystery we enough twists to keep you guessing, quirky characters and an ending that I never saw coming.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

With plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing, quirky characters and a solid plot to keep it interesting.

Ok, this book was great. The end? Didn't completely see that coming. Which is excellent!!
The characters- i loved that there werent so many that the plot focused on.
I don't usually get into thinkers or mysteries, but this kept me on my toes and I flew through it in a couple of days.
I'm glad that there are other books by the author because I will definitely be checking them out.