Guilt and Ginataan by Mia P. Manansala, the fourth installment in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series, is a delightful, cozy mystery that blends Filipino culture with a compelling whodunit. Set once again in Shady Palms, the story follows our charming sleuth, Lila Macapagal, as she tackles a new murder mystery while also preparing for her aunt's restaurant opening.

This time, Lila is roped into helping organize a local culinary festival. The event promises to be a hit until one of the organizers is found dead—right after having a heated argument with Lila's cousin. With a mix of humor, family dynamics, and mouthwatering Filipino dishes (like ginataan), Manansala captures both the warmth and tension that come with close-knit communities.

Manansala’s hallmark wit and love for Filipino food culture shine in this book, making it as much a cultural experience as it is a mystery. Fans of the previous books will appreciate the continued growth of Lila's character, her relationships, and her evolving sense of community responsibility. The mystery itself is well-paced, with a satisfying balance of suspense, lighthearted moments, and delicious food descriptions that may have readers craving Filipino cuisine.

Guilt and Ginataan is a quick, enjoyable read that combines mystery, culture, and family in a way that feels both comforting and intriguing—perfect for fans of cozy mysteries and lovers of Filipino food!

Thank you for this ARC. I throughly enjoyed this novel.

Guilt and Ginataan by Mia P. Manansala is a captivating mystery that held my interest throughout. However, I found the ending to be rather abrupt, leaving me wanting more explanation and closure.

When this series opened, Lila Macapagal, our heroine, was a young woman with a broken heart who had left the big city of Chicago for her little hometown of Shady Palms. She began the series working in her Aunt Rosie’s restaurant; by book five, she and her besties, Adeena and Elena, have opened their own place: the Brew Ha Cafe. As this book opens, they are manning their booth at the local corn festival (hey, it’s Illinois), offering up an unbelievable array of delicious sounding treats featuring corn. Warning: don’t read these books hungry.
When the booth sells out, the friends decide to head to the corn maze, each staking a different entrance and racing to be the first one out. Of course things go south – there’s a scream, and Adeena is found passed out, clutching a bloody knife next to the body of Yvonne, the wife of the mayor of the neighboring town, Shelbyville.

This is a book all about rivalries. Shelbyville is a tad larger than Shady Palms, and the Shady Palms mayor is a little jealous of the mayor of the larger city. The three woman who are our main characters are finding a little unexpected rivalry of their own. While Lila and Adeena have been almost life long friends, her partner is Elena, and that of course is a different relationship, one that comes to the fore as the investigation into the murder gets underway. Lila, despite having her own adorable boyfriend, hunky dentist Jae, still feels like not only a third wheel around Adeena and Elena, she feels like her friendship with each woman is no longer valued.

The jealousy and rivalry gets in the way of the investigation and it’s not until the three women have it out later in the book that things get more workable. The women’s friendship is one of the strongest parts of the novel, and this adjustment in their relationship plays out in a pretty believable way.

Manansala also paints a very vivid picture of Shady Palms and its community of business owners, many of whom are related to Lila. I wish this outing had had a bit more of Lila’s family, who are the hilarious and loving backbone of this series. There is a nice Cinderella moment about partway through where Lila goes “undercover” to a fancy dress boutique and purchases the slinky dress of her dreams. I love a Cinderella moment.

While I truly enjoy this series, the characters – and the food! – I thought this was not the strongest outing. I did appreciate the dissection of the friendship between Elena, Adeena and Lila, which was very true to life, but this book lacked some of the bite of the other novels. These are definitely cozies but author Manansala often has a agenda. In this one both the agenda and the mystery were just slightly thin. However, this is still a superior series and I’ll be looking forward to book six.

Five Reasons to Read Guilt and Ginataan:
1. A Taste of Filipino Culture: Immerse yourself in the vibrant world of Filipino cuisine and culture as Lila Macapagal navigates family traditions, mouthwatering dishes, and the bustling atmosphere of her cafe. The author skillfully uses food to introduce readers to Filipino culture, making it an integral part of the story's atmosphere and Lila's heritage.
2. An Engaging Murder Mystery: When Lila's best friend is accused of murder, she's thrust into a thrilling investigation that will keep you on the edge of your seat, guessing until the end.
3. Friendship Dynamics: Explore the complexities of friendship, loyalty, and love triangles as Lila grapples with her feelings for her best friend and her best friend's girlfriend.
4. A Cozy Mystery Vibe: Guilt and Ginataan delivers a satisfying blend of intrigue and cultural immersion if you enjoy cozy mysteries with a touch of exotic flavor.
5. A Relatable Protagonist: Lila is a friend you can relate to, not just a character. Her resourcefulness and resilience in adversity make her a compelling character to follow.

What I Liked:
The central murder mystery involving Lila's best friend is not just a hook but a well-crafted narrative thread that builds suspense throughout the novel. Each clue and revelation keeps you on the edge of your seat, eager to uncover the truth. Exploring the delicate dynamics between Lila, her best friend, and her best friend's girlfriend is a key aspect of the story. It adds complexity and depth, as it's not just about the murder mystery but also about personal relationships and how they evolve in the face of adversity.

Why Not Five Stars:
While I enjoyed Guilt and Ginataan, the pacing was sometimes uneven, with certain sections feeling rushed while others were more leisurely. Additionally, some secondary characters could have been more developed. However, these minor issues didn't significantly detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Love this series, but this one isn't my favorite. Lila is more self-aware of her self-centeredness, and it honestly didn't work for me. Yes, you want to see characters grow and develop, especially throughout a series. However, it just seemed too much compared to how she was in the 4 previous books. All that said, the story is similar to others in that a lot of recipes and food combos are mentioned (and sound delicious), Lila hangs out with her friends and they solve mysteries. This time, one of the Brew-has, Adeena, is a suspect, so there is that added piece to clear someone close to Lila. It wasn't super hard to figure out the real culprit, so I'm not sure if it was this book, or it is because I'm used to how she structures her mysteries. Still a fun fall read for sure. 3.5 stars rounded to 4

The annual Shady Palms Corn Festival is one of the town’s biggest moneymakers, drawing crowds from all over the Midwest looking to partake in delicious treats, local crafts, and of course, the second largest corn maze in Illinois. Lila Macapagal and her Brew-ha Cafe crew, Adeena Awan and Elena Torres, are all too happy to participate in the event and even make a little wager on who can make it through the corn maze the fastest—but their fun is suddenly cut short when a dead body is found in the middle of the maze…and an unconscious Adeena lies next to it, clutching a bloody knife.

The body is discovered to be a local politician’s wife, and all signs—murder weapon included—point to Adeena as the culprit. But Lila knows her best friend couldn’t have done this, so she and her crew put on their sleuthing caps yet again to find the killer who framed Adeena and show them what happens when they mess with a Brew-ha…

This is the fifth book in the series and I will say that some things never change. On the good side, the food still sounds delicious and the recipes in the back of the book are a nice touch. On the not-so-good side, Lila is still as self centered as ever. She is just more aware of the fact. First person narratives can be tricky and I had concerns about how Elena was treated in this book. Also, the investigation was, yet again, more about Lila going places, trying new foods, and taking her dog for a walk.
Recommended, but with reservations.

Guilt and Ginataan is the fifth book in Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery and the eight book I finished this month. Thank you @berkleypub for sending a digital galley.

THOUGHTS
I can confidently say that I am a fan of this Mia Manansala's ongoing series and in Guilt and Ginataan, we follow a murder mystery surrounding Lila Macapagal's best friend, Adeena. While the Brew-ha crew are attending the Corn festival, Adeena tangled herself in a nasty situation.

First, thank you to the author for including the content warning in the beginning of the book. This book deals with emotionally difficult topics such as physical violence, anti-fat comments, stalking, political corruption, sexual harassment so if any of these is your trigger, I highly suggest to proceed with extra caution.

Now with the book, I always enjoy a cozy mystery with relatable references and the author did not hold back in making sure that the Filipino representation in this book is spot-on. Lila's character remains the main voice of the story but I like her character development now as she matured into someone who is more considerate and grateful of the people around her.

The supporting characters are still festive with all of the Macapagals, the Calendar Crew, Detective Park, Dr. Jae who is Lila's Bae, Amir and the Brew-ha plus the significant additional such as the people in Yvonne's life. It was easy to say that the author's strength in writing characters is still effective since it did not feel overwhelming or crowded with all of the people in Shady Palms and Shelbyville.

This time though, I was able to pinpoint who the culprit is and as someone who is not a huge mystery girlie, it's an achievement. Maybe it's me and my familiarity with the author's writing since this is the fifth book that I read.

I still enjoyed it as a cozy mystery and my expectations were met with this fifth installment. I'm excited for the author's upcoming works, hopefully there'll be a surprising curveball next time.

RATING: 3.5stars

If you’ve been following this series, you’ll know most of the characters. If you haven’t, then I highly suggest reading all the books before this one or getting caught up. There are so many characters and storylines that carry over. However, if you’re determined, you can figure it out for the most part.

This story hits a little more close to home as Lila’s best friend, Adeena is a suspect in this round’s murder case. Given that she doesn’t remember anything, things aren’t ideal for anyone. It also happens that it’s the rival town mayor’s wife who was murdered. As you can see, everything is connected and it all comes back around once you’re reading this book.

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about Longanisa. While she does appear in the previous books, I feel like her presence made such a huge difference. Not only did she allow Lila to get closer to the killer and figure things out, but she’s just so cute. She makes some of the heavier scenes a bit lighter and that’s nice.

The other thing I adored was how big of a role Longanisa played in the major climax moment of the story. I don’t want to give too much away, but this was such a fun one. If you’re a pet parent who is also a foodie, you’re going to be salivating while reading this. All of the dishes for the Shady Palms Corn Festival sounded amazing.

Guilt and Ginataan feel like the perfect story to pick up while you’re getting ready for Thanksgiving or making a Black Friday game plan. No matter what you’re doing, this story is fun, entertaining, and has enough thrills to make sure you’re questioning everyone.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Cooking Mystery
Language: Minimal profanity
Representation: Diverse races and gay characters

GUILT AND GINATAAN continues the series with another whodunnit that's lots of fun and includes mouthwatering dishes.

Cozy mysteries are among my favorite genres. I love how the characters in this one are defending a friend, and how they don't always get along. It's refreshing to have characters that make mistakes and are stubborn to a fault. We also get to see another town and how the citizens interact with each other, including some bad behavior.

There are also more scenes with the gay women expressing love and concern for one another. Lila has a great relationship with her boyfriend, but it is a slow burn. Romance is very secondary in this series to the mystery and the friendship between the three main friends.

And as an aside, I had no idea so many recipes could include corn! So appropriate for the midwestern setting.

This book is especially for cozy mystery lovers.

Happy reading!

"Autumn is in full swing for the town of Shady Palms - the perfect time for warm drinks, cozy cardigans, and...dead bodies?

The annual Shady Palms Corn Festival is one of the town's biggest moneymakers, drawing crowds from all over the Midwest looking to partake in delicious treats, local crafts, and of course, the second largest corn maze in Illinois. Lila Macapagal and her Brew-ha Cafe crew, Adeena Awan and Elena Torres, are all too happy to participate in the event and even make a little wager on who can make it through the corn maze the fastest - but their fun is suddenly cut short when a dead body is found in the middle of the maze...and an unconscious Adeena lies next to it, clutching a bloody knife.

The body is discovered to be a local politician's wife, and all signs - murder weapon included - point to Adeena as the culprit. But Lila knows her best friend couldn't have done this, so she and her crew put on their sleuthing caps yet again to find the killer who framed Adeena and show them what happens when they mess with a Brew-ha..."

Not enough murders happen in corn mazes! Or is it very Midwest of me to think this?

Like all Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery, this latest installment of Mia Manansala is filled with Asian references. And I'm all for it, especially the food! However, Guilt and Ginataan is not as exciting as the previous books. Despite the interesting characters, the plot is bland. If you plan to read the series, I recommend reading in order. Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy.

This is an old fashioned cozy mystery in its framework, but with very modern characters. I love the peek into Filipino culture and cooking and the recipes at the end. Another fun and fairly engaging mystery by Mia Manansala. It also gave insight into how young people in Asian and Middle Eastern culture live and some of the challenged they face.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Random House/Berkley Publishing Group for an advanced reader's copy of the book.

I have been on Lila’s amateur sleuthing journey since this beginning and I’m so happy that the adventure continues.

This is one of the most genuine examples of platonic female friendships. Navigating relationships, business ventures, and murder, Lila, Adeena, and Elena must find a way to keep their friendship intact.

This series has become of my comfort reads and I’m so excited to see what Lila solves next!

You would think that the Shady Palms Corn Festival would be drama free. Just fun, food and an enjoyable time. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. The town of Shelbyville is involved and when their mayor's wife is murdered, who is right at the center of this killing? Not Lila for once, but her best friend Adeena. Yep, she found the body, and when her screams brought help, she was holding the murder weapon.
Lila must find the real killer or risk Adeena going to jail for a crime she did not commit. With help from her boyfriend Jae, Lila is soon spending a lot of time in Shelbyville, trying to uncover a motive for this crime.
As usual, there is plenty of delicious sounding food, some red herrings, and I almost felt sorry for the killer when their motive was revealed.

Huge thank you to Berkley for the ARC!

This is book 5 in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series. I've read them all and if you plan to read them, I'd recommend reading in order.

Book one is still my favorite of all of them with Homicide and Halo-Halo as a close second. The first one I rated 5 stars, the second 4 stars, the third and fourth 3 stars and this one I would probably rate 2.5 unfortunately.

I think it's just becoming less and less believable that 5+ murder incidents can happen in such a small town like Shady Palms (a town that I love, btw)...it's just a little too shady! In the earlier books, the focus was so much more on the actual mystery and I was fully locked in and engaged trying to find out who the killer was, but this one sadly just left me bored.

The plot was much weaker than in the previous books and so much of it was just them going about their normal boring days and it really struggled to hold my attention.

I think this will be the last book I read in this series.

A perfect cozy Fall murder mystery set in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen universe that has Lila and the gang trying to solve the murder of the mayor's wife and clear their best friend Adeena from suspicion. I loved that this book was set in Autumn and the town's Corn Festival. We get some new characters, lots of red herrings, a bit of romance, best friend relationships are put to the test and we even get a new dachshund companion for Lila's beloved pet. Great on audio and perfect for fans of The Caribbean kitchen cozy mystery series by Raquel V. Reyes. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Includes more great Filipino recipes to make and enjoy too!

This was another fun addition to the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen mystery series. I loved coming back to this town and see the mystery the family fell into this time.

It was interesting to see the investigation play out; and see how it had an impact on Lila and her friendships.

There were definitely red herrings in this book. And I am not sure why but I never guess the killer.

All in all an entertaining listen.

Thx PRH Audio for the advanced listening copy.

Another fun and fairly engaging mystery by Mia Manansala. As usual the cultural and food part of the story was fun and gave insight into how young people in Asian and Middle Eastern culture live and some of the challenged they face. Not sure why, but this book was a bit less engaging than the previous ones in the series. Maybe I know the characters, settings and backstories and see less new details about them to help engage met. I still enjoyed the book and will likely read the future installments. A couple of weaknesses I ran into:
- The ending seemed to pat and rushed. It has been done before multiple times. Why would she put herself in danger alone with a potential murderer. The ending would have been much more effective if there was a build up to the reveal and it was not set as only a confession. I felt somewhat cheated with the abrupt and overly simple ending.
- The use of "they"as a personal pronoun was jarring. It interrupted the flow of the narrative. Every time I ran into it I had to stop, reread and figure out what was meant. I know it is PC to use that for non-gendered reference. It just make the reading non-fluent.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Random House/Berkley Publishing Group for an advanced reader's copy of the book.

"Guilt and Ginataan" is another enjoyable mystery from the Tita Rosie's Kitchem Mystery series. This time the murder suspect is pointed toward one of my favorite secondary characters, Adeena, a co-partner in the Brew-has café trio. While I was hoping to get more information about Adeena and her family, the story stays close the people surrounding the murder victim. I liked how Manansala explores the complexities of friendship both within the murder victim's circle of friends but also within the Brew-has as their relationships become strained under the weight of the murder investigation.

Thanks to NetGalley, Mia P. Manansala, and the publisher of allowing me to read a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this latest installment (#5) in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen series! Each book is getting even better! There is plenty of autumn atmosphere and food as well as knit- and crochet-wares and dachshunds!

This is an old fashioned cozy mystery in its framework, but with very modern characters. I love the peek into Filipino culture and cooking and the recipes at the end.