I received an ARC for this book because it was similar to another book I had reviewed and liked. I’ve never read anything by this author before but the premise sounded fun and I wasn’t disappointed! This was a quick, fun read. I liked the characters and thought the story was really engaging. It started off a little slow but it picked up and I ended up finishing the book in less than a day. Would def recommend if you need a light, easy read!

Such a fun book to read. I love when there is a strong written grandmother character in a story. This book had that! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Kasey puts her foot in it at work and has to return to her hometown to fix it. She finds a lot more than she bargained for in this delightful comedy/mystery/romance. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

Great cozy book, I loved it immediately. Excellent dialogue and banter and I definitely enjoyed/recommend.

I requested The Usual Family Mayhem because the concept sounded like so much fun - who doesn't love the thought of grandma's baking killing bad husbands in the neighborhood?

Grandma lived up to the hype - I loved the sass, charm, and colorful setting of the neighborhood, home, and the baking business. I wasn't the biggest fan of our protagonist, but generally speaking I think that was more of a Me problem. The do-it-and-apologize-later panic moment of pitching her grandma's business was a first impression I had a hard time shaking off, but as the story progressed I felt I could settle in and just enjoy it.

The story was slower paced than I expected after such an abrupt start but the romance and dynamic with her childhood friend, and the mystery around the business, were just enough to keep me going.

Overall I rated this 3/5 stars. It was a good read but not one I was super engaged by, or hooked on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Oh my gosh, this book is so much fun! Funny and charming and absurd and southern hospitality shenanigans. The FMC is a mess, but she’s our mess, you know? I love this silly cozy mystery/rom-com sub-genre! Thanks to Avon for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!
3.5⭐️
A cozy mystery with excellent banter, desserts galore and some sassy grandmas… yes, please!
When Kasey impulsively (read: moment of panic) pitches her grandmothers pie business to her boss as a possible investment, she never expects he’ll take her up on it. Imagine her surprise when she’s given two weeks to close the deal- for a business her grandmother has no interest in selling.
The deaths of several abusive men after the delivery of her grandma’s pies, locked cabinets and cryptic notes leads Kasey to wonder what exactly is going on in this small North Carolina town. Kasey recruits her childhood friend and sometimes nemesis to help her figure out what is going on.
With a sloooowwww burn romance and relatable and often humorous characters, this was an overall enjoyable read. I did find that parts really slowed down and almost dragged- especially in the beginning. Also, as someone who REALLY dislikes a miscommunication trope, this one went on too long hence the 3.5 stars.
If you enjoy a cozy mystery with good banter, this is the book for you.

Kasey Nottingham has a reputation for lack of follow-through. She hasn't managed to hold a job. She quit law school after a single year. And her love life is no better. When her latest boss insists she come up with a potential client for their venture capitalist firm, she rashly suggests her grandmother's very successful small Southern baking company, Mags' Desserts. The only problem is that Mags, her grandmother, and her partner Celia don't want to sell. Kasey knows this, but her boss tells her she has a week to convince them or she'll lose her job.
The other problem is Jackson, Celia's son, who Kasey has had an unrequited crush on since she was a teenager.
While Kasey dodges questions about her abrupt return to her North Carolina town, she begins to notice strange happenings surrounding her gram, including dead husbands, locked cabinets, and mysterious entries in the business accounting software.
HelenKay Dimon sets up a hilarious tale, full of delicious-sounding sweets, lots of secrets, some of which may be criminal, and a generous helping of family mayhem. For fans of Elle Cosimo and Jesse Q. Sutanto, this tale of Southern justice is a rollicking good read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

3.5 stars for a fun, romantic, cozy mystery! I enjoyed the antics of the crazy grandmas and their love for each other and their town! It was a fun and easy read!

🥧👵 Book Tour 🥧👵

Oh this was such a delightful and cozy mystery.

I ended up enjoying this one so much more than I thought I would!!

Loved all the female empowerment in this book!!! Grandma Mag is such a bad ass I loved her!!

Can we talk about cozy mystery, delicious desserts, and such sassy and fun characters!!

Oh and grandma may or may not be poisoning pies for revenge 😏

Family drama with a kick and a baking element that leaves your heart lulling from comfort.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my copy!!

4/5

3.5 stars.

I was happy to be able to read an advance copy of this novel as part of Book Lovers The Buzz.

This is a cute, cozy mystery read that includes romance, baking, feisty older women, female empowerment, and friendship. I enjoyed the banter and chemistry in the romantic relationship and found the characters to be funny, quirky, and yet lovable. There was a miscommunication element which went on a bit too long but the other elements in the story kept me invested.

A fun, cozy read with a satisfying ending, perfect to settle down with on a cold winter’s night.

Thanks to the publisher for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to HelenKay Dimon and Avon for the ARC!

#TheBuzz is that HelenKay Dimond’s newest book, The Usual Family Mayhem, is a wonderfully fun and cozy mystery. I’m happy to report to have read it with some of my bookstagram besties, Book Lovers: The Buzz - in fact, it was the first book we got to read together.

Delicious desserts, a childhood love and a badass grandma (who may or may not be making “special pies” for local women) - what’s not to love? When Kasey finds herself at risk of being fired, she has to come up with a stellar idea for the next big thing…so she chooses her beloved grandma’s bakery, Mags’ Desserts. It’s a desperate attempt and she’s not expecting her boss to be all for it, until he sends her home to pitch the idea to her grandma Maggie and her “best friend” Celia. There, she discovers more than she bargained for - and it’s definitely more than dessert!

I love this author’s thrillers (written as Darby Kane), so I had a feeling I’d love this cozy mystery as well. Full of witty banter, this was simply SUCH a fun book! Maggie and Celia were quite the characters, and I couldn’t wait to find out what they were really up to. A quick and easy read, this story was such a nice change of pace.

Revenge is definitely a dash served best cold - or, as it turns out, perhaps in a pie…


”The Usual Family Mayhem” releases March 11, 2025. This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

Wow, this one was just...not it. I rarely give one star reviews, so I gave this a two, but don't mistake that for me enjoying anything about this.

When I am reading a cozy mystery (or a romance, for that matter), I expect a minimal level of competence with my female main characters. I feel like that's not a huge ask. Kasey had absolutely nothing going for her. It took until 70% of the way through the book for her to tell her grandmother that she used the pie business for personal gains at work, with a whole lot of nothing in between. All she did was go "oh woe is me" over the problems SHE created without any real attempts to solve them. The only one who actually solved her problems was Jackson, the most one-dimensional man to ever exist. There wasn't even that much poison in the book!!

Side note: a lot of the restaurant settings were at former plantations. No discussion of the history there, just another example of Kasey eating and being generally annoying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this quirky novel, the characters and the plot. Trying to save her job Kasey Nottingham pitches her grandmothers company in her investment meeting. Going homeshe can’t bring herself to tell them about the idea and any time she starts to Jackson Quaid is always around cliticizing her in his usual way. Love story and rom com, a great read.

I loved Norwood family rules and I loved this one too. HelenKay Dimon is now on my read everything I can find by this author list! I’ll have a more detailed review closer to the release date!

This book was honestly really good. I started off feeling like I was reading a typical rom-com type book. But that quickly changed with the mystery and suspense of what was happening with Kasey's Gram and Aunt Celia's business. I absolutely loathed Harlan. He was too overbearing and every time he showed up, I just wanted him to leave. Jackson and Kasey were cute together and I'm really glad they were able to talk about their relationship. The book ended rather well, with the epic showdown with the ladies versus Kasey's supervisor being completely like a mic drop moment. Kasey grew on me as she found herself while also learning what was actually the truth of the mystery. I give this book 5 stars because I just had to finish it. I had to know how it ended. It was very well written and I had never read anything from this author before. Reading this books makes me want to see if she's written other books and look for more.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A funny and engaging cozy mystery for fans of The Maid and Vera Wong. We love funny women solving mysteries.

In an impulsive moment, Kasey pitches her DC consulting firm on buying and flipping a pie shop run by grandmas in Winston Salem. She doesn’t mention that it’s HER grandma. Or that they are wholly uninterested in selling. But naturally they send her to NC for two weeks to “seal the deal.” Kasey’s grandmother Mags and her partner Celia run the pie shop, and often see Celia’s nephew and Kasey’s long term crush, Jackson.

That is when she notices that bad men have mysteriously died after their wives get a pie delivery.

A charming mystery with a dash of romance, it was easy to love these characters. Although the author has many spicy romances, the romance in this book is “fade to black,” so to not take away from the lighthearted tone of the rest of the book. It’s very easy to know who to root for and root against, getting to know the motivations of the characters was a delight.

If you like lighthearted mysteries with strong female leads about correcting injustice, this is a great title for you.

Thanks to @netgalley and @avonbooks for the ARC. Book to be published March 10, 2025.

#booksbooksbooks #booktok #bookstagram #arcreader #bookreview #bookrecommendations #usualfamilymayhem

A cozy romance with a splash of romance … or a small town romance with a splash of cozy mystery . Whichever way you look at it this is a fun story with some wonderful side characters and lots and lots of baked goodies 😋 I just wish I liked Kasey a bit more - she seemed a total mess from beginning to end 🤷🏼‍♀️ Jackson on the other hand 😍

My rating 3.5 ⭐️

Revenge is a dish best served cold…or is it sweet? These grandmas may have just found the perfect way to serve up justice. Mags and Celia are the grandmas we all deserve: loyal, loving, and call it like they see it. It’s no wonder that even though Kasey suspects they may be adding a *special* ingredient to some pies she just wants to protect them.

I just can’t say enough how fun and entertaining The Usual Family Mayhem was. This story truly has a bit of something for everyone. We’ve got a little romance, great banter, tough grannies, a cozy mystery, *possibly* poison pies, and some family drama.

This book was exactly what I needed after the craziness that has been this month. It was such a charming, fun story that provided an escape when I definitely needed it.

Read if you love:
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family drama
🥧 Baking
❤️ Side of romance
💁‍♀️ Strong female leads

Thank you to Avon, Netgalley, and HK Dimon for my review copies in exchange for an honest review 💜

I have enjoyed a few from this author, so when this became available on Netgalley, I grabbed it!

I found the characters engaging and particularly resonated with Kasey’s spirited journey through life.
Although her return to Celia and Gram was motivated by a fabricated reason, she misjudged her Gram’s perceptiveness. (I'm trying to be spoiler free, so there's so much I wanna say, but won't!) Suffice to say, it's fun to see Kasey try to be stealthy and sneaky in her efforts to find answers, only to have wasted her time.

The characters’ strong bonds to each other and the community made for an interesting narrative. A sizzling attraction between Jackson and Kasey made the story impossible to put down. Several times, the mystery of the baking company’s secrets were in danger of being exposed, only to have the spotlight shifted elsewhere.

The many surprises in the story thoroughly entertained me, and I adored the happy ending. I recommend this book, and other works from this talented author. I received a free ARC and happily leave my review.