A Book Review of ‘The Cookie Crumbles’ by Tracy Badua and Alechia Dow

Hello, everyone!! Isabelle Knight back here again with another MG book review, and this time, I am reviewing a book that has been on my to-be-read list for quite some time!!! I saw a review of this book pop up on a previous MMGM, and I was quite intrigued by both the plot and the cover (the cover is absolutely gorgeous!). Hence why I put it on my TBR. And one day, I was scrolling through Kindle when I saw said book pop up on my recommendations! And lo and behold, it’s on Kindle Unlimited!!!

The giddiness I felt was impossible to describe. All of Tracy’s books are on Kindle Unlimited, actually, and I did go ahead and read every single one of her middle-grade ones… I think they’re fantastic!

But anyway, the book I shall be reviewing today is none other than The Cookie Crumbles by Tracy Badua and Alechia Dow!

I really enjoyed this book, way more than I expected! I wasn’t sure exactly what I was expecting, if I’m being honest. I think I was mainly expecting a short, sweet middle-grade about baking and, of course, cookies! And while it is a really lovely middle-grade and does involve baking and cookies, it was way more than that too, and this book turned out to actually be a mystery book, which I was not expecting! (Can you tell I only barely skimmed the book blurb because I was too excited to jump in and start reading…?)

The Cookie Crumbles is about two girls, Laila and Lucy who are best friends and are practically inseparable. But the summer before 8th grade, they learn that they’re going to go to different high schools, since they love on opposite sides of the town. But when Laila is invited to compete at the Golden Cookie competition, which awards the winner admission to the prestigious Sunderland boarding school, it’s the perfect opportunity for Lucy, because not only does Sunderland have an elite culinary program, it also has an elite journalism track, if only newscaster hopeful Lucy could build a strong enough portfolio to impress the scholarship committee. But when one of the celebrity judges collapses after sampling Laila’s showpiece, rumors of foul play start to swirl, and Laila is rising to the top of the suspect list… With a huge storm cutting off all access to the outside world, the girls will have to find the culprit and clear Laila’s name before it’s too late.

I really enjoyed this book!! I was honestly expecting it to just be a book about baking, and so I was quite surprised when it turned out to be a mystery! I think I was put off a little bit, but honestly, that is just my fault for not reading the book blurb, and I did soon fall in love with this story and became very much wrapped up in this whole mystery!!!

The characters are so much fun! I loved the characters of Laila and Lucy, and I think the two of them make a perfect duo in this mystery! They each have their very vivid personalities and ways they react to things, and I like how their friendship isn’t totally perfect throughout the whole book (and the series as well). They each have their own problems and misunderstandings, and I won’t spoil it, but I just really like that the friendship they have isn’t completely perfect!

I also really liked Jaden’s character! I actually did not like his character when the book first started out and honestly, I wanted to whack him in the head with a dictionary… However, as the story progresses, you do get to see more of him and really get to know him and his past, and he turns out to be not as awful as he first appears to be, which I quite liked. (I like it when characters turn out to be this way… Somehow, they often appear to become my favorite character in a book…)

The mystery itself is quite fun, and I really enjoyed reading it! While I did feel a bit confused throughout the mystery, (I know mysteries are not meant to be clear, but this was mainly just the type of confusion where everything honestly sometimes felt like a bit much), all in all, I quite liked it!!! I definitely had my suspicions of who the suspects were, and I did turn out to be sort of right. I won’t spoil anything, but the person who I thought was the culprit did play a part in the mystery, but they weren’t the sole culprit…

The pacing and the plot is super engaging and fun, and it definitely kept my interest! It took me a while to finish reading this book between life and writing and school, but I kept coming back to it whenever I had free time because I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next to Laila and Lucy! However, though it is engaging, I did think that there were a few times when everything did just feel like a bit much. But it really isn’t a deal-breaker for me, and I still loved this book!

I think one of the reasons I really liked this book was also because it has baking and mysteries wrapped up in one.

Baking and mysteries!!!

I love baking and I love mystery novels! (Don’t get to read a lot of mystery novels, but when I find a good one, I shall most certainly obsess over it…) The amount of detail in everything these characters bake is also impressive and another one of the reasons I liked this book!

But yeah! I really enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it to any middle-grader who’s looking for a fun read that’s a fast-paced mystery, especially for middle-graders who like baking! :)) I’d probably rate this book four stars out of five!

So yeah, I think this wraps up my review of The Cookie Crumbles by Tracy Badua and Alechia Dow! Thank you guys so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this review, and I also hope you will go and check out this fantastic book, as well as more books by these wonderful authors! (I know I’ve read all of Tracy’s MG novels and they’re wonderful, especially Thea and the Mischief Makers)

And if you liked this review, then do check out Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, hosted by Greg Pattridge, where every Monday, book bloggers like me share reviews of middle-grade books, spotlights, or author interviews!

Until next time!

Isabelle