April 2026 Book Discussion - The golden spoon by Jessa Maxwell

[Grace.]

Hi everyone! welcome to April's Book Club Discussion thread!!
This thread will remain open even after we finish reading the current book, so everyone who wants to add any opinions can do so at her leisure.
1. To avoid spoilers, remember to click on the three dots

2. choose "inline spoiler," and start typing your text. To me it shows up like a mask icon, but as well can show like an eye with a line through it.

As all of you know, in this thread we can discuss anything about the current book. Please feel free to share your thoughts while you are reading or whenever you want, or as you progress in your reading, it's up to you, this thread is yours, so express all what you think about the book and reading. You can write parts of the text you're reading, and that you think are important to understand the plot, comment on what you think of all what you have reading so far, whether the author is easy or difficult to understand and follow?, how the plot and characters develop to your mind?, and if there's a quote you'd like to share, please do it.

Once again welcome, I hope several of you will choose to join us!

 

[GingerScraps]

Looking forward to this one too!! I've had it on my TBR for months! This will give me the kick in the butt I need! haha. My mom read it a while ago and really liked it.

 

[photocrazy]

I stayed up super late reading this one, it was so good!!! I loved the take on a popular bake show, but I found it funny how I made comparisons with the British Baking Show (at least in the Bake Week show format). The author did a good job making it similar for those who love that show, but different enough for the book to stand on its own. All of the characters were fantastic, and the twist at the end was one I didn't see coming. I liked reading the characters' thoughts and how they tackled their own problems (esp Pradyumna and Lottie!) I felt so angered on Hannah's behalf for what happened to her, and glad she had a friend in her corner. I really enjoyed reading this one!

 

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Wow Alyssa @photocrazy you are fast reader! thank you so much for sharing your comment, I'm still reading These silent woods, but now I want to finish it so I can start reading this book.

 

[lizziej]

I'll be reading just this book this month. I hope to start reading it tonight. Wow, Alyssa @photocrazy ! That was fast! Glad to hear it is good!

 

[Grace.]

@lizziej dear, I'm also gonna start reading this book this weekend

 

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I finished reading it today, and I enjoyed the way the story unfolded. I generally liked the characters (Stella, Hannah, Gerald, Pradyumna, Lottie, and Peter), but I didn't like Archie, and I really felt angry on Hannah's behalf. I was surprised that Betsy and Lottie were stepsisters. The plot reminded me a lot of an Agatha Christie (almost I could imagine to Hercule Poirot show up at some point of the plot), and I enjoyed so much reading it, I would love to see a movie adaptation of this book.

 

[lizziej]

I finished reading the book last night.

Spoiler!

I really enjoyed the book! The format was a bit different, having all six contestants and Betsy with their own chapters. I found it a bit strange, though, that Betsy's was written in the third person, whereas the contestants' were written in first person. I loved all the contestants, especially Pradyumna. I liked Betsy, but I didn't like her arrogance. Archie I knew was going to bring trouble. For a while, I thought that he might actually like Hannah, but then it became crystal clear what he had done. I like the way the author brought back Gerald, because I started questioning whether he was a murderer. I thought Stella might have had something to do with Archie's murder, considering her wet hair, but I wasn't sure how she had accomplished it. It didn't make sense that Betsy killed him, but it was funny how she was charged with his murder, instead of Stella. The instant she saw Hannah and Archie together, she knew he was trouble. Although it took most of the book to have someone be murdered, I was fine that it was just the last few chapters. The sabotaging of each contestant was intriguing to me. I didn't think any of the contestants did it. It was clever that the author used Lottie's real name when Betsy recognized her half-sister. It was sad that Richard lost the lost of his life and never got to have his little family of him, Agnes, and Lottie. Nonetheless, it was a very good ending! I was glad that Pradyumna wound up happy helping Lottie, doing some good with his money.

 

[Grace.]

Thank you so much for sharing your valuable comment dear Liz @lizziej you're very observant, and you noticed details that I missed, but I totally agree with your comment. Wishing you a wonderful Sunday dear lady