{"id":27845,"date":"2026-09-28T15:25:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=27845"},"modified":"2026-09-29T15:59:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:59:04","slug":"guilt-and-ginataan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27845","title":{"rendered":"Guilt and Ginataan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guilt and Ginataan<\/em><\/a> (2024) Mia P. Manansala<\/a> (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery #5)<\/p>\n

\"Guilt<\/a>There is so much to love about this series: food, queer rep, smart female character, mental health rep, and few white characters.<\/p>\n

Yet, the mysteries always fall a little flat for me. I don’t know why. (In the earlier books it was because Lila did a lot of stupid things.)<\/p>\n

Which is why I read the last book in the series before coming back to read this one. Because this one finally went on sale.<\/p>\n

The Shady Palms Corn Festival is a joint event between the cities of Shady Palms and Shelbyville, and on the opening day of the festival the wife of Mayor Judy Reyes is murdered and Adeena is found lying next to the body in the corn maze.<\/p>\n

This story has a lot of strife between the recurring characters, as Elena and Lila butt heads of how to help Adeena, and Detective Park is hired by the mayor to find out who killed her wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cShouldn\u2019t your job be making sure there\u2019s no bias in the investigation whatsoever?\u201d Elena asked.<\/p>\n

He shook his head. \u201cInvestigations are run by human beings, so there will always be bias involved, whether we\u2019re aware of it or not. A good investigator acknowledges that and does their best to work past it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I do really like that Lila is smart in this story–across the board.<\/p>\n

I headed to the bar with him, and after he put in my order, he said, \u201cYou didn\u2019t have to follow me here. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m going to put anything in your drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I didn\u2019t think anything like that.\u201d Of course I did. I was a woman accepting a drink from a strange man.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I like how mental health is repeatedly addressed in the story.<\/p>\n

Yet somehow I just don’t love these stories.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Lila Macapagal, Elena Torres, Adeena Awan, Amir Awan, Dr. Jae Park, Detective Jonathan Park, Lola Flor, Tita Rosie, Ninang April, Ninang Mae, and Ninang June, Leslie, Mayor Gunderson, Mrs. Gunderson, Beth Thompson, Valerie Thompson, George and Nettie Bishop, Mayor Judy Reyes, Yvonne Reyes, Zack, Quinn Taylor, Michelle, Ben, Marcus Martinez, Sharon Cuneta, Wilson Philipps, Helen Kowalski, Yuki, Chuy Torres, Sana Williams, Naoko Williams, Xander Cruz, Felice, Father Santiago, Kimberly Johnson, Millie Barnes, Detective Nowak, Ronnie, Izzy, Councilman Frank Foster, Jessica Maldonado, Bernadette, Gladys Stokes<\/p>\n

Cover by Vi-An Nguyen<\/p>\n

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime<\/p>\n

Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guilt and Ginataan (2024) Mia P. Manansala (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery #5) There is so much to love about this series: food, queer rep, smart female character, mental health rep, and few white characters. Yet, the mysteries always fall a little flat for me. I don’t know why. (In the earlier books it was because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,897,292,24,204,207,8,148,936],"tags":[585,619],"class_list":["post-27845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-5-10","category-contemporary","category-ebook","category-food","category-good","category-mental-health-rep","category-mystery","category-queer","category-single-point-of-view","tag-mia-p-manansala","tag-tita-rosies-kitchen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-7f7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19950,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19950","url_meta":{"origin":27845,"position":0},"title":"Homicide and Halo-Halo","author":"Michelle","date":"April 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Homicide and Halo-Halo (2022) Mia P. Manansala (A Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery) Lila Macapagal is supposed to be getting ready for the opening of the cafe she is opening with her best friend. But instead she is guilted into judging the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Homicide and Halo-Halo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/homicide-and-halo-halo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27177,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27177","url_meta":{"origin":27845,"position":1},"title":"Death and Dinuguan","author":"Michelle","date":"June 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Death and Dinuguan (2025) Mia P. Manansala (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery #6) This is the sixth and final book in the series, and oddly, the one I liked best. A series of break-ins have hit the small businesses of Shady Palms, made all the more upsetting as all the victims\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Death and Dinuguan ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Death-and-Dinuguan-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20865,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20865","url_meta":{"origin":27845,"position":2},"title":"Blackmail and Bibingka","author":"Michelle","date":"October 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Blackmail and Bibingka (2022) Mia P. Manansala (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery) As previously, I finished this story with a slight pang of disappointment. It's not bad--not at all--but I want it to be just a tiny bit better. I think it was the mystery that was the issue. 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This is an amazing entry into this series, and the narrator continues to do a fabulous job. 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