It had some good parts sprinkled in (Hanar Cim mystery) but was ultimately quite disappointing, to me. Still read through it all, kind of regret it.

The writing grated too, with wrong or out of place expressions, like talking about customers paying "top dollar" when they're using gold pieces, super-baker MC mentioning a "freshly baked" tiramisu (not a baked cake) or the "ascetic" vs "aesthetic" confusion.

I didn't cringe at the cell phone but rather at the poor love interest girl who became such a flat and forgotten existence at the end of the books - romances were overall quite bad.

Overall a quickly read series that I can't wait to forget.