by Ally Carter
First sentence: “Ms. Chase: Well, of course I have his blood on my hands.”
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Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some swearing (I don’t remember f-bombs, but if there were any, there weren’t a lot), kissing, and off-screen sex. It will be in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt are rival mystery writers. They don’t like each other. And even though Maggie’s successful, Ethan is a different level of success, which is just annoying, since he has only a few books to his name. So, when she ends up in a private plane headed to England for Christmas and Ethan is there, she’s sure it will be a lousy holiday. Except: they end up at Eleanor Ashley’s house with a number of her relatives, and then she goes missing. It’s up to Maggie and Ethan to figure out where Elenaor has gone, and – more importantly – why.

This was a fun, light romance. It leans more heavily into the mystery – or at the very least I was more interested by the mystery – than the romance, though it’s there. More importantly, it’s about Maggie’s journey to trusting herself. She’s been told her whole life that she doesn’t matter and that her opinions don’t count, and she doesn’t really trust herself. Over the course of the book – and with Ethan’s help – she learns how to trust her instincts and her decisions again.

I don’t know if I was expecting something spicier (it’s not spicy at all), but I wasn’t expecting so much of a mystery. And I was pleasantly surprised how enjoyable and fun it was.