I have mixed feelings about this story. The characters are cute and the dialog is crisp and natural. A lot of kissing and cuddling but no actual sex scenes. The mystery is interesting but for most of the story it was slow and a bit repetitive. But , near the end, the story takes a dramatic turn, both in the mystery and the characters relationship. I was disappointed in the way the delema was resolved. I felt the author had a real chance to give the reader some insight into how you continue a relationship after a shocking character change. Instead all we get is an apology and all is well. I guess the author couldn't figure out how to deal with it either.

Isabelle (Belle) Ashford inherits a house from her great aunt in the small town of Danville. She decides to spend her summer vacation from teaching fixing up the place in order to sell it and buy a place on the coast. The timing also coincides nicely with getting her ex evicted from her house while she is away. Initially, the time she needs to spend in Danville seems promising when she's pulled over by the town deputy, Ally Yates, who is funny, smart and sexy. Then things take a bit of a downer when Belle discovers some papers indicating that her late teen cousin may have molested before she died.

There is a nice mix of relationship building and a gentle mystery that the two main characters are trying to solves. Their communication is filled with good, flirty, witty banter which is very humorous at times. It's also surprisingly sexy considering there is pretty much no explicit sexual content.

I enjoyed the different take on a familiar trope of a main character inheriting a house in the country and the way their relationship twisted up with the cold case, becoming more suspenseful the more they discover. There could have been more information in the pages found to give the invisible character, the long dead cousin, a stronger presence. I felt I didn't know enough to be fully invested in finding out what happened to her.

The pace is slower than much of what I've read lately and it was a nice change. I'm not sure I was entirely satisfied with the ending but perhaps I'm not quite as forgiving as some. My rating is somewhere between three and four stars so I'll round up.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.