The Ashford Place by Jean Copeland is a mystery/romance story that I really enjoyed. We see the story through Isabelle (Belle) Ashford who has inherited a run-down country home from her reclusive great aunt Marion. She decides to spend her summer renovating the home to sell, but during her time in the house she discovers a mystery involving her second cousin who died tragically and mysteriously as a young teen many years ago. Belle also meets and is instantly attracted to Deputy Sheriff Ally Yates, and the two work together to try to solve the cold case mystery involving the Ashford Place.

This was a lovely romance/mystery that brought the two main characters together and created a great deal of conflict that the two had to work through. I loved the dialogue between them. It was witty, sweet and fun to read. Though the mystery was not really that hard to solve (I figured out who the bad guy was way before the main characters), I enjoyed reading how Belle and Ally worked through the clues both together and separately. The sex scenes were mostly fade to black, but that actually worked fine in this particular book. Overall, this is a charming story that I can recommend to anyone who likes a well-written mystery with a good dose of romance.

I am going to give a trigger warning here. This book does have some discussion of child molestation. There are no graphic details and the subject is dealt with tastefully, but if a reader would be uncomfortable reading about this subject, I might suggest they give this book a miss and read a different Jean Copeland novel.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

A nitpicky comment first that has nothing to do with the book itself..... what's up with publishers grouping releases into themes? Last month it was all about foster kids and the foster system, this month it's all about our MC inheriting a house. Why group book releases together like that???

Anyway, on to the book review itself... This one wasn't bad, but didn't really stand out to me either. Isabelle (Belle) inherits her estranged aunt's house and moves back to middle-of-nowhere to fix it up and sell it. Of course, she meets the gorgeous small town Deputy Ally, and (of course) sparks fly. Stop me if you've heard any of this before... ahem.

At least Copeland threw something a bit different in, and added a bit of mystery to the story. Belle finds some old hidden papers that hint at someone living in the house previously may have been abused.

As a romance, there's nothing new here. Witty, flirty banter, cute dialogue, etc, ensues, the two fall in love, yada, yada. I did really appreciate that Copeland made their dialogue quite humorous at times!

What I appreciated most about this one is how Belle and Ally sought out clues to unravel the mystery while they were busy falling in love. That's what gave this story an element of something different. Was the mystery part amazing? No, but it was still well done. I had a strong idea who the bad person was well before the ending, but it didn't detract from the story. If you can handle a bit of a trigger around slight discussions of sexual violence, and you enjoy a light mystery, this book is for you. It's not too dark though.

4 stars, and I will definitely pick up Copeland's next one!

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.**

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.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

This is the first book by this author that I have read.

Isabelle (Belle) is a Teacher (Lecturer) at University. She has inherited a house from her Aunt in a small place called Danville. Her idea is to do it up and sell it on then buy her own place down at the shore (waterfront).

Ally is a Deputy in the town of Danville. She is smart, funny and gorgeous.

When the pair meet for the first time, there is an instant attraction from both of them. I really enjoyed the witty and flirty banter between the two. I enjoyed the story line with the element of mystery thrown in when Belle finds papers that may indicate that her cousin Judy (who died when she was young) may have been sexually abused. Then as the work continues with the house, there is another development about the case that comes to the forefront. I always try to work out who it is but I am never right.

If I had to mention one negativity, it would be the ending. I thought there was going to be more but I felt it ended before the story was properly finished. All in all, I enjoyed the book and would recommend reading it.

A romance overlaid by a little sleuthing, this book is an epic fail for us.

Isabelle (Belle) Ashford, a teacher at a university, has inherited a house in Danville which she plans to renovate and sell. She meets the deputy sheriff Ally Yates and is immediately drawn to her. There is mutual lust which leads to them getting involved even as Belle stumbles upon clues that indicate that young Judy, who once lived in that house was sexually abused and possibly committed suicide. Belle pesters Ally to chase the clues and find out what happened with Judy.

Belle is spontaneous, funny, wears her heart on her sleeve, genuine though a little ditzy. She is also supposed to have a history of rushing into relationships headlong and the regretting it. On the whole, she is rather likeable.

Our problem is Ally. There is nothing that warms us to that character. Between the two, she doesn’t really seem into Belle or into the relationship. She kind of superior and supercilious.

Belle does all the legwork to chase down possible leads and she has to constantly practically beg Ally to act. Even in their ‘romance’ Belle is the one giving herself and making changes in her life.

When Belle discovers (spoiler alert) that Ally’s mentor is a serial paedophile who has even tried his tricks on Ally’s niece; first Ally freezes Belle out then she actually storms to rage at her for having spoken to her niece! This is unforgivable on many counts: first, Ally is not there for the person she claims to love; second, she is a failure as a policewoman; third, she is supposed to be a ‘mother’ to her niece, and instead of having any feeling about what happened with her niece, she actually fights with Belle for having given the child an ear!

And after all that, Belle misses Ally and gladly gets back to her when Ally makes the first overture. That seems to be extremely dysfunctional even though it is keeping in line with the description that Belle has a penchant for bad relationships and choosing wrong partners.

On the whole, this book actually left us angry.

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.