Key to Love

This book was fun to read. It had a great mixt of romance and mystery. The romance is between lifelong friends Elise and Lucas. It is a little unclear at first what draws them to each other, but their relationship seems to bloom quickly, despite Elise's reservations. The mystery of the book revolves around Lucas' brother and his death, along with people wanting to claim custody of his nephew just to get the insurance money. It is set up nicely to make it difficult to decide exactly which players are trustworthy and who actually has the boy's best interests at heart. Adding to the story is Elise's job demands on the other side of the country and the decisions she must make. I really enjoyed the characters in this story.  Elise and Lucas were both likable. There is also a fun playfulness to the story, especially involving some of the peripheral characters. It was a good story and I would recommend this book with confidence to romance and romantic suspense fans.

The story centers around Luca Fisher, a man raise by his grandmother after his parents abandoned him, and Elise Springer, an architect with a well known firm in San Francisco. Both are back home in Pennsylvania but for very different reasons. Lucas, to get custody of his nephew after his brother was killed in a car accident, and Elise, to help her father after an accident that left him with a broken ankle nod leg.  While growing up, Lucas was friends with her three brothers and Elise was always trailing after them. Obvious sparks emerge when these two are together.   This is a book filled with family, friendships, small town atmosphere , mystery, ulterior motives, a sweet boy, and a dog.  But above all , it's a story about love and what the key to that love is. This is my first book by Ms Davis, but it won't be my last.

I would like to thank NetGalley and The Wild Rose Press for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest and open review.
Although this is not my usual genre I did enjoy it.
The main characters, Elise and Lucas, were well-drawn and likeable. We were shown some of their flaws which made them all the more human. The real heart-stealer, however, was Todd, Lucas' 4 year old nephew. I could have adopted him myself.
If you enjoy romance with a touch of mystery this is definitely a book for you.

I really enjoyed reading about Elise and Lucas's story.  Lucas had been friends with Elise's brothers when they were growing up.  Lucas was abandoned by his parents and lived with his grandmother.  He spent a lot of time at the Springer home when he was growing up with Elise and her brothers.  Elise was a spitfire growing up and Lucas liked fast cars and fast women. 

After leaving home and serving in the military, he returned home and started a car dealership and a shop to restore vintage cars.  He was very rich but in returning to Scranton, he didn't want people to know he had made a success of his life.  People in town still saw him as the poor boy who wouldn't amount to anything.

Lucas' brother, Mike, died but Lucas was convinced that he was killed.  He needed to prove his brother's accident was no accident at all and bring honor to his brother's name.  Mike had been a cop working undercover who was known as an honorable and honest cop, a really good guy.  But, after Mike died, it was rumored that there was $100,000 missing in undercover money.  

Elise was a successful architect working in San Francisco.  She had come home to help her dad who was injured in an accident.  She had two weeks that she had been able to wrangle from her bosses for vacation.  Would she be able to get everything taken care of and return to San Francisco at the end of the two weeks?  She hadn't counted on meeting up with Lucas again and the attraction they both had for each other.  Would a relationship with Lucas be worth the risk? 

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book.  It had a good plot and characters.  It was a cozy read that kept me interested.

Charming and intriguing love story and mystery. Add in a child and a dog and it gets even better.

Good cozy book that one enjoys reading with a happy ending Given Arc for my vo,luntary review for Net Galley and publisher