Richard (37) throws a house party in which Ivy (25) attends along with her extended family. Richard is a true cinnamon roll and doesn't have a rakish bone in his body. Ivy is hiding a secret, in regards to her parentage. Richard's brother Rowland also has a secret of his own. During the party some jewels are stolen.
This is a kind and gentle, low spice romance and I was happy to see that the story was inclusive too. We need Rowland's story too! I didn't expect to be rooting for the jewel thief, but here we are!
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Tropes: house party; MC investigates a mystery; MFC with a mystery from her own past
Steam level: low (a few tame kisses)

This is solidly written, and seems very true to the period. Both MC's are likable enough, although not particularly memorable, and the mystery elements are pretty low key. Tbh this was a bit too tame for me. Although I don't require steam and edge-of-your-seat tension, I prefer couples who have a more of a spark and more suspense overall. I like that the MMC here doesn't fall into the typical HR hero mold but he tended toward self-righteousness, and I felt the MFC spent too much time feeling sorry for her situation toward the end. I wanted to know her cousin and a few of the secondary characters better and thought that MMC's brother stole most of the scenes that he was in. More humor throughout the book would have spiced things up.

Bottom line: this is nicely written but missing a little zest.

I wasn’t sure if this book would be more mystery or romance and it’s a little bit of both. The mysteries in the story aren’t murders or in any way violent in nature. The romance aspects compared to the broader category of romance were pretty tame. Like a cozy romance/mystery with likable characters who you want to know more about and hope the best for. I got a little confused by the different characters but that may be due to the English titles vs. names, which always causes me some confusion in books. By the end of the book, I was hoping that we wouldn’t see Rowland disappear completely as I liked him more and more as he was honest with his brother. I would say a good start for a series but not quite as much mystery as I typically like.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.