Hana’s life is forever changed when the Comtesse de Champagne, a wealthy and eccentric Englishwoman, sees a painting of her.
-GoodReads
My Review
So, Samantha hit me up on Insta asked if I would read and review this and I was like *SCREAMS INTO THE VOID* I love her books if you notice, I’ve read them all. There’s a reason for this. I adore Hastings’s writing style. Honestly, her stories are just like home baked goods, they’re warm and then make YOU feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So it’s a win-win.
This was a whodunit mystery and the feel good sweet romance was still totally rocking this go around.
Hana’s father uses her to help provide for them by letting artists use her for a model. It’s a hard life, just the two of them and not sustainable.
One artist sells his painting to Aaron Shipley’s grandfather and it’s there Comtesse sees the painting and wants it for her own. When Lord Shipley declines to sell it, she endeavors to buy the girl.
For two bags of coins, Hana is adopted by the eccentric and frankly negligent Comtesse.
Aaron’s Grandfather is years later shot and killed and when Aaron arrives home, he finds that the only thing missing is that painting of Hana. This leads to the Comtesse being a prime suspect. Now it’s a job for Aaron and Hana to find out if the Comtesse really committed the crime or if there’s a murderer loose in the village.
The path they take to find the truth also uncovers some other truths along the way (for Aaron) and a lot of self revelations for Hana.
I will admit there was a small twist or two I didn’t see coming, and I loved that and it still remained so wholesome and on point with being a mystery that I adored it.
This is is really more of a novella compared to maybe the lengths people might expect in a standalone novel, it’s not going to expand on everything like a novel would, it gets what it needs to done and told in its shortened time frame. And I think Hastings did a great job with it. I love that her books are short and romantic and amazing.
The writing style is so smooth and easy to follow, the romance is sweet and just like almost Hallmark but not quite that ‘cheesy’ and the ending makes my heart so happy.
Overall I think that I don’t have much more to say other than you should definitely read it if this is your sort of typical book! Perfect cozy mystery read for those who aren’t here for gore and violence (or like me who like both)
5/5 cups of coffee from me, thank you to the author for a copy of your book in exchange for my honest opinion! Check out my instagram for pics of the great swag I got with this book.
The Caffeinated Reader 