After an accident leaves Carey in physiotherapy, he is dumped by his girlfriend and dropped from his job as presenter of a renovation television show. So, when a solicitor arrives by his hospital bed to inform him he has inherited an ancestral pile in the country, he thinks life might be taking a turn for the better. However, the blissful vision of being Lord of the manor is short lived, when he is informed the house is run down and there is no money to fund a refurbishment.
Angel has spent a decade of her life happily working and living with her artist mentor. Suddenly bereaved, she finds herself thrown out of her business and home by the jealous son who has inherited all. Luckily for Angel, she has her best friend Carey to come to the rescue.
Can they figure out a way to make the dilapidate house a lovely country home?
This book threw me off at the start, the first three chapters or so were from Carey’s point of view, changing to Angel after and I assumed the alternative narratives would continue. However, it soon became clear that the rest of the story would be told through Angels eyes. I thought this an odd way to begin and would have much preferred either Carey’s version or a joint tale, as I found Angel to be somewhat irritating. At times she came across as a strong independent woman and then others she would just be a complete pushover and, to be honest, a bit of a drip.
The story was interspersed with diary entries from a previous tenant of Mossby, and I found these to be quite interesting. These held the secrets of the house and the family long since gone. Unfortunately, I had surmised the “big secret” early on.
Sadly, this didn’t tick as many boxes for me as Ashley’s books have done in the past. Maybe this is because I tend to read more from suspenseful genres now or more likely due to the fact that Fang the dog was the funniest, most heart-warming character this book had to offer!
** Thanks to Random House UK, via NetGalley, for this ARC **