A contract to restore an old garden and a handsome client…what more could a girl ask for? Well, a good mystery of course!Jasmine Summer – or ‘Jazz” as her friends and family call her, takes on a contract to restore an intriguing old garden for her client, Evan Sutherland. Evan – He’s quite a famous mountaineer who is trying to leave behind a shattered life and an ex-wife that almost ruined him. … almost ruined him.
Chestnut Hall – Evan’s house and garden have a mysterious past that intrigues Jazz and Evan. The discovery of a secret grotto leads them both into situations that they would never have dreamed about …and into unforeseen dangers.
Will Evan be able to leave his past behind? What dangers lie within the grotto? Will there be a happy ending for Jazz and Evan?
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Great quick story!
Very well written story about a mystery mixed with a bit of romance. Both parties have been burned before but find themselves beginning to trust each other while working on redecorating an outside property. Great narration and a quick cozy read.
Thanks to lorios publishing for the advanced reader copy pdf download of the secret of chestnut hall i voluntarily read this story it was amazing it was about a gardener named jazz who was hired to help restore the garden of chestnut hall that evan Sutherland had just bought there was a mystery and murder in this book a lot of twist and turn’s over all good story a must read if your into murder mystery I would recommend this story to my friends and family LAURA8759 .
This story is as much a romance story as it is a mystery. The characters have chemistry, at least for the amount of time you get to spend with them. The mystery (and romance) are satisfying with plenty of characters along the way to give you a pool to guess from. The ending does feel a bit abrupt, however.
Overall, the audible narrator is alright. She starts off reading one sentence at a time. To clarify, there’s a pause after every sentence, as if it’s the end of a paragraph which is distracting as well. She mispronounces prescribed as “perscribed”. I can’t stand narrators who mispronounce basic English words. Especially when they’re staring right at it as they read it.
NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.
3.5 stars
This is book 1 in Swift’s series Blooms, Bones & Stones. A short, clean, cozy mystery read / listen. Narration was good but sounded monotone, not a lot of depth to the voice or tone / pitch change when portraying other characters. Main characters Jazz and Evan. Evan is a notable mountaineer looking to escape to a quiet place only to discover he’s purchased a home with a mystery surrounding it. Jazz who is the gardener he’s hired finds herself not only in a mutual attraction with Evan but also in the midst of finding the who done it in the mystery that surrounds Chestnut Hall.
Overall well written, short/quick read / listen with a smooth flowing storyline.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
*this review is based on the audio version of this read.
PROMISING COZY MYSTERY SERIES.
Beautifully narrated with a nice group of characters that will keep you entertained to the last word.
The Secret of Chestnut Hall (Blooms, Bones and Stones Mystery #1), my first read from author Olivia Swift. A thrilling cozy mystery. The plot is consistent & clever steadily building to a satisfying. Becky Boyd’s narration adds to the enjoyment. “I received a free Audible copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.” The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. I look forward to the next book in this series The Secret of the Jewel Shop. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
There was a whole cast of sketchy characters, and this meant that I could only guess the ending. I still had a small list of suspects. That is a nice way to end a mystery.
Overall this story was good. I just wish that this story would have me glued to the narrative the way that a story, especially a mystery should.
The narrator did a very nice job!