Diamond in the Rough by Jane Goodger

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Brides of St. Ives, #3

Release Date: August 14, 2018

Nathaniel Emory, Baron Ashford has a problem, he has inherited a bankrupt estate and while his grandfather told him an amazing story of a falling out with his best friend, a near death experience and a blue diamond, he found and hid as a young man, a diamond that would solve all of Nathaniel’s financial problems, he dies before he can relay the exact location. All Nathaniel knows is it is in a garden in St. Ives.

Clara Anderson is the beautiful daughter of common parents, her father is a self made man and her mother’s greatest wish is for Clara to marry a titled man. Clara has no use for the nobility and would rather marry a plain mister. But even she knows that her parents would never allow her to marry the new gardener. Clara begins to spend more and more time in the garden and falls for Nathaniel. Nathaniel falls right back, but he has secrets and needs to find the diamond before he can contemplate any future with Clara.

When Mr. Belmont’s son (the grandfather’s former best friend) learns about the diamond, he hires an investigator to find Nathaniel and the diamond. Roger King has his own mystery to solve, his wife and twin daughters were murdered and he has yet to find their killer, but with the money he is making from Belmont, he will be able to afford to work on his own case, but first he has to find Nathaniel and the diamond.

This book had a lot of promise, but for me, it just didn’t work. It seemed to drag for the first 80% of the book and then everything just wraps up too quickly and neatly to be enjoyable. There is a secondary romance involving her sister that plays out completely off page and seemed to come out of left field, the investigator’s mystery was anticlimactic and Clara’s anger seemed out of character. It wasn’t a bad read and even thought it is part of a series it was I had no problems following the story, but it was just not what I was expecting based on the blurb.

*I am voluntarily reviewing an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*