Margaret Chase and Ethan Wyatt, mystery authors and sworn enemies, get a mysterious invitation to spend Christmas with “their biggest fan.” When they arrive at their destination, Eleanor Ashely’s house (the greatest mystery writer of all time), things start looking up. But then Eleanor disappears. From a locked room. In the middle of the night.

I don’t know why, but I didn’t go into this one with the highest expectations. I was wrong. Very wrong. This book was so good. It was definitely way more romance heavy than the other whodunit mystery’s I’ve read lately, and it’s exactly how this book needed to be written. I loved it. I love a good enemies to lovers AND he falls first story. There’s not a lot of ways that could go wrong for me. Ethan was so smug and charming but also so sweet. I loved how much he pined for Margaret (in the best way), and the things he’d say… they melted my heart. They were almost up there with some of the things Roman C Kitt (Divine Rivals) would say. And as far as Ethan helping Margaret trust herself and her instincts again… yes. Beautiful. Almost too much, but not quite.

I loved the format of the book and how we got to jump back in time to see Margaret growing up, her marriage falling apart, and her first meeting with Ethan. It was a really nice touch to understanding the current timeline. As far as the mystery goes, it was great. Another good whodunit with all of the suspects snowed into a mansion over Christmas. I didn’t see it coming. I liked all the investigating, clue finding, and how everything wrapped up. Essentially, I really really liked this book. I just wish it was lower on the spice scale. It was almost perfect.

Maybe 3/5 Christmas trees on our scale of Christmas spirit. Or 3.5. There was lots of discussion of Christmas as well as parties, gifts, Christmas day, and snow storms. But, Margert and Ethan bonded over their hatred of Christmas, and they were trying to solve a crime… and not die.