Nightshade (The Cheshire Set #2)
Release Date: June 21, 2025
Genre: Small-town Romance
Forbidden Love đź’”
Age Gap 🕰️
Slow Burn 🔥
Small Town Romance 🏡
Grumpy x Sunshine 🌦️
Morally Grey Hero ⚖️
Healing Romance đź©ą
Dark Cottagecore 🍄
When eco-warrior and budding bee expert Suzie returns to Ashfordby, she expects a peaceful summer solving the mystery of Hugh Delaware’s dying bees and spending time with her best friend.
After a recent run-in with The One That Got Away (and made her swear off relationships for life), she needs the break. Peace, quiet, and a chance to focus on what she loves sounds perfect—until she stumbles into a tangled web of sabotage, murder, and secrets threatening to destroy the estate Hugh has dedicated his life to saving.
As Suzie and Hugh join forces to unravel the mystery, a shocking discovery leaves the estate reeling and the pair questioning everyone around them—except each other. But with a struggling marriage and the weight of the estate on his shoulders, Hugh’s world is a far cry from Suzie’s council-house upbringing. Any connection between them feels impossible—and forbidden. She would never entertain an affair, yet the more she tries to stay away, the more she’s drawn back in.
Caught between her growing feelings for Hugh, the painful wounds of her past, and a sinister plot targeting the estate, Suzie must summon the courage to expose the truth—and keep her heart out of the crossfire—before more lives are lost.
With its blend of romantic tension, murder, and environmental intrigue, Nightshade is a gripping tale of love, loyalty, and uncovering beauty in the most unexpected places. Perfect for fans of romantic suspense and age-gap romance.
My thoughts: This was really good, it works as a standalone, so if you haven’t read Bane (about Michael and Aimee) that’s ok.
Suzie returns to her hated hometown to help out some bees who are dying, the owner of the tea farm that needs the bees to do their pollinating thing is worried that without them, his business is over and he’ll have to sell his family’s ancestral home to developers.
She’s not keen as her awful ex lives in the area and she’s not especially close to her parents, but her best friend Aimee and her boyfriend Michael also live there. She moves into the spare room at Aimee’s and starts investigating the bees’ deaths.
The book is both a romance and an eco-murder mystery – the victims might be bees, but their deaths lead to other shocking actions as someone is trying to sabotage the tea farm and the estate.
Suzie’s investigation has ramifications for all of the residents and staff, especially Hugh, who runs it and will eventually inherit it. His whole life revolves around the estate and even though he and Suzie have an instant attraction – he’s married to Victoria, a not entirely happy woman. He’s also a lot older than Suzie.
The story gets more intriguing as Suzie discovers what’s been going on and who has been killing the bees. She also meets the resident witch, her crow and badger (totally normal), and has an eventful run in with her scummy ex (urgh).
Will love flourish? Will Hugh leave his wife and will they solve the mystery of who is trying to bring the estate down? Well, you’ll have to read it!
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*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 