Book Review: Romancing the Gravestone by Gena Showalter and Jill Monroe

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Romancing the Gravestone
A Jane Ladling Mystery #1

Author: Gena Showalter
and Jill Monroe
Reading Level: Adult 
Genre: Mystery | Romance 
Released: 09/27/21
Review Source: Purchased

She suspects everyone of everything. Sometimes she gets it right.

Jane Ladling is the sole proprietor of her family's landlocked cemetery, Garden of Memories. She's responsible for the, er, guests, but there's a slight problem. Well, besides her moody cat, Rolex, and her sixty-two-year-old best friend's unrequited crush on the sheriff. An extra body now rests in Plot #39.

Enter Special Agent Conrad Ryan. He's gruff, he's gorgeous, and oh, yes, he kind of suspects her of murder. What's an innocent—and very single, not that it matters—girl to do? Solve the crime herself. Even if she must turn the small town of Aurelian Hills, Georgia upside down.

The only line she won't cross? Falling for the first man to make her heart flutter. Nope, not happening. Not even a little.

Romancing the Gravestone is the first book in the Jade Ladling series by authors Gena Showalter and Jill Monroe and it was the cutest book I've ever read (can a book even be called cute if there's a dead body, a murderer on the loose and the main setting is a grave site?).

Dubbed "The Cemerary Girl", Jane is the sole owner and caretaker of Garden of Memories, a private cemetery she inherited from her Grandma Lily. In the middle of making her to-do list, Jane discovers a dead body, which isn't usually for someone who owns a cemetery, but what is unusual is the fresh body in grave of a well established closed casket. Cuddling isn't all that common in caskets, especially when only one body was buried. 

Jane is a special character - she is quirky with a mouth that doesn't know when to stop talking, a sixty-two-year-old best friend, an unhealthy obsession with hats and a passive aggressive cat called Rolex (who was really the star of the show). There's also Special Agent Conrad. The hotter than the sun detective who's assigned to Garden of Memories murder case. 

The romance in Romancing the Gravestone is a slow burn and Conrad clearly has a thing for Jane (although we're waiting on Jane catching up) and I am already gasping for air to read No Gravestone Left Unturned to get my fix. There's also Beau - a quite character but I hope we see more of him, because all it takes is a quite, manly man character to get me hooked. 

Although the book is not long, it is mighty and packs a punch. I was gripped from the very first page and everything from the stunning cover to the charming chapter headers add so much personality and I truly adored Romancing the Gravestone. It made me smile and I developed an unhealthy crush on Conrad (Beau too, not going to lie) and book two is much anticipated.