Now, don't get me wrong, there's some charm to be found in this cozy French setting and the promise of a fresh start. But, truth be told, it's like biting into a croissant and finding it's gone stale. The plot meanders like a lost tourist in Paris. While it's got its quaint moments, this book left me feeling more like I missed the train to a better destination than eager for another croissant.

Upon reflection, it was a lovely story but one I really struggled to get into. I did find the second half a bit easier and it did deliver a message that we should all try and remember - that it is never too late to re-write your story.

3 stars

Good. Interesting characters and concept. Nice love story and the description of places used in the books makes you feel that you are there.

This was a good book, easy to read and had me turning the pages. The only thing I would say is there are a number of people in Kendruc and it can be hard to keep track of who is who, that is my only criticism.

This is my first read of Nina George. I enjoyed tbe plot and the story however i felt like there were just too many characters in this book. I did get a bit lost

The way in which this started was different to how I thought it would, but that turned out to be a great thing. The Little Breton Bistro is a story that will keep you reading if you love France and stories about personal discovery and tragic events with some humour and romance thrown in. The story is a great mix of themes and transported me to the small idyllic villages of northern France and the dramatic and beautiful Brittany coast. I was rooting for the main character and was engrossed by the book. Every scene in the book was captivating and the amount of detail was just right to help the reader visualise each scene. I am looking forward to reading more by Nina George.

Such a beautiful story.

Excellent storytelling. This is the book for any romantic, it has it all: love at first sight, unrequited love, a tragically miserable marriage and second chances. The story follows Marianne, she's stuck in a hopeless marriage, and the book takes off with her suicide attempt. Will she find a happiness that will sustain her? Will she rediscover herself and her admirable strength?

I recommend this book especially to fans of Roni Beth's memoir, Miracle in Midlife, and for fans of an uplifting, different kind of love story.

Sweet and simple.... A suitable holiday read.

I received this book through NetGalley.

'The Little Paris Bookshop' was one of those hyped books that completely surprised me. I'd been expecting a fluffy read and instead found a beautifully moving story. 'The Little Breton Bistro' was another evocative tale of self-discovery and new beginnings. I loved the Brittany setting, and the prose was hauntingly lyrical. I would definitely recommend this book.

This isn't usually my kind of book, but I stuck with it and really enjoyed it. The story wasn't always predictable and I'm glad Marianne makes the right decision in the end!

I really enjoyed Nina George's first book, in fact I bought it as a present for various friends. As a result I was looking forward to reading this book and saved it for a holiday in Normandy. I would have enjoyed the book more if the heroine had not been so perfect once she reached Brittany. I sympathised so much with her regarding her husband but her Brittany life was too perfect. The twist at the end was surprising and good. The sadness which also occurred at the end was needed because there had been too much 'cream' for the action. I have only given three stars because I missed the life lessons which were part of the previous book.

An easy, quick read this one, but enjoyable all the same. A 60 year old married women is on a trip to Paris with her husband and finally comes to the decision that she has had enough and decides to jump off a bridge and kill herself. She is in a controlling and loveless marriage and has no life. However she is saved by a homeless man and is greeted in hospital by her angry husbands who tells her his ticket home is only valid until the next day and as the hospital will not yet release her she can find her own way home. She doesn't . Instead after finding a decorated tile depicting a place in Brittany decides to escape from the hospital and find this enchanting looking town.
You follow her on her travels not just to find a place but ultimately herself, and read of the characters she befriends along the way.
I think what makes this more than a whimsical novel about love and loss and something more deeper is the fact that nearly all the characters are past middle age, something quite refreshing for a novel.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Marianne is in her sixties and feels that she has led a very unfulfilling life - married to an army sergeant major who is a bully, controlling and belittles her to the extent of her losing all confidence in herself - and so on a trip to Paris she decides to end it all by jumping into the Seine.

Luckily she is rescued by a homeless man and recovers in hospital where a tile with the picture of a little Breton town captures her imagination and she leaves her husband to go and visit it.

Once there she finds a new happiness in life and settles in and makes friends with the locals but can she really finally escape the hold of her husband and find love and a new life without him

A lovely heart warming story that is very easy to read with some great characters and definitely made me want to go and visit the area myself!

Like The Little Paris Bookshop, The Little Breton Bistro is about a character's journey to living a more meaningful life. In this case we follow the forlorn Marianne, from a trip to Paris with her husband during which she realises she cannot carry on in what feels to be a loveless marriage, to a Breton Bistro where she inadvertently ends up being hired as a member of the kitchen staff.

At first, each day is merely a the day before she chooses to end her life but to Marianne's surprise, she soon gets drawn into the community of colourful characters, finding a sense of self worth and belonging she had not anticipated.

Like in Nina's previous novel, the setting is vividly drawn and this is part of the real enjoyment for the reader as we feel we are truly able to escape our own lives in these pages. We can smell the sea air, taste the oysters and champagne, and fully appreciate Marianne's love of the town she ends up in.

As a protagonist, Marianne makes for an interesting character; unassuming and the forty-year victim of an overbearing husband, she is allowed to flourish finally, and realizes she has gifts that others want to share in. This character arc is well crafted by the author and makes for a satisfying conclusion to the novel.

The Little Breton Bistro is a love story but it's more than that; it's about self belief and making the most of life. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Not quite what I expected, as it was a while between asking for a review copy and actually reading it. The title gives the impression of being a different kind of book, more chick lit with a foodie twist, but in fact it is an engrossing tale of a woman who is at the end of her tether and leaves her dreadful husband whilst in Paris. It is very well written, and I enjoyed the travels and different characters. Towards the end I wanted to shout at the character, and fortunately she must have heard as sense prevailed. I would be fascinated to read more of this author.

I was really looking forward to reading this book - in fact, I was relishing the thought that it was working it's way up my tbr list. I totally loved The Little Paris Bookshop which was my main reason for choosing this novel.
However, I am so disappointed that I just cannot get into it at all. I have returned to it several times but we're just not clicking. I find it so annoying to be continually turning pages, - quite often after only one sentence -
and there is no doubt this is adding to my frustration.
I'm fairly certain that it will far better with other reviewers but sadly it's not for me.

I have read Nina George's previous books and fell in love with 'The Little Paris Bookshop' and was excited to be offered a place on 'The Little Breton Bistro's' blog tour, partly because I knew it meant I could bring forward my next visit to France with Nina George as the tour guide once more.

As I read 'The Little Breton Bistro' I felt myself falling in love with the characters, Marianne is a sixty year old lady who is in a loveless marriage and visits France to find herself and leave her Army Sergeant Major husband behind. This plan starts with a desperate jump into the Seine from a bridge but luckily she is saved by a homeless man and this is where her journey begins as she travels to Kerdruc, a small town she discovers in a painting. Marianne begins a journey which takes her on an emotional but poignant trip which changes her life for the better.

I really enjoyed this book. I found myself loosing myself for hours as I devoured the book. The book does start with Marianne in a desperate state, contemplating suicide but Marianne soon finds herself enjoying life more and finding herself. She builds up a strong group of friends, who all play a part in building her confidence and resilience, while also developing a love for the French village and leaving her past life behind.

Nina George has a great storytelling style of writing and I would love to visit Kerdruc, although I already feel that I can visualise it. She writes beautiful descriptive prose which, along with Marianne's narrative transports the reader into the location. The story finished with a surprising ending and I am sure I will pick this book up and read it again in the future. I am already looking forward to Nina George's next book and can't wait for my next visit to France but where will the destination be next time?

Thank you to the publishers for sending me this book to review and for inviting me to be part of the blog tour to celebrate it's publication.

I'm really pleased to be part of the Blog Tour for The Little Breton Bistro by Nina George. I read and loved her previous book and this one was a real treat aswell.

This book has a beautiful cover that you are immediately drawn to it. Nina draws such deep characters that you immediately feel as though you know them. Breton is depicted so vividly that you can imagine yourself on holiday there- or maybe even going to live there amongst new friends. It was wonderful to see Marianne blossom once she was amongst the locals and away from a loveless marriage with Lothar. She began to feel valued and that was lovely to read and share with her!

The book begins with her jumping into the Seine with the intention of ending her unhappy life. Against her wishes she was rescued and you can feel her annoyance that her plans have been thwarted. But she soons learns that life is worth living if you carve out the life you want to live.

Nina has such a beautiful writing style that you lose yourself in the setting , breathing in the air, imagining the scenery around you. We also get to learn more about the people around her and their own issues.

Blog tour date 8th March- bookworms and shutterbugs

I really enjoyed this book. Marianne walks out of hospital after being pulled out of the Seine. She makes her way across France to Brittany inspired by a picture on a tile till she finds herself in a small Breton village. There she finds a community of friends and a job. The process of healing after a lifetime of hiding her feelings and putting up with a bad marriage. but it is not only Marianne who needs time to heal and find a new ath in life. What is great is that the characters are not all young, pretty and with the world at their feet. The majority of the charactes are older and it is great to see that life and love is there for all not just the young! Marianne's arrival acts as a catalyst for change for many of the characters living in the town in both life and love. An esacpist read and the Breton setting is wonderful - you really want to go there and see it!

When I asked to read this title, I was hoping for something as good as The Little Paris Bookshop. What I received is a book even better than its predecessor.

I loved everything about The Little Breton Bistro, the setting, the principal and subsidiary stories and particularly the people, Marianne, Sidonie, Yann et al. Nina George draws excellent word portraits of her characters, you can't help but know them and rejoice and grieve with them.

Highly recommend.

I must start this review by saying that, having loved The Little Paris Bookshop, I jumped at the chance to review this new offering by Nina George. I was a little apprehensive at first, given the lasting impression Little Paris had on me and I worried that Breton Bistro would not be as powerful.How wrong I was to doubt Nina! Once again I was overwhelmed by the beauty of her writing and the ability she has to create a story full of emotion and magic. If anything, I enjoyed this book so much more.

The Little Breton Bistro begins with Marianne Messman jumping into the Seine in order to end her life . She cannot think of another way out and away from the husband who controls who she is so, when she survives, she does all she can to find another way to end it all. After discovering, by chance, a painted tile depicting the beautiful village of Kerdruc, in Brittany, Marianne believes she has found the perfect place to end her life. What she finds is a new way to embrace life and begin to dream again.

This story is touched with magic both literally (Marianne actually befriends a white witch) and descriptively. The magic of the book is in the landscape; the environment. It is in the earth, the food and, most importantly, the sea: the source of life. Marianne's awakening is not only emotional; it is spiritual.

I honestly cannot fault this book. For fans of the Paris Bookshop, it is everything that was and more. Some may be disappointed by the differences, I certainly was not. Emotional, magical and satisfying; this is a novel that will stay with me for a long time to come.

My thanks to NetGalley and Abacus for my advance copy of The Little Breton Bistro. I received this in exchange for an honest review.