Normally I do not read romance books, however I am attempting to read what I normally would not.
This book was cute, quirky, and just a quick read. I enjoyed Merry as a lot of mannerisms and sayings are things I do myself, so I related to her. Everything felt very rushed, but that's common in romance books since everyone wants a Happily Ever After, so I don't fault it for that.
I now want a pet lobster named Louis.

French Holiday by Sarah Ready (coming out April 26, 2023)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥/5

Have you ever wanted to take a vacation from real life? That’s exactly what Merry does when she feels overwhelmed by her life. She borrows her godmother’s flight plan and runs away to France for the summer. What she didn’t plan on was her real-life villain Noah Wright crashing her fairytale summer. With missing artists, ferocious lobsters, and cucumber weapons, will Merry find her “coup de foudre”?

I adored this story because there have been many times that I was tempted to run away from real life. Merry is perfectly awkward and relatable, the setting is awe-inspiring, and the mystery in the air is palpable. After all, who doesn’t wish for a little magic sometimes?

#bookstagram #romcoms #sarahreadyauthor #romancebooks #bookreview

I loved this romance! It's a long but really good read. It has some mystery, some drama, some philosophy, and a slow burn romance. Believe it or not, my favorite character is a side character, Louie, and despite my love for the book, I would have loved an additional chapter with him playing a prominent role in the story.

This is a perfect romance to pick up on vacation or at the beach. Merry is in love with her best friend, but after he marries her sister, she escapes to a chateau in France for three months. But once she arrives she finds Noah, the best man, is also staying at the castle while doing research for a project.

This was fun with lots of tension, forced proximity, and unrequited love. They slowly establish a friendship and heal from their own personal heartaches, finding love along the way. The dilapidated castle and mysterious artist element adds to their chaos and adventures. Cute story overall and I recommend picking it up! This was my first by Sarah Ready but I look forward to reading more of her books!

Thank you NetGalley for my advance copy.

Beautiful setting for an enemies to lovers novel. A lush castle in France with a dreamy French neighbor is all Merry can imagine when she accepts the offer to reset her life in France. Her sister has just married the love of her life and she needs to get away before she loses it. Unfortunately the lush castle turns out to be a crumbling, dusty, full-of-bugs mess and her unwitting room mate ends up being the guy she loathes the most, Noah. Can they share a castle (and a bed) without sharing their hearts? Why does Noah dislike her so much anyway?

Compelling characters, the French countryside and a lot of humor made this a fun, lighthearted read. Definitely recommend! Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Who wouldn't love Noah in this story...he sounds like the perfect guy with just enough mystery about him.
However, Merry isn't interested she has been hopelessly in love with Noah's friend..her best friend Leo.
We hardly hear about Leo though because he is almost instantly forgotten, which makes it a little heard to believe Merry was so in love with him for so long. I do though hate her sister, she is written as a petulant child who is wholly self involved and only thinks about what she wants, so how she gets Leo is astounding.
I enjoyed the story, there are some very humourous scenarios and a beautiful setting for the Noah and Merry story. I also liked that there was more to Noah's story than just being 'The One'
There are some gaps in the storyline that would bother me - I want to know how Merry went from stressing about the future to just staying in France in a Chateau and travelling with Noah..what about family or work etc?!

I absolutely loved this book! The characters are lovable, the background story is intriguing, and and the ending was swoon worthy. I loved the whole thing!

The writing was visceral! It felt like I was in the castle, in the garden, on the bridge, and could even taste the cucumber.

I listened to this book as an audiobook. And I have to say, I would recommend it! The narrator did a wonderful job, really bringing the character to life.

Five stars all the way around!!!

Thank you, NetGalley for the audio ARC!!

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

French Holiday is a beautiful story of unrequited love, finding one's self, and finding love in places you least expect. It made me feel like I was reading a movie script for a Netflix adaptation of someone's life without any of the cringy parts. It gives Eat, Pray, Love vibes with a moving tribute to family. There was comedy, tears (mine, probably not the characters'), and some quotable dialogue that I had to write down. It's a feel good book that made me want to explore a French countryside and tell my family how much they mean to me. Would definitely recommend to others.

French Holiday was a cute enemies to lovers romance set in a crumbling French chateau. Overall, the book had a lot of potential - it was a fun, light read, but the story did drag at times and there were little side dramas that took away from the main characters' stories. The banter between Merry and Noah was very entertaining and it was great to see the amazing friendship they formed along the way. This is the third book I've read by Sarah Ready and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of her novels. Thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Merry needs a vacation from her life, especially after she watches the man she loves get married to her little sister. Especially after she has a drunken one night stand after the wedding with the man she hates the most in the world, Noah. So when her godmother sends her off to France to live in a Chateau for the summer, she blissfully accepts. Until she gets there and Noah is already there. Can Merry still have her French holiday?

This book was such a great story that had more depth than the typical romcom. It was poignant and funny (the lobster scene had me laughing out loud). I liked the characters (except maybe Leo) and the way the story weaves it’s way into your heart. The pace was just perfect and I loved the little twisty tidbits.

This book made me want to take my own trip to France!

Cute little romance, predictable, but aren't they all? Nice beach read. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I was excited to read “French Holiday” and I ultimately enjoyed it. It has a delicious premise. The characters are well developed and there is more mystery and intrigue than I was expecting. This book was funny! The moment Merry met Pierre in real-life I laughed out loud. I only wish Noah was given some redeeming qualities sooner in the story. I needed more flashes of his interest in Merry or even more good things about him (other than physical attributes) that Merry should be interested in. It made their love story seem abrupt and based on nothing.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Meredith (Merry) spends her life giving her sister (Angela) whatever she wants just to watch her discard it when she's bored. When Angela marries the man that Merry thinks is "the one", Merry decides to take a 3 month long vacation to France while staying at her godmother's chateaux. She wants to spend the time there falling in love with France, herself, and hopefully a Frenchman named Pierre. However, when she arrives, Noah has just arrived and he has already paid her aunt to stay while filming his next travel documentary. Since Noah is Merry's least favorite human, they argue about who gets to stay. The begrudgingly decide to share the chateaux and stay out of each other's way.
This was a very cute story with the perfect amount of steam. The only part i didn't really love is the main character's full name because it kept taking me out of the story and making me think of Grey's Anatomy (her name is Meredith DeLuca iykyk). Thankfully her full name didn't come up too often so much brain didn't go wandering. I loved the side love story as well as the bonus mystery that was thrown in. I loved all the descriptions of the French food and countryside. This was a great book.

I loved this cute rom-com set in a crumbling French Chateau and devoured it in one day. The characters are likeable and believable with great dialogue and the author’s descriptions of the French countryside and food basically have me booking a ticket.

There are, of course, all the typical rom-com clichés including “only one bed!” This would normally make me angry, but it works here. I think that’s a testament to the fantastic writing and the way the author weaves everything together, including a bit of mystery toward the end.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a funny, romantic escape with great writing and characters.

Thanks to Swift & Lewis Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this book.It was a very fun and easy read,which took me just 2 hours.I really loved the charecters,Merry,Noah and Camille!I also loved the backstories of each charecter,which made them more relatable(especially Merry) and with flaws(Leo and Angela).Some of the tropes I liked were the one bed trope,the fact that Noah liked her first and the kind of enemies to lovers!

This was a fun, fast-paced rom com that felt like a good movie. Merry’s best friend Leo marries her sister Angela, and Merry ends up revisiting her life choices on a French getaway to her godmother’s castle. Her somewhat enemy Noah ends up there as well, and they have to figure out how to survive together in the old castle. There, they are introduced to two locals, Camille and Pierre, whom they befriend and serve as potential love interests. There is also a mystery thrown in there about a French painter who used to live in the castle.

Overall, this was an enjoyable breezy read. I do think it could have been streamlined a bit (lots of secondary characters and plots that kind of took away from the main one), as it started to feel long toward the back third where the various plots were being wrapped up. I would have preferred more build up of the relationship between the main characters than the side stories. I did enjoy this one enough that I will seek out other books from this author!

Thanks to Sarah Ready, Netgalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for the ARC.

this was so cute!!! i love the enemies to lovers vibes and the smut was serving to be so honest.
it gave me all the butterflies and while there are more serious matters at hand in this story, it never took away from the swoon worthy romance it delivered

also the side characters stole my heart, i love them dearly

I thought this was very cute. Unrequited love sends Merry off to the French countryside [what a dreammmmmm] but life catches up a bit as she tries to run away. There are some suspensions of belief here required to fully invest in the story, mostly around living in a decrepit chateau, but overall I found this interesting, compelling and a fun tromp through France. Angela is honestly a total bear, and I would have liked a bit more resolution/confrontation between her and Merry. You can't just be red-biking everything, Angela!!! Also I don't know who we can chalk up to being the original grump in literature, but caffeine-deprived Noah was swoony as hell. WAS THE ORIGINAL GRUMP MR. DARCY?!?!?!? Plz advise.

4 stars for a grand time. I'd definitely read this author again and am currently scanning the libary catalog. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute romance story about two enemies to friends to lovers. Merry DeLuca and her enemy Noah Wright end up stuck in the same crumbling French chateau. I enjoyed the French scenery, and the story started breezy and fun. However, I'm giving it 3 stars because halfway through, it takes a darker turn and becomes more of a mystery than a romance. I found the subplot distracting and unnecessary. I feel like the friendship to romance and forced proximity of the characters would have been enough to keep any reader interested. Another aspect of this book that I found VERY distracting, was the verbose descriptions of the food. I am not a foody and found the lengthy descriptions contrived and boring.

Regardless, it is a worthwhile read for any fans of the French countryside and fans of French food.

Thank you to Swift and Lewis Publishing for my ARC!

This book had so much potential with a good premise and likable characters, It unfortunately got bogged down in too many side stories and too many pages for a romance. I also had trouble trying to figure out if this was supposed to be a contemporary romance or a romcom. At times, I felt like this book was written by two different people.

Merry is in love with her best friend Leo but Leo has fallen for Merry's sister Angela. Merry jets off to her godmother's French Chateau to find herself and start anew after the wedding and a drunken night spent with the best man Noah only to find out that Noah is staying at the Chateau too. It's a great premise but as I said, this book has too many side stories that clutter it up... especially the not very funny escape with Louis the Lobster.

I would have love to have cleared the clutter and focused on Merry and Noah with the secondary story on Noah's research in France.