Thank you to NetGalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

This author always writes enjoyable books. Sometimes you just need A lighthearted book to enjoy. This book takes place in the Bordeaux region of France and I really enjoyed reading about the area. Leah and her husband have left everything they know and have bought a country home hoping to be self-sufficient, it’s not really going as they have planned. Leah does not speak a lot of French and when her friend Grace decides she wants to start a book club Leah of course has to go. The book club members are an interesting and diverse assortment of people; there is Grace, whose husband left her behind and she had to make a new life, George, who is in this region for construction, and has kind of lost his way, Leah who seeks to find friends and figure out if she even wants to be in France anymore, Monica, whose airline pilot husband is away more than is home and she struggling with a new baby and lastly there’s Alfie, A young man who seems to be the most misfit member. It was really enjoyable to Read the different takes on the classic novels that they read. Some of which were some of my favourite books. This book is really about Friendship and relationships. It was lovely read.

Lovedthe book. It was so charming. Like a warm hug.
Great characters and good story line to keep you engaged.

In this modern fiction novel, readers travel to the lovely and historic city of Bordeaux in west France and join a book club for English speakers and expats living in and around the city. Following the lives of Leah, Grace, Monica, George, Alfie, and their families and loved ones, readers get a glimpse into the challenges of living as an expat who doesn’t have the language skills or support network of past days in a new country. Of course, life has its challenges, and readers experience the physical and emotional struggles of the five book club members over the course of the novel. Leah is the dominant narrator and character in the novel, but brief chapter glimpses into the other characters’ lives outside the book club really help their personalities develop as the book progresses. The characters are the heart of the novel and the story, and they are all more complex than they first appear. Their relationships with the book club and their loved ones really add to the depth of their narratives. Harvey’s latest novel is a strong piece of adult fiction that focuses on family, friendships, and community in strange, challenging, and uncomfortable places despite the odds.

Leah, the protagonist, relocates to a farm in France with her family, hoping for an idyllic life but finds it challenging. She joins a book club, forming deep friendships that sustain her through marital difficulties. While the novel excels in character development and setting, pacing occasionally falters due to excessive description. Nevertheless, readers, especially bibliophiles, will enjoy the exploration of books' power to unite people. The story intertwines the lives of the book club members, who find solace and support in each other, navigating through their own emotional turmoil. Despite frustrations with the characters, the engaging narrative keeps readers invested, offering unexpected and satisfying conclusions for each member. Overall, "The Bordeaux Book Club" is a charming and immersive read, showcasing the author's talent in crafting compelling stories of friendship and personal growth.

Sometimes you need a book that is just like a warm hug, and this book turned out to be that.

Anything with book club in the title always gets me, and the setting in France was just an added bonus. I was really looking forward to diving into this book. My usual tastes run to mysteries, but about every fifth read, I like something lighter and more uplifting. I had never read Gillian Harvey books, and I have to admit, this one got off to a bit of a slow start for me. Fifty pages in, I wasn't at all sure I was going to like it, but I was interested enough to keep going.

I'm glad I persevered, because shortly after, the conflicts in characters' lives started coming and the storyline picked up for me. I liked how so many very different people formed a bond over their love of reading. And I loved how one of the main characters (Grace) at first appeared one way, but then turned out to be another way, once one understood her. This book ended on a positive note and I really came to care about all the characters by the end. I recommend it for when you need a pick-me-up about the condition of the human race!

Thanks to NetGalley, author Gillian Harvey, and Boldwood Books for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The author Gillian Harvey definately transports the readers to the beautiful countryside of France. I haven't read anything but this author before but it definitely wont be my last book. Especially if it has a lovely foreign setting.

In this book we mean Leah who has recently moved to the region with her Husband and Daughter. The move is not going as planned. Her husband is never around, her daughter hates her and everybody else, a typical sullen teenager. So when one of her new friends Grace, mentions the book club she is forming with ex pats who have also moved to Bordeaux, Leah jumps at the chance to make more friends and carve a new life out for herself in France. She is determined for this move to work.

The book club is formed of a group of misfits, people who would most likely walk past each other on the street. But we all know the saying "opposites attract". They all have their own stories to tell within the books. Without realising it they are about to form friendships that will last a lifetime and help some of them through the trials and tribulations of life. The characters are really well developed and by the end of the book, I was routing for them all to be happier and grateful that they all found the book club and true friends.

I really enjoyed this book the setting was beautiful and the author describes the scenery so well. Makes me want to add Bordeaux on to my Wishlist! Also lets just take a moment to appreciate the beautiful cover, the colours are so pretty.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What is better than reading a book? How about reading a book about other people reading books? This absolutely charming story features an eclectic group of book lovers that form an English speaking book club in the French countryside where they all have relocated.

As the group takes turns selecting a book to review and hosting duties, they grow closer. The descriptions the author gives of France make me long to travel there.

This book is truly heartwarming and is filled with characters with depth and interest. I found myself connecting with each character in different ways. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I will be thinking about it for a long time.

A group of strangers in France coming together to forge friendships with books, what's not to love? This isn't an idyllic story but tells the ups and downs of life but works through them and compromise is a a lesson earnt. . Loved this book. Will be looking for more by this author.

Leah and her husband move to France to escape the rat race and have their very own Good life. However, it doesn’t go as planned and her husband seems to disappear at strange times and all dressed up. One friend persuades her to join a local book club. A strange group of people, all ages and persuasions but each one has their own story. And what some stories they are.

A wonderful group of friends, and a gorgeously told story, author Gillian Harvey's talent for bringing people together shines through. Whether it be on the page with her characters, or off the page between bookish friends, your heart will be touched once you embark on one of her stories.

It's a story that shows us the power of the written word to inspire, to motivate, to lift us up when we're feeling down, and to shelter us when we're not sure where to turn. It's a tale that reminds us that while surrounding ourselves with these wordy escapes is a good thing, learning who we can lean on in times of happiness and sorrow is just as important. This motley crew are not the usual "offenders" one might anticipate showing up for a book club, but they all end up being chosen family by book's end... and that, my friend, is not a title to take lightly.

A definite recommendation for fans of the author's previous works as well as those just embarking on their bookish journey that fancy Women's Fiction filled with great friends in the making, change as an everyday factor of life, and the potential for love as a part of their overall happily-ever-afters.

This was a lovely read and I really enjoyed it. Set in France about a book club, this one really grabbed my Interest. I read this extremely quickly. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

A new Author for me, who kindly allowed me a kindle book via NetGalley to read and review, and it was my absolute pleasure to do so.

Gillian managed to encapsulate the ex-pat community of Bordeaux beautifully and all the characters were my favourite at differing times. I laughed, I cried, I sympathised and was ready to hug them all. Such wonderful descriptions of the villages, architecture, lifestyle and food too, and I could picture myself there (I have secretly copied the reading list and will now read the books they picked and imagine I am attending the book club too).

I have recommended the book to my friends, and I was lucky enough to be having a long weekend in Nice when I read it, so that was a bonus, but for anyone it is a lovely holiday summer time gem.

Love books? The Bordeaux Book Club is seeking new members!

The Bordeaux Book Club by Gillian Harvey was Brilliant from the very first few pages I was hooked, I found it hard to carrying on with my house cleaning!!! and I could not put this book down. It was a beautiful read and takes you to the picturesque countryside of France.

When Leah and her husband moved to France, it was with the dream of becoming self-sufficient. But in truth, it’s not the ‘good life’ she’d imagined, as three hours of digging barely yield a single straggly carrot. Worse, her teenage daughter is acting up, and her husband seems to find every strange excuse under the hot French sun to disappear.

So when her friend entreats her to join the new bookclub she’s forming, Leah decides it’s something she will do for herself. The chance to make new friends, to drink a few glasses of wine, and to escape into stories that take her miles away from the life she’d thought would be her own happy-ever-after.

But the book club is a strange group of misfits. There’s prickly Grace, who lives alone and seems to know everybody and like no-one. Buttoned-up Monica, who says her husband is away and appears to be parenting her baby all alone. Handsome builder George, who has barely read a book before. And Alfie – who is a full two decades younger than everyone else, and is hiding a devastating secret…........

I highly recommend The Bordeaux Book Club especially as this book bought back great memories for me.........this was just a dream at first when I used to joke about it with my Hubby and when I was at my local book club with my friends.........."let's-buy-a-farmhouse-in-France.!".............."What am I saying!" Which I did and it's a beautiful place to live in."

Big Thank you to Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book. x

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book got off to a slow start, but it got really good from there. I enjoyed it a lot!

The book is set in beautiful Bordeaux - the centre of the wine growing region in France.
I particularly loved how the characters developed and you got to know them with every new page. I felt sadness and sorrow for them in many different ways. I didn't want the book to end.
Thai was my first novel by Gillian Harvey and I recommend.

I found it took a couple of chapters to get into this book but once I did, I loved it!! a totally eclectic bunch of people meeting at a regular bookclub all with their own little back stories. And characters you never thought would have anything in common with each other somehow did! I loved the way the books chosen for the group to read had a description of each one so perhaps encourage the reader to read them if they hadnt already. I would definitely recommend this book and I think I'd read it again!!

An engaging and wonderful story of intersecting lives. A group of people who would most likely walk past each other on the street without even noticing each other become friends that are like family when they form a hodgepodge book group. Each is going through emotional turmoil quietly on their own, but as they delve into books and discuss the characters, they start to see parallels to their own lives and start to open up to each other thus helping to lighten the emotional load they are carrying. The author absolutely drew me in and kept me on the edge of my seat as I joined the characters as the dumped their dirty laundry for the others to see and help them to clean up and carry the load. An absolutely engaging story that had you both in love with the characters as well as frustrated with them at times just as the author means for you to be! There is a happily ever after for each member of the book club, but it isn't always what you think it will be. I am absolutely in love with this author's writing and can't wait to read more!!!

It is a lovely story full of humour and poignant moments about diverse individuals who meet and bond through books in the Bordeaux region of France. Each has a life story that we learn as the book progresses. Through its complex and relatable characters and the books they read and discuss, it explores the concepts of community, loneliness and secrets. The lyrically described setting adds depth, making this an engaging read.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This book fully captures the isolating feeling of living in a foreign country, the struggles one can face to assimilate, and the importance of finding community. The writing is neither too flowery nor too flat, and the author communicates the themes of the book well through the narration and dialogue. Having the characters be so different from each other made for an interesting touch, as the analysis they all had for the books they read and the situations they were in, was quite fun and well-crafted.

Though the story is fairly basic, I thought the characters were definitely strong enough to carry the book. If you can stick it out for the first 20% or so, which in my opinion was a little hard to get invested in, this is a rewarding and emotional read with excellent character growth and a touching story. Content warnings for miscarriage and death of a parent. Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC. This is my honest review.

4/5 Classic books and modern problems.

Leah and her husband Nathan moved to rural France for a piece of the 'Good Life', but recreating themselves as Tom and Barbara Good from the 1970s sitcom has proved to be anything but the self-sufficient idyll they thought it would be. Afraid to tell Nathan that she hates this constant uphill struggle to coax their allotment into plenty, fearing it would shatter his dreams, Leah is feeling dissatisfied with her lot. It does not help that Nathan suddenly seems to be acting strangely and spending more time away from the garden that working it, or that their once delightful daughter Scarlett has hit the tempestuous teenage years.

Feeling the need for some time away from her own life, Leah reluctantly joins the new book club her friend Grace has formed, even though she is not sure she really likes Grace's propensity to involve herself in everyone's lives while revealing very little of herself in return. But it cannot hurt to lose herself in some good books for a while, can it?

Leah finds herself discussing literature with an eclectic mix of fellow book clubbers, who seem to have very little in common, other than the ability to speak English. Alongside bossy Grace, there is handsome, rough-and-ready builder George, who has not picked up a book in years; new mum Monica, whose husband is away a lot, leaving her alone in their beautiful apartment with just a tiny baby for company; and painfully shy student Alfie, years younger than the others., but with a lot on his shoulders.. Their ideas about the characters in the books they read differ wildly, but somehow as they come together to talk about them they begin to reveal parts of themselves, and their troubles, to each other. As real friendship blooms over books and wine, the members of the Bordeaux Book Club discover ways to get to grips with changes in their own lives too - and Leah realises that the happily-ever-after she was hoping for might actually look rather different to the one she pictured.

I love settling down with a Gillian Harvey as she has such a talent for combining escapist storylines with emotional themes around love, marriage, family, and rediscovering yourself, by examining the trials and tribulations of characters taking on the expat lifestyle in France - and this brand new gem does that in style.

Having read all of Harvey's lovely books published by Boldwood, which address different aspects of the hopes and dreams people aim to achieve by packing up their lives and heading for the French countryside, The Bordeaux Book Club brings with it a cast of characters who all need support with many different challenges right across the age spectrum, which makes this book widely relatable. Beyond the usual ex-pat bumps in the road thrown up by language problems and culture-shock, which Harvey's own expat experiences make so real, these characters also need help with recovering from heart-ache, loneliness, loss, and in making themselves heard in less tangible ways.

I found Nathan a bit of trial, but the interweaving storylines of the characters gradually drew me in, and before long I was completely tied to the fates of Leah, Grace, George, Monica, and Alfie, and their loved ones - and entertained by their discussions about some very well-known classics. As expected, Harvey packs this with emotion fit to make your heart burst, as the barriers between the group are broken down, opening them up to new possibilities. There are a gentle romantic threads for the 'ahh' factor; and a few humorous moments which are tied up so much with the poignancy of the characters' stories that this is definitely more of a weeper than a chuckler, so keep the tissues handy - I definitely needed them at several points along the way, and at the lovely ending.

This really is a book that works its way into your heart, and in many ways I think it might be Harvey's most complex, and emotionally charged story to date - and that is saying a lot! I loved it, and became very fond of those Bordeaux Book Clubbers... I know you will too.