In The Right Place by Sophia Money-Coutts, Maggie Lemon inherits a hotel in Provence, leading her to reassess her life amidst a struggle for motherhood.
As she navigates through family tensions and unexpected responsibilities, an unlikely bond forms with Hollywood actor Gray Hudson. The narrative captures the essence of self-discovery against the backdrop of picturesque Provence.
While the exploration of fertility challenges is sensitively handled, the writing style and dialogue execution may not resonate with all readers. Despite this, the novel offers a solid storyline and engaging character development.
Overall, a compelling read for those seeking a blend of romance and introspection, deserving a rating of 4 stars.

I was grateful to get this free review copy as I’ve always enjoyed this author’s previous books. The Right Place is a gently, frothy book that I wished I could have read in the south of France where it’s set. The author’s ability to describe the town and the crumbling chateau where the book is set really adds to the reader’s enjoyment. The characters felt real and well rounded. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable novel that I would recommend for anyone looking for a bit of easy escapism.

Thank you to the publisher for the free copy from NetGalley!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

TW: death of a relative (off page), mentions previous miscarriages, alcoholism, sexual harassment, cheating

Sophia Money-Coutts is on her A-game, and I am obsessed. I am obsessed with this book, the characters, basically everything, and now I want to move to France and live in a run-down hotel with two donkeys (and maybe an attractive actor too). However, this book does discuss some potentially heavy topics, like IVF, so if you’re looking for something 100% lighthearted, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend The Right Place.

In The Right Place, we follow Maggie Lemon (it’s pronounced Le-mon, as her husband likes to remind everyone), who has just inherited her aunt’s hotel in France, which has seen much better days. Over the course of the summer, Maggie has to get the hotel up to scratch so she can sell it, all while still looking after her guests (including the aforementioned attractive actor, Gray). But as the summer goes on, the idea of returning to her life in the UK, with its IVF appointments and spiritless marriage, just doesn’t seem that appealing anymore, and Maggie is going to have to decide where she really belongs.

Money-Coutts makes this plot come alive, creating a charming and funny fixer-upper story that deftly manages some more serious themes. I’ll go into more detail about the slower romance in a bit, but even without Gray and Maggie’s relationship, this book would still have been so satisfying to read, which is a real testament to the sharp and refreshing writing. From page one, The Right Place felt like a 5 star read - the story never drags, the pacing is perfect and the flashbacks, which I’m usually not a fan of, work perfectly to enrich the characters and the atmosphere of the hotel. The descriptions of the hotel and, more importantly, the food are so vivid and incredible, making everything easy to imagine. As good as the descriptions were, the best thing about The Right Place was that, even with a Hollywood star thrown into the mix, it felt real and believable, something you could really enjoy without laughing at the improbability of it all.

Every single character is well-fleshed out and adds something to the book, even Mungo - who grated on me no end, but he was so well written that I didn’t even mind. Within a couple of chapters, you get the perfect intro into Maggie and Mungo, and a real sense of their marriage, without having to endure an info dump. Maggie comes across incredibly well and you really feel for her as she navigates the emotional side of things amidst the chaos of the hotel. And of course I can’t talk about the characters in The Right Place without talking about Gray. Charming. Funny. Good with his hands (he helps in the garden, get your mind out of the gutter).

Now, as much as I loved The Right Place, for any fellow romance lovers out there, bear in mind that, while there is a romance, it’s gentler than lots of other books and takes more time to be established. Don’t let that put you off, though, as Maggie and Gray’s relationship still has great chemistry and is all the more satisfying because of the slower pace. However, the fact that Maggie and Gray are both still married when they do sleep together was the one thing that I really didn’t like about this book. Yes, I’m glad they were together, but it was dishonest.

All in all, The Right Place is 100% a 5 star read and perfect for its release this summer. As soon as I finished it, I started looking at Money-Coutts’ other books and adding them to my TBR.

I have to start this review by saying I absolutely love this author. I have read each of her previous books and devoured them. I would actually go back and read them again!

The Right Place felt like a different author to me. It felt so different to previous work by Sophia Money-Coutts and I really struggled to engage with it.

I will still eagerly anticipate the authors next release!!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 📚

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'The Right Place' by Sophia Money-Coutts.

Well. This book was not what I expected but that is probably my fault. Our main character is going through a rough patch right now- not because she's married to a man named Mungo but I feel like I needed to state his name is Mungo - and then bam she gets given this hotel that has been a love in her life since she was young. I just couldn't grow to like anything about this book and it annoyed me. Is it probably my fault as I expected something different from this book? Yeah. But that's how it goes.

Thank you to HQ stories and NetGallery for approving my advanced read of The Right Place, this is my first novel by the author and I had a great time reading it. Ideally, I would have read this on the beach or at Le Figuier's lush swimming pool!

The Right Place leaned more towards women’s fiction than romance, despite not finding the main character’s problems particularly relatable I still really loved her characterisation and could completely understand where she was coming from. All the characters are well rounded, vivid and flawed, two of my favourites being Audrey and Jamie.

I found the flashbacks intrusive to the pacing of the main storyline at first, but as the story went on (perhaps as Maggie grew older within them) I began to appreciate them. Overall I really enjoyed this story and Sophia Money-Coutt’s writing style and commentary.

The reason this is a four-star review is the ending felt quite rushed, especially the situational whiplash of the epilogue. I think the story would have benefitted from the characters admitting their feelings a little bit earlier in the story, so there would have been time to ruminate on what their relationship would look like if they were together (and deriving more tension from that).

Thank you again HQ and NetGalley for the ARC!

Describing The Right Place like a romance feels misleading, in a good way. Really, this book is, as put so well in the epilogue, about finding love not just in a person but in a place. We follow Maggie on a journey of grief and rediscovery. She navigates the death of her aunt while slowly realising that her marriage cost her her identity. It is quite beautiful watching Maggie come back to life as she falls back in love with the same place she loved growing up and her love for cooking. I think the book did a great job at exploring the difference of living for other people’s expectations and choosing your own path, no matter how unconventional. The romance of it all is very adorable, Maggie and Gray are an obvious match made in heaven, but I think this book would’ve been great without it as well. If you’re looking for a wholesome yet thoughtful and sometimes sad book about grief, life and purpose that’s easy to read and leaves you with a nice warm feeling, be sure to pick this one up.

Maggie has been married for Mungo for many years but they haven't had any luck at starting the family they desperately want. Maggie's eccentric aunt passes away and leaves her a hotel in France. The hotel was once an incredibly exclusive celebrity destination but it has fallen into slight disrepair.. When Maggie goes to sort out the sale of the hotel, a mysterious American guest arrives. This is a gentle and fairly predictable but enjoyable enough read. It would make for good light beach read.

*ARC review thanks to netgalley and the publisher*

I had never read a book by Sophia Money-Coutts before, and she wasn’t on my radar, but the gorgeous cover and the blurb had me really interested. I mean, who does not dream of a holiday in a hotel full of history in Provence? (I most definitely do)

Maggie’s aunt, Phil, used to be a famous model until she bought a chateau in Provence on a whim and turned it into a hotel. For years, it has been very successful, with a long waiting list of clients including celebrities, and Maggie sent a lot of time as a child and young adult at the hotel. After a fall-out with Phil, they didn’t talk for a few years, and suddenly Phil passed away and left the hotel to Maggie, who returns for the first time in years. It’s nothing like she remembered it - none of its former glory, it needs a lot of work and Phil had taken on a lot of debt… but somehow guests turn up and Maggie starts running it. She doesn’t really know what to do about it. Phil wouldn’t want her to sell, but she’s has a husband in London, and they’re trying to have a baby, even if the multiple miscarriages and IVF rounds are difficult and Maggie is starting to question if that’s really what she wants to do. And while she is there, Gray, an Hollywood star looking lay low and staying at the hotel for a while, starts helping her getting the place in better shape.

There is a lot I loved about the book. The story, the Provence atmosphere, Maggie’s journey into going back to her roots, questioning and rediscovering what she wants from life. The subject of her fertility journey was well written as well, which isn’t always an easy thing.

However, I didn’t really enjoy the writing style so I’m afraid it fell a bit short for me just based on this. I didn’t manage to dive into it and feel for Maggie as strongly as I wish I could have. Also, the dialogue writing to make the French accent « visible » was terrible to me - as a non-native English speaker it just made reading it harder as my brain had trouble translating into correct English.

All in, I would rate this book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because it was a solid story, just not my style of writing unfortunately. I don’t think I’ll read the author’s other books, but if you had and enjoyed them then you should definitely read her new book!

Thank you to HQ Stories via NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Firstly, I really enjoyed reading this story. It is so refreshing to read a book where the main character is beyond her early twenties/late teens and still trying to work out what to do with her life. I thought that the pacing of the book was a bit slow to begin, but reflecting back now, I think it was a perfect fit. After all, doesn't life feel a bit slow and confusing after you lose a loved one unexpectedly?

This story follows Maggie, as she returns to France after inheriting her recently deceased aunt's hotel. She's left behind her husband and their IVF struggles to work out exactly what to do about the hotel, which she discovers in a bit of a state of disrepair. Feeling, I think, a little guilty, she decides to not cancel reservations, but instead continue to welcome guests while trying to fix up the hotel for sale.

I thought the development of Maggie, as she works out what she really wants to do with both her life and the hotel, was so relatable. It is so hard to decipher what is the right and wrong thing to do when it seems like the world is falling apart, but it was lovely to see her falling back into what she loves most. From the beginning of the introduction of Mungo though, I couldn't stand him. His obsession with having a baby was completely disrespectful of Maggie, and it felt like he simply viewed her as a vessel to carry his child. It wouldn't surprise me to see him do it again with another woman. Jamie was the comic relief that this sad yet real story needed. He brought so much life and light into the novel, without stealing the limelight. Gray was an interesting addition too, and I was very intrigued to read how his relationship with Maggi would develop.

I loved that the story had more characters involved than just the four mentioned above, and they all had their own important roles to play. I could really picture myself in France as I read this novel, and it swept me away.

I think after reading this I will explore more of Sophia Money-Coutts' stories, as I also thought the writing was wonderful, and kept me captured in the story at all times.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Maggie is tired and bored of her life and marriage in London, but doesn’t realise until she goes back to France, after her late ‘mad’ auntie Phil leaves her beloved chateau to her. It’s been years since she last visited after she fell out with her aunt but as soon as she’s back, she feels the magic of the place and having to manage it and cook for guests she starts to feel like herself again.

There’s not much I could relate to with Maggies situation but I don’t think that matters, the author has done a wonderful job of setting the scene and how Maggie feels about her life with the help of the flashbacks showing how she got there.
You could read the difference in her and just know she felt like she had her sparkle back which of course you’d root for as a reader!

This was a lovely, easy read - could definitely see it as a good holiday read by the beach or pool!
What’s not to love? A nice main character to cheer on, funny best friend, a beautiful chateau in France, a little romance and not forgetting Audrey and the donkeys! 😂

4 stars!

Firstly, thank you so much for netgalley giving me the chance to review this book.
The story is based around Maggie, at the age 9 she falls in love with a hotel her auntie Phil buys and does up.
Until one day Maggie is informed that Phil had passed away, and left everything to Maggie.
I loved the flash backs to see the history of how Maggie grows as a person in the hotel, working along side her auntie.
I highly recommend this beautiful story. I couldnt put it down.

Loved it just as much as I thought I would.
A delightful story of self discovery coming a little later in life than most would expect. The main character goes on a little adventure that quickly drags her down memory lane all the while bringing out a strong sense of self-awareness and self love. I'll admit there were points I wanted to step into the book and shake her (or punch other characters)... But I suppose that's the sign of a well written book!
Other than making me wish for a sunny holiday, this book managed to make me giggle and sigh in frustration often within the space of a few pages. So just to reiterate, if it wasn't clear yet, I loved this book.

Wow wow wow. So much better than I was expecting. A beautifully written story with vivid and lovely setting and complicated characters. An easy read and managed to binge in one day. I struggle with a cheating trope which lowered the rating for me but obviously that’s only a preference and made sense in the story. Would recommend

The Right Place is a lovely easy read that takes you from London to Provence France where Maggie used to spend her summers with her Aunt Phil at the small exclusive hotel her ex super model aunt owned.
Now married to Mungo Maggie’s life has become a round of IVF cycles and disappointments trying to have a baby. Previously she had been a highly rated chef with her own restaurant until Mungo advised her to give it all up and concentrate on having a baby.
When her aunt dies Maggie is left the hotel in her aunts will so travels back to Provence to put everything thing in place to sell up as her aunt has left a significant debt . Soon after arriving Maggie finds herself suddenly relaxing and having purpose in life when some people turn up asking to stay and she starts cooking again., and discovering what she really wants to achieve in her life.
With a wonderful cast of characters from the eccentric to the humorous and a top Hollywood actor arriving out of the blue to hide himself away for a time Maggie begins to live again and her attraction to the actor becomes mutual.
For me the ending was a little abrupt, I would of liked more depth and more of their relationship, and the burning question left unanswered…did Gray get his Oscar?
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

This is less of a romance as a great saga of a summer and flashing back to the hey day of the chateau in France. Maggie is normal, she is you and me and living very much not her best life and then she offs to sort out the chateau, it is great to read how Maggie gets herself together, looks at her life with a new lens, one that is tired of her precious daily grind. She falls for her actor come handyman and there is a glimmer of magic and sparkle at the chateau.
Working out how to make the daily life work, the leaks, the dirty pool, the cooking, it was a great read.

I wanted so badly to love this. It seems right up my alley but once I started reading it, it just felt... slow? I couldn't relate to the MC and found the long flashback chapters to be so interruptive and frustrating.

A lot of people will love this, but it wasn't for me. DNF at 53%.

Former chef Maggie has fond memories of her aunt Philippa (or Phil as she was commonly known), one of the great British eccentrics, a former model, rumoured to have slept with Mick Jagger, turned hotelier and chef, Phil ran a small exclusive hotel in Provence which was known for its privacy and its wonderful parties. She is shocked to discover that Phil had been ill and died without telling her family, although she and Phil had been estranged for several years she never stopped loving her aunt, and left her hotel to Maggie.

After three gruelling rounds of unsuccessful IVF, Maggie is sick of trying, sick of doctors, sick of medical terminology, sick of her husband Mungo and her mother badgering her. So, on the pretext of scoping out the hotel Maggie travels to France, only to find the hotel is in a poor state of repair, and significantly in debt. But before she can do much of anything two guest arrive, a couple who spent their honeymoon at the hotel many years ago and have booked four days for their anniversary. Unwilling to disappoint them, Maggie decides she can look after one elderly couple, especially since they get decidedly squiffy at lunchtime.

This very much reminded of the Russell Crowe film A Good Year, as Maggie brings the hotel back to life she recalls the time she spent with her aunt and the events that led to her estrangement. Then a disgraced Hollywood actor comes to stay at the hotel, at first only for a couple of days, and decides to help out. Suddenly all the angst Maggie felt in London starts to fall away - but is it the handsome actor or returning to her love of cooking that is making her happy?

I think if you like Katie Fforde, Jo Thomas, or Julie Caplin you would love this, very PG, sumptuous food, gorgeous settings, lovely locals. It was certainly a fun read (and would have been nicer sat beside a pool), I could argue there was nothing new but also it avoided some clichés as well, or maybe hinted at them very obliquely?

Anyway, ideal holiday reading but it may make you want to move to France and set up your own hotel.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Their arc and growth was quite phenomenal. Moreover, I so loved the sweet banter between them. All in all, it was a lovely read.

I honestly adored this book. It is such a beautiful read with fantastic characters, and stunning location. I enjoyed how Maggie got stuck straight in at the hotel and the dishes she cooked made my mouth water they sounded so delicious. I had my fingers crossed that she would stay in the hotel as she just seemed like what the place needed to survive. Very easy to read and I really enjoyed this! Will definitely read more from this author!