ok, dnf pq eu nao gostei da trope "o amor da minha vida casou com a minha irma" e o audiobook é chato e mal narrado... achei que a atriz passa uma vibe arrogante... entao, não. nao vai rolar. mas mesmo assim, obrigada pela oportunidade de tentar ler ele netgalley...

This cover and synopsis had me fooled. I apologize but this isn't the book I signed up for.

Thoughts:

• I like cheesy and predictable romance but this was excruciating to read.

• 400+ pages is way too much for a chaotic cheesy romance with just extremely overbearing side characters.

• The storyline and plot were poorly executed which seems to be unrealistic.

•I was bored, bored all the time.

• While I enjoyed her previous works, this was a miss. And, even with the impressive French backdrop, it was not good enough to bring the whole premise striking.

Hence, a 2-star rating because I was not satisfied.

4 Stars

*A fun enemies-to-lovers romance with a hint of wanderlust*

ARC provided by Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


French Holiday was available in the “Listen Now” on Netgalley. I'm always looking for armchair travel plus I’ve been meaning to try out Netgalley’s audiobook feature for a while now, so this seemed like the perfect little getaway.

Merry DeLuca is in unrequited love with her best friend, but as soon as he meets her sister, he falls in instalove. Merry is tired of watching her sister live out her dream and sick of her demoralizing job. So when her godmother offers her use of her chateau in France, Merry jumps at the chance to escape. But the chateau is a crumbling mess, and Merry finds out she is not the only one staying there. Her nemesis (and only person to realize she is in love with her now brother-in-law) is also staying there. And neither is willing to leave.

The story makes use of a lot of romance tropes: enemies to lovers, only one bed, and grumpy X sunshine. Merry was a bit formulaic as a heroine, nevertheless, she was an endearing, loveable character who was easy to root for. Noah was not as lovable. I’m not really into the emotionally damaged moody hero with a secret type. But he did grow on me. And just when I thought the plot was following the predictable path, it did curve enough to keep me interested. Swoon level and spice level were somewhere midway on the scale - satisfying but no irreparable scorch marks.

“If you could see my heart, you'd see the space for you in it.”

I appreciated the nod to gothic tropes even though it wasn't a gothic story. It does have a little bit of the formula of a gothic romance: a young woman goes to a crumbling manor house, things go wrong, and there is a brooding love interest with a secret. So even though the atmosphere was not gothic, it still was a fun little nod.

The story fulfilled enough of my wanderlust, but admittedly it wasn't a major focus. There are some scenery descriptions and a fair amount about food, but other than spending time with two of her neighbors, Merry didn't explore the area or culture. She barely even went into the town. Nevertheless, the descriptions were enough for me to add Annecy to my travel list. But I would have loved a more immersive travel experience. My wanderlust is never satisfied.

Overall, French Holiday is a great summer romance or beach read if you want something fun, light, and with a little French scenery.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 5 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Thank you, Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with this free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. OH MY GOD. I LOVED THIS SO MUCH?! It started off with a bit of a 27 Dresses vibe and just ended in it as well, with a few changes of course. But omg, I was expecting it to be a sweet silly rom com but damn, it turned out to be so much better? This is my first 5 star read since jan and I absolutely am going to get EVERYONE else to read it. Even if I have to put them at gunpoint.

At the end of your life, it's not what you did that makes you happy, it's who you loved and who loved you.

French Holiday is an adorable, light and fluffy romance. Merry's life isn't quite going to plan, her job is becoming toxic, her parents aren't always the kindest to her and to make matters worse, her sister, Angela, is marrying Merry's best friend and the man she has been in love with for four years: Leo. Merry is a victim of unrequited love and everyone can tell, especially Leo's best friend Noah - who she ends up having a deep and meaningful conversation with at the wedding, despite the fact that they don't like each other very much. To run away from all the horrible things in her life, Merry quits her job and takes up an offer to go live in a Chateau in Annecy, France, to hopefully find inspiration and fun with a Frenchman in a vineyard while spinning around in a pretty dress. Until she arrives at the Chateau and things are not quite what they seem, and low and behold, Noah is staying there too.

The idea for this book is very sweet, it has beautiful themes and prose about love, in all of it's forms, and a captivating setting which makes you want to go to a Chateau and live out Merry's dream right alongside her. But aside from that, the story is quite cliche and doesn't quite have the right focus to really stand out. I think I may be biased because I live in France, but the stereotypical French characters in this story and simplistic ideas about what France is like kind of put me off a bit - the book is definitely better suited for an audience who hasn't been to France before and is enamored by the idea of it. I would've loved a bit more depth in the side characters and the descriptions to make the story feel a bit more realistic and authentic. The fact that the first man and woman Merry meets in France are immediately pegged as competitive love interests to the main characters own developing love story just felt a bit immature, unfortunately.

The plot also gets a little bit confused along the way. The back stories of the two main characters are quite good, Merry was treated less loved by her divorced parents than she deserved and Noah grew up without knowing his father so their connection really did feel genuine - although I think there may have been too much added drama to really absorb yourself in this story line. I really wish the plot had focused more on Noah and Merry, and how they could both help each other heal and develop a proper friendship rather than complicating it with all the other subplots happening in the background. I think a touch more refining of the plot would've made this really interesting and still could've included the gothic-esque themes, haunted mansion/murder mystery type vibe without it feeling as trivial as it did.

I did enjoy this as an easy to read, cutesy romance - it's a little bit silly and a slightly overdone idea but aside from a few things I didn't love it was really fun and there were some really humorous aspects to it too. The tropes include miscommunication and friends to lovers, which are both done moderately well and overall this a nice standard, middle range romcom with a happy ending. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.