Six friends vacation at a farmhouse in France. Their neighbor Severine disappears. They were all questioned as they were the last people to see her before she vanished. A decade later, the unsolved case has new evidence and the friends are put back in the spotlight of the investigation as they were the last to see her alive.

The story is slow to start and easy to put put down.

If Agatha Christie were still alive, she would blurb this book. A fun modern take on the country house cozy.

This book is such a slow burn and it really took a long time to pick up. It also feels more like a love story than a mystery. Things can get repetitive and boring at times. I was a bit disappointed that there's not much stuff about Severine, the French girl. Things are quite predictable but I must say it is well-written that I stick to it until the end.

Let me just start off by saying I devoured this book. It was definitely one of the best books I’ve read all the year.
This suspenseful mystery is told from the point of view of Kate, 1 of 6 friends that spent a fun week full of partying, swimming and drugs in France 10 years ago. In present day, the remains of a body are found in a well. The remains of a French girl they befriended that week. They are the last to see her alive. This story tells the investigation of Severine; a young girl who was murdered, and Kate must come to terms that one of her best friends did it. Yet, the French police somehow have her as their prime suspect.

I don’t want to spoil too much of this book, because the best part was not knowing what comes next. I couldn’t put this book down. It kept me up all night, reading chapter after chapter because each one just leaves you hanging. The writing style was great, and the story flowed flawlessy.

This story is full of friendship, suspense, betrayal, love, and murder. There is even a touch of the paranormal, which somehow fits in nice n’ snug.

I would recommend this book to anyone, even those who don’t typically read thrillers or mysteries would enjoy The French Girl.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing read from beginning to end! The characters were well written, the details of the story were flowing and I stayed up all night reading it from beginning to end.
I have recommended this book to many friends and family through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

This was a good read. The story was more than a murder mystery, it was a look at friendships and how they evolve over the years. 6 friends from Oxford University spend a week lazing in a French farmhouse drinking and exploring the countryside. Severine lived next door and disappeared while the students were there. 10 years later her body is found in the well of the farmhouse and are now being questioned again by the police. With one of the friends dead the other 5 must relive that frivolous week and hope it doesn't destroy the lives they have built. I like Kate and the life she is now living. She was on the fringe of the group 10 years ago but now seems to be the core holding them together. A very enjoyable mystery that plays out very well.

A local girl goes missing at the same time that six young Oxford grads are there on holiday. What seems like coincidence is revealed to be more closely connected to their visitir when a French investigator re-opens the case ten years later.

I liked this book. It was a little predictable though. I really wasn't surprised by the ending. That doesn't mean it's not worth reading, it just doesn't really have a twist. I kept waiting for one. I thought for sure Lexie Elliott was leading us down a path to make a sudden turn, but she never did. The French Girl ended about how I thought it was going to.

The book follows Kate Channing who was one of six college friends who stayed at a house in the French countryside one summer. While they were there the neighbor girl, Severine, went missing. Severine had grown up with Theo whose parents owned the house they were staying in. She had been hanging out with them at the pool each day until on their last day she was just gone.

Kate believed that Severine had gotten on a bus that morning to avoid her boyfriend, so Kate hadn't given the case any thought. Kate dropped two of the friends off at the airport and then the rest loaded up in Kate's car and she drove them home. Kate really hadn't looked back on what happened until Severine's body was found in the well on the property they were staying at and a French investigator, Alain Modan, shows up to ask questions.

Suddenly Kate is running her brand new business that isn't doing too well and she's being investigated for a murder. In the ten years Theo has passed away and Kate hasn't seen her ex-boyfriend who broke her heart. Now the five remaining friends are thrust back together for the investigation.

"I have little patience today. I can feel it inside me; there's a recklessness bubbling up around the malignant tumor of worry about my business, a recklessness that's pushing me to want to cut through bullshit, to tell and hear it straight, to face the worst and know what I'm up against right now. Alain Modan is probably the last person I should be talking to in this mental condition, but I am here and so is he; we have our coffees and we've covered the pleasantries - with no mention of Lara - so now we begin."

Kate had always assumed no one in her group of friends had harmed Severine, but now she is questioning that. Kate soon learns that her ex-boyfriend was sleeping with Severine. Even though Kate had no idea it makes her look like the jealous girlfriend who killed the girl her boyfriend was cheating on her with.

This plot becomes believable when suddenly Kate starts seeing the ghost of Severine. Severine can be found lounging in the same room giving Kate one of her unimpressed French stares. I thought at this point that Kate was losing her mind and was probably a murderer. It's usually not great when characters start seeing and then talking to dead people.

The investigation continues and the deeper it gets the more Kate believes that her friends killed Severine. At this point the book picks up speed and Kate almost loses her life. It really gets good here and I think is the part that makes the book worth reading!

Like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" for adults. Kate is trying her best to forget the disastrous summer she spent abroad with her friends, and she's actually been pretty successful. But now that summer is coming back to haunt her -- literally. The beautiful French girl who stayed next door turned up missing at the end of the trip, and ten years later her body has been found. The discovery of her bones seems to have released a ghost too. Kate starts to see Severine everywhere, and the silent, scornful ghost pushes her to face the memories of that ill-fated trip in order to find out which of her friends is a murderer.

This was just another typical mystery. I didn’t find anything special or entriguing about it.

I struggled with this book at first. I'd read a few pages; put it down; read another book; read a few more pages of this book; put it down again.... I probably started this one 5 times before I actually really started to get into it. While I did eventually enjoy it, I felt it just moved a little slow for my taste. I was expecting MORE. That isn't to say it wasn't entertaining or well written- it was. You just have to be prepared for a slow burn, and I wasn't. Still give it 3.5 stars, because the payoff was eventually worth what I considered at times to be tedious reading.

Ten years ago, Kate Channing went with a group of friends to a French farmhouse for a week. Next door, there was a mysterious girl named Severine. Thanks to Severine, their lives were never the same. After their trip, Severine disappeared. Now, all these years later, her body is discovered in a well near the farmhouse.

To this day Kate is haunted by Severine, but she keeps busy trying to keep her legal headhunting firm afloat. When a French investigator shows up on her doorstep in London, she’s reminded of that horrible week in France ten years ago. Thinking the whole incident is part of her past, she’s taken aback that the investigator wants to bring it all up again. She fears this could hurt her company.

This started off a bit slow for me, but it picked up speed rapidly and I couldn’t put it down. It’s a riveting, gripping novel filled with secrets, mystery and betrayal. Everything to keep readers on their toes. The author gives many possibilities of where this story can go. It’s intriguing to figure out this puzzle along the way. I wanted to know exactly how all these characters fit together and exactly what happened all those years ago.

It’s hard to believe this is the author’s debut novel. She seems like a pro already. I’m looking forward to reading more books by this author.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Reminds me of the well-written mysteries that Tana French pens.
Set in England, this murder mystery has a strong, smart, believable female protagonist that struggles with the class structure at The University of Oxford, and the friendships she formed there. Loyalty, jealousy, and career issues between the six friends complicate the murder investigation of a nineteen-year-old french girl found ten years after her disappearance at a French country house. Perfect to read on a vacation, or over a long weekend.

The French Girl is a slow burner. Be aware of that when you start reading it. Sometimes it is almost a bit dragging. The things concerning Kate’s job are somehow irrelevant to the story. But at the same time they fill out the lives of the characters and make them so lifelike. Something in the book caught my attention the whole time. The dynamics within the circle of friends is interesting. I also liked that the story was told only from one point of view, Kate's. The story would be perfect for two narrative levels, today and the past. But the author does without it and there are no direct flashbacks but only Kate's memories. I thought that was pleasant, because the narration on second time levels is a bit overused lately.

The story is told quickly. 6 friends spent a holiday in France 10 years ago. The enigmatic neighbor, Serverine, disappeared at the same time as they left. Now her body has appeared on the property and a French policeman is traveling to London to interrogate the friends again. Kate's life gets completely out of balance. The relationship between friends also changes.

Despite some lengths, I found the book very entertaining. The characters are very lifelike and all the details make them very real. I felt well entertained. I can understand when other readers find the book boring. But for me it had something that kept my interest alive. The end is a bit unusual and maybe a bit unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, one expects almost naturally a spectacular twist or a showdown. But the author also refrains from this and I also found that to be pleasantly different. The French Girl does not differ at first glance from other books, but in such trifles it shows that it is different, something special.

Years ago, friends were together abroad for a summer in France. A girl who lived nearby, Severine, disappeared. Now her remains have been found and an investigation begins that brings these five "friends" back together. The story is told from the perspective of Kate, who sees Severine's ghost in various places. Everyone is a suspect, and Kate barely escapes with her life. This is an engrossing page turner for sure.

Six friends celebrate their graduation from Oxford University at a farmhouse in France. The last night of their alcohol-fueled party turns disastrous after an uninvited nineteen-year-old neighbor goes missing from the house. The female, named Severine, had driven a wedge between the friends with her sexy looks and flirty disposition. The women felt threatened by the younger woman while the men returned her attention. After an investigation, it is not clear if anyone at the farmhouse had anything to do with her disappearance.

Ten years later, Severine’s body is found in a well outside of the farmhouse. Each of the friends is questioned by a French detective. Kate Channing is not concerned with the investigation but begins to unravel after repeated interrogations. Accusations and frictions slowly grow as each group member reveals what they remember from that night.

The French Girl is a debut novel by Lexie Elliott. I enjoyed this book and was quickly pulled into the story after reading the first chapter. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

An addictive mystery about a group of friends who are suspected of murdering a neighbor on holiday. I loved the mix of the mysteries within the relationships of the friends, and the mystery of the murder. Well done.

The French Girl is a slow-burning, evocative mystery built off a premise I have so come to love: a catalyst in the present forcing characters to revisit a dark incident in their past and recolor it with new understandings. I was intrigued by the unique approach taken here, with a narrative anchored solely in the now and a greater focus on character dynamics than plot progression, but in the end, this book was a mediocre read for me - although that's not to say it didn't have its strengths.

Where The French Girl shines most is quite simply its writing style. It's gorgeous and haunting. Everything is told from Kate's perspective in the present, and since I'm used to this sort of plot bouncing between narrators and timelines, I will admit that this approach felt restricting at first. Nevertheless, the limited point of view came to be something that I appreciated. You really have the opportunity to immerse yourself in all of Kate's frustrations as she tries to piece together the past. Her spotty memories are wonderfully hazy and disjointed; it feels like reaching out and trying to grab something only to have it slip between your fingers.

The plot is slow-moving - glacial, at times - but even that can be spun as a point in the book's favor. It's realistic. Ten years after the initial missing persons investigation, the stagnant pacing at the onset of the novel feels true to a murder investigation slowly gaining traction. It also gives us the space to do a deep-dive into Kate's life; I loved how the investigation doesn't take over her existence, not at first. Her insistence to keep it separate from her struggles to run a solo business is intriguing and far from what I'm used to in mystery novels where the mystery tends to quickly consume the entire plot.

Probably the most fascinating part of the book is Severine, the murdered girl, herself. News of the discovery of Severine's body causes Kate to "see" her everywhere in a vivid, tell-tale heart-like fashion. I love that this enigma of a girl is personified more as a figment of Kate's imagination in the present than she is in Kate's memories. Severine never says a word, and yet her personality is crystal clear. It's honestly quite chilling.

Despite all the small tidbits I enjoyed, I couldn't really get over my main problem: that the slow pacing was never rewarded. It felt like the whole book was building up to something, like the calm before a storm, but it never quite got there. The revelations at the end didn't seem hard-won or deserved. It's an ending that doesn't package everything up with tidy bows, which I can appreciate for its realism, but I still felt a little robbed of my time when I had turned the final page.

All in all, The French Girl isn't my favorite read, but it's a solid one. And it's a strong debut for Lexie Elliott, who's definitely caught my eye with her writing style. Can't wait to see more from her in the future!

If you were asked to recall events that occurred ten years ago, do you think your memories would be reliable?  

I have seen mixed reviews about this one on Bookstagram and Goodreads and I'm always curious to see which way I lean when this happens. Who else loves a little controversy? 

The French Girl is a great debut novel by Lexie Elliot. Ten years after a group of friends are vacationing in France, a missing girl’s body is found and the case is re-opened. As the investigation progresses, relationships are revealed and memories are questioned.  

The story is told from the main character’s point of view rather than the alternating perspectives that are so common to this genre. I thought it was a pleasant change from the books that I have been reading lately. I will say that this is a slower-paced story, but one that is strong in characterization. The writing is compelling and it kept me up late at night turning the pages. I wanted to know what happened and I did suspect everyone at least once throughout the story.

I really enjoyed reading The French Girl. The book that I read before this one took me on an emotional roller coaster and I was happy that this was a light, easy read. I wouldn’t recommend picking this up if you want to read a fast-paced thriller full of twists. If you are in the mood for a light suspense with strong characterization, then you should read this. I will be eagerly waiting for Lexie Elliot’s next book!

Thank you Berkley for the advance reading copy. It was my pleasure to write an honest review.