This 3-star rating comes with a grain of salt- I have the sense that this might have been an "it's not you [the book], it's me" situation, and that maybe I would've found this story more compelling at another time. I think Blance Auzello and her husband Claude were great candidates for a book like this written about them, and having read <i>The Hotel on Place Vendome</i> several years ago, I knew that the history of the Ritz during WWII was also compelling territory. I think maybe I wished for a bit more "action takes" on Blanche's (and Claude's) work with the Resistance- the stories that were relayed were the most fascinating parts of the story. Despite the intriguing subjects, the pacing tended to feel fairly slow, though it picked up a bit in the last quarter or so of the book. I'd still be willing to recommend this book to those looking for stories that read like very personal accounts of WWII experiences.

This novel takes place during the Nazi’s occupation of Paris. I was quite aware of this part of history but this book talks pretty specifically about the Ritz. It’s a very interesting piece of history which is “inspired” by true events. Quoting the author “So I would say that Mistress of the Ritz more than any of my other novels, is “inspired” by a true story and real people, rather than based on them. With so few details to go on -- and so few true glimpses into Blanche and Claude’s characters, my imagination was given free reign”.

The first half of the book is pretty much devoted to Claude and Blanche’s marriage and how different American and French men are. I found that while some of this back and forth between the two was interesting and even humorous at times, I think too much of the book was devoted to this. While reading on and on I wondered how in the world these two could really relate to each other??? According to the book they did spend a lot of their time apart, having different schedules and at times different suites. “Because truly, they had no idea what to do with each other after such a startling beginning . . . . .So that it was easy, at times, to forget that they might actually need to rely on, to trust in--to love--each other.”

The Nazi’s took the Ritz for themselves although allowing the manager, Claude, and Blanche and some well known residents such as Coco Chanel to remain on one side of the building and use a separate entrance. Claude and the entire staff were at their beck and call always fearful that something done not quite right could lead to their dismissal, imprisonment or worse. There is some insight into what is going on in Paris during this time through the eyes of Lily, Blanche’s close friend.

The book picks up the pace in the last third and I definitely enjoyed this focus on what else was going on “behind the scenes” to be more interesting than the discussion of their marriage.

All in all I found this to be a good read with interesting characters.

This was a Traveling Sisters read. I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.

Also posted to Amazon upon publication

I read Mistress of the Ritz with a few of our Traveling Sisters and we all really enjoyed this one with us having similar thoughts on it.

An extraordinary real-life American woman, a proper Frenchman and a glamorous Ironic hotel

Mistress of The Ritz explores the lives of brash and reckless Blanche and proud Claude Auzello The Mistress and Master of the Ritz. The story starts off slow and it’s all about the characters here. The story delves into their marriage where secrets and lies threaten their marriage along with The Hotel Ritz in Paris. The real-life people and events are the inspiration of this story and Melanie Benjamin skillfully weaves them into the story well giving her own fictional account to the story and characters. She brings vibrant life to the Ritz and what it must have been like hosting the German’s in this beloved hotel.

The second half takes off and I flew through the pages as fast as I could as we see the secrets and lies unfold. I was completing captivated by Blanche and Claude as they learn the truth about each other. My heart was warmed yet broken after reading this one.

Melanie Benjamin wraps up that ending well and brilliantly left us wanting and needing to talk to each other about it. It was nice to be able to share how that ending made me feel and see how it made my TS feel. The Mistress of The Ritz makes for a great choice for a group read and you will want to talk about it. I highly recommend

I love reading historical fiction, and especially novels that take place during the Holocaust, so Mistress of the Ritz immediately appealed to me. The novel weaves the tale of the Auzellos, who are "the mister and mistress" of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, France during the Nazi occupation. The Nazis take over half of the hotel as their headquarters and the Auzellos are forced to accommodate them while striving to maintain the elegance, and other esteemed guests, of their hotel. The novel became more riveting, Claude and Blanche both carrying their own secrets, in the second half as the first half was primarily devoted to the Auzellos' marriage woes. Luckily, the second half and ending are worth the read.

Melanie Benjamin's well researched historical novels have mostly been about popular characters such as Truman Capote and Mary Pickford. In Mistress of the Ritz she veers from this and tells the story of a couple not well known outside of a small circle in France, but what an amazing story she happened to stumble upon.

Blanche and Claude Auziello have lived a very charmed life in Paris, France. He as the director of the Ritz and she as the Ritz's designated mistress who charms guests such as Coco Chanel, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. But in 1940 when the Germans invade Paris, that all changes in an instant as they set up their operations at the Ritz. Thus begins the downfall of Paris as well as Blanche and Claude.

Both, unbeknownst to the other begin to assist in the resistance movement which threatens to challenge everything they believe in...their marriage, their lives as well as their beloved Ritz. And there are shocking secrets each hold which could lead to their deaths.

As the war wages on they become so involved in what they believe their duty to country is that they lose sight of each other as a couple, but also as each other's strength. Until it all begins to blow up in their faces and the reality that they could lose each other becomes intolerable.

Even up to its shocking ending, Mistress of the Ritz sucks you into what life was like during Paris' German occupancy and the courage many had to help get others out of the country. It gives you a glimpse into what life was like for those who were not as fortunate to be wealthy. All along you root for Blanche and Claude as they persevere and try to find the love they once shared as well as the realization of just how much loyalty they have to each other and to the country of France.

Thank you #NetGalley #Random House #Melanie Benjamin #Mistress of the Ritz for the advanced copy. The book is out now.

Give me any book,written by Melanie Benjamin, and I’m happy. This one, her latest is as good and interesting as all her other Novels! Set in Paris, at the famous hotel, The Ritz, it. tells the breathtaking story of Blanche and Claude Azuello. It’s the time of the German occupation, and it’s heartbreaking. I don’t want to give any secrets away, just suffice it to say...you must read this book. I could not put it down. Melanie Benjamin has a way with words that is so wonderful, she tells her stories in the most unique way...it is so very easy to become involved! I absolutely and unabashedly loved it! Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the egalley! In exchange for an honest review..

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

I really enjoyed this book. Then I read the Authors note and I fell I. Love with it. I think Ms. Benjamin did a fabulous job giving life to the Azuellos story. This book is about Blanche and Claude Azuello and the Ritz Hotel in Paris. It tells the story of these three characters during WWII where it was occupied by the Germans. The book reads a little brash but Blanche was a little brash. I loved how it was linked like that. I love the grit and determination and passion these characters have. I read a lot of books set during WWII, to the point of almost being blasé about it, but I can honestly say this story evoked raw emotions in me. It made me feel like I was there. I could feel the struggles, the human reactions to things jumping off the pages.

Maybe it’s my current frame f mind that allowed me to feel this book so much, but whatever the case may be, I throughly enjoyed this book and experiencing all that it entailed.

So I just spent the last few days in the Paris in the most luxurious hotel in the world during the 20s through the 40s. It was glorious and glamorous, and terrifying and heartbreaking all at once. My hosts were the manager and the mistress of the Ritz themselves - Blanche and Claude Auzello and they told me all their secrets. They're maddening and sympathetic and I wanted to hug them both at different times as well as give each of them a shake now and then. But they were utterly and completely living breathing people who just stepped off the page along with the ever present grandeur of the Ritz herself. Even when crawling with heavy booted German officers and the sharp nosed demanding and occasionally vicious Coco Chanel.



I discovered Benjamin's gift for making the past and the characters come alive in her previous book, The Girls in the Picture but while that one occasionally dragged a bit this one gripped me and pulled me in from the beginning. I think part of the difference is that the focus is fairly narrow here. While there are lots of side characters the main characters are Claude and Blanche and the ups and downs of their marriage and the setting is primarily the Ritz which is almost a character itself. As well, the constraints and fear living directly under the nose of the occupying forces make for compelling reading. I figured out Blanche's secret fairly quickly but I think there was even more suspense wondering when it would come out and what would happen when it did.



This was a compelling historical fiction with characters that seemed to jump of the page. They were fascinating and flawed and I felt like I knew them by the end of the book. Melanie Benjamin is becoming my favorite historical fiction author and I always know when I pick up her books that I will be transported to another time.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
4.5 stars rounded to five.

Again, Melanie Benjamin does not disappoint. This historical novel focuses on the Paris Ritz hotel during the German occupation just prior to and in the early years of WWII when the hotel has been taken over by the Germans. Coco Chanel, Hemingway and other famous characters are there as well as others of whom we have not heard but they are equally engaging. Great read.

My first and only read from Melanie Benjamin was "The Aviator's Wife" and I enjoyed it so much that I knew I needed to read her latest. I join quite a few before me who thought the later half of the book was the strongest and what ultimately redeemed this book overall.

Claude and Blanche Auzello run The Ritz hotel in Paris, during the Nazi occupation of German forces of WWII. The book begins with the Nazi's using the hotel as their headquarters and are forced to serve and live alongside their captors. It is during this time, that we learn not only of the Ritz, the characters who inhabit it, but of their marriage and how the war impacted both so irreversibly.

In what seems to be a mostly minority opinion, I struggled with this book as a whole. If not for the promise of a better second half, I might have put this aside altogether due to the lackluster first half. I went into it thinking this would be much more captivated and instead felt the focus was spent way too much on the marriage troubles of our main couple. It also was quite repetitive in the back and forth of the good times and bad. I felt this was a squandered opportunity and even after having finished, I am still pondering what the point was of belaboring and highlighting the marriage so much when there were other opportunities to make this book really shine. Once we moved into the second half (or last 150 pages or so), the book finally grabbed my attention and I sat in my chair riveted, turning each page as furiously as I could. My eyes were brimming with tears reading the last fifty pages or so and I wished that this is how I felt throughout the whole book.

I will absolutely read Ms. Benjamin's next work and am still giving this a strong three rating, but I was hoping for more back and forth between the German's and the staff of the Ritz. The Nazi's who occupied the Ritz had more dimension that originally thought (especially revealed in the fantastic Author's Note), which I felt should have been capitalized on. (Especially, since this was largely a fill in the gap kind of story because a lot of the truth revolving around this story is a mystery.)

Overall, a good read, but not something I will be rushing to recommend. As always, take this opinion with a grain of salt given the many 4 and 5 star reviews that are available.

Thank you to Netgalley, Ballantine Books, Random House and Melanie Benjamin for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Review date: 5/22/19
Publication Date: 5/21/19

An intriguing premise, but fails to fully captivate. Mistress of the Ritz is the latest release from one of my favorite authors, Melanie Benjamin. I went into this read with extremely high expectations. It’s Melanie Benjamin! It’s WWII! It’s Paris! There’s secrecy and drama and the Ritz! And while the setting was quite wonderful and immersive, I never fully connected with the characters and ended up struggling with this read.
Told in alternating point of view (POV) chapters by both Blanche and Claude, with a couple of random chapters by a character named Lily, I found the narrative style confusing. Claude’s chapters start out in 1923, when he meets Blanche, and work towards WWII. Blanche’s chapters start in 1940 as the Nazis invade Paris. While Blanche’s chapters are set after Claude’s, Blanche spends much of her chapters looking back at the past, and this really confused me. I usually love a multiple POV style with a back-and-forth in time narrative, but I had a lot of trouble tracking when/who/what at the beginning of this book. Why not just tell the story chronologically rather than bounce back and forth? Once Claude’s chapters caught up to Blanche’s, Mistress of the Ritz became much easier to follow, but by then I was too frustrated with the choice to write the book this way.
Blanche and Claude are our main characters, and they certainly were interesting characters! Blanche is the loud American who speaks her mind, and Claude has old-fashioned ideas about gender roles and marriage. Once married he assumes Blanche will do all of the cooking and cleaning (she does not), and that Blanche will be quite alright with him having a mistress (she is not). Claude becomes manager at the Ritz, and Blanche helps him with his job by giving him various pointers and ideas, and soon she’s set up in the bar acting as a social director for the hotel, and making friends with many of the guests.
Blanche and Claude have a marriage of passion and violence, and I struggled with them and their relationship. It never seemed that they actually liked each other, and I didn’t like either of them, but they certainly made a good team when it came to the hotel! As Blanche and Claude go through many ups and downs together, Blanche meets Lily, a mysterious woman that draws Blanche into a dangerous web. I think I was supposed to be more intrigued by Lily than I actually was, and sadly, I was not all that interested in Blanche, Lily, or Claude’s war time activities. Coco Chanel makes several appearances here, and it does show her ties to Germany and questionable actions.
The drama and the characters themselves both failed to draw me in, and left many unanswered questions. How exactly did Blanche and Lily meet? One day, Lily is just there. This section was told as a flashback in a Blanche chapter, and here’s an instance where the reminiscing just confused me. I also made the mistake of googling Blanche and Claude Auzello about halfway through the book, and if you don’t already know their story, please don’t look it up. I think this is a book where it plays best if you don’t know anything about the characters and how their story ends. And speaking of the ending of the book, without spoiling anything, I was confused and unsure how I was to take the ending.
While this was historically fascinating, unfortunately, it had so many unanswered questions and unlikable characters and I just couldn’t connect to it. I’m glad I read Mistress of the Ritz, as I learned a lot from this read, but this one just wasn’t for me. It’s not a bad book, it just didn’t fully captivate me and I didn’t care about the characters.
Bottom Line: Should’ve been more interesting than it was.

This fascinating story of Blanche and Claude Auzello enchanted me from start to finish. The author did a wonderful job of transporting me to the Ritz in Paris during the German occupation where Claude who ran the place and his American wife entertained the Nazi with the same glory under duress. During this time, they secretly worked for the French Resistance which is a major undertaking. With the secrets and lies, their marriage was strained, not surprisingly. I really thought the author did a first-rate job with her writing and descriptions of the people that lived, and those that worked, at the Ritz. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What a great story! Love the book cover!
This is a work of fiction, inspired by the nonfictional account " The Hotel on Place Vendrome" written by Tilar J. Mazzeo, which describes the events that happened at the Ritz under Nazi occupation and the people involved, including famous guests, employees and the manager, Claude Auzello and his American wife, Blanche.
I was captivated by the whirlwind romance of our protagonists and the day to day life of running the fabulous Ritz hotel in Paris. Although I have gotten tired of reading about WWII, the vivid descriptions of each setting and character made me feel as though was living there with them. Each personality came alive when reading the book. I especially felt drawn to Blanche's friend, Lily.
The risk that average people took for others they didn't even know, except that they were fellow human beings, was contrasted so sharply by the military rule of the Nazis which had no regard for other people at all.
Such an emotional ending too, totally unexpected, at least by me. Highly reccommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review. This review will be published today, 5/21/19, on Goodreads and on Barnes and Noble's website.

Mistress of the Ritz, to paint it in broad strokes, is a story about love and war in France during the Nazi occupation. However, it isn't a flowery romance in the midst of a crisis, like some historical fiction that I've read. The story of Blanche Ross, an American who hoped to be a movie star, and Claude Auzello, a French hotel manager, is told through a combination of flashbacks and present-time (for the characters) storytelling. Sometimes flashbacks in stories can be a little confusing or hard to keep up with, but the dates are all at the tops of the chapters as things go back and forth between Blanche and Claude's point of view, so things were pretty easy to follow in this novel.

When the story begins, Blanche and Claude, who met and were engaged to be married in the whirlwind space of about two weeks a few years back, have just returned from fighting for the French in World War Two. They return to the Ritz hotel in Paris, of which Claude is the manager, dirty, bedraggled, and tired - only to find that just as Paris is now occupied by the Nazis, so the Ritz has become a Nazi headquarters. They must now cater to the every whim of those evil men that Claude just fought against, and keep up the remarkable service that the Ritz has always been famous for. What's more, Claude and Blanche seem to be fighting kind of a war of their own in their marriage - against each other. Their marriage was spur of the moment, and as the book progresses they by turns fight each other and love each other - and learn at times how little they've really known about each other, despite having been married for several years now.

It took me a bit to warm up to the book, as a lot of the beginning was just Claude and Blanche's back-and-forth arguing, however, things do progress past that and things turn more to the historical side, focusing on both the Resistance and those who collaborated with the Nazis. I found this interesting because there's lots of historical fiction that takes place during World War Two, but not as many that focus on Paris during that time, especially from the point of view of the wealthy who had less to worry about during the time, but all the same saw what was going on and played their own part in the events that were taking place. All in all I think this is a good addition to your historical fiction shelf!

LMelanie Benjamin has done it again! She has supplied the reader with another piece of the World War II puzzle. She has created a story of Blanche and Claude Auzello who are the Master and Mistress of the Ritz in Paris. This moving story starts when they first meet in 1923 when American born Blanche comes to Paris as an aspiring actress and follows these two through the war years. Their love story is filled with passion, secrets, courage in the most difficult circumstances, and resilience . The Ritz comes alive because Melanie Benjamin’s research is thorough and the picture she paints of the Ritz is vivid to the reader during the pre-war days when Coco Chanel, Hemingway, Fitzgerald are there through the time of the war when the Nazi’s occupy half of the hotel. This is a novel that will stay with this reader for a long time. Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First I must say, that I typically like Melanie Benjamin's books. I have read three and of those, I only seriously disliked one. I have two in the wings, and after this bit of trite rubbish, I will not be pushing them to the head of the line any time soon.

I like a little more history with my historical fiction. Real history. Not made-up "history" so one can have a "big fat juicy story" [the author states this multiple times at the end of the book]. And if one has to actually make-up history to write a book about two characters they found fascinating, one would hope that they would at least make it interesting and readable. This was extremely lazy writing - this author has proven in the past that she can write a good book [Alice Have I Been was extraordinary, and even years later has stayed with me in ways I never anticipated], and I have found that I cannot abide with lazy writing. And after wading through all of this "made-up" history [though the parts about the war and how the Nazi's were in Paris and how they treated people was very real and those parts felt the most real of the whole book], she ends it in such a trite and demeaning way that I was left shaking my head. Because Claude and Blanche's story AFTER the war, to me, was just as important [if not more so - the horrors of surviving such a war] as the story of them DURING the war, and it truly deserved more than a couple pages of trite writing by a "ghost" of a person who may or may not have been "real history".

I have really liked this author in the past. After this hot mess of a read, I will not be rushing to request OR buy any of her books in the future.

A side note - I know that this is an unedited ARC, but the grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes make me hope that MB has the B E S T editor in the world. This also causes concern in the area of lazy writing - how much is left to the editor to just "figure out" and how much isn't. Just something that I wondered over and over as I slogged through this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine/Delacourt Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There is a seemingly endless supply of books set somewhere and sometime during World War II, which makes it rather difficult to find stories that take a new approach to the setting and are able to introduce something that hasn't been seen before. Mistress of the Ritz was a refreshing take on this time period and I truly enjoyed following the characters in this book as they navigated the tensions and struggles associated with the Nazi regime. I don't generally read that many WWII books anymore because I got so burnt out on them, but I'm glad I decided to give this book a shot!

Mistress of the Ritz follows married couple Blanche and Claude Auzello as they learn how to live through the Nazi regime--and more importantly as the Nazis both take over control of the famed and luxurious Ritz hotel as headquarters and take over more and more of France and surrounding countries. I absolutely loved the hotel setting (pre-Nazis, of course), and this was part of what first enticed me to read this book. The cameos and appearances of famous figures and celebrities were exciting and felt rather like inside jokes at times, which I appreciated, and the descriptions of the goings-ons and regular routine of the hotel were such an interesting component. I loved the behind the scenes look of how luxurious things were and also how things slowly changed over time as the Nazis remained at the hotel and essentially dictated how everything was handled there. It was a tense, melancholy sort of atmosphere that permeated at many times and led to a really interesting narrative. Even with this atmosphere, however, the story still remained fairly upbeat and steady as the characters handled various obstacles and learned how to take new steps to adapt to their surroundings while also remaining true to their morals.

Much like in the previous book I read by Benjamin, The Girls in the Picture, the protagonists were heavily flawed, but also relatable enough that I found myself drawn to them and eager to see how things worked out for them. Blanche felt like the main focus of this book and I really loved seeing her character develop from someone rather flighty and carefree to someone who really makes an effort to change her ways and do things that are bigger than her to make a difference. Claude took a while for me to warm up to, as he has some less-than-favorable qualities as both a man and a husband that made it hard for me to understand him or get behind his actions. That being said, he does have some slow development that put me into his shoes and let me at least understand his actions, even if I didn't always agree with them. Both characters have many layers to unpeel throughout the story and I thought that Benjamin executed this really well. These are characters that aren't always easy to love, but struggle with so many things that everyone can relate to that it's easy to follow into their lives.

The POV switches between Blanche and Claude, as well as between various time periods in their lives, centering largely between the present narrative and starting at a specific time in the past when they first met. I found the time period switches slightly difficult to follow at times because of how often it jumped around and also with how the two characters would often reminisce about moments in the past while telling the present narrative. It made it easy for me to forget that we were in the present narrative rather than the past--if any of that makes sense. This is similar to what Benjamin did in The Girls in the Picture, so it seems to be a stylistic preference. Other than that hiccup in the storytelling, I had no problems with the POV.

Overall, I've given Mistress of the Ritz four stars! This was a really well done book set during WWII with colorful characters that are full of mixed morals, but also entirely compelling. If you, like me, ever find yourself fatigued of WWII books--or even if you love them and just want something new--I encourage you to pick up Mistress of the Ritz.

This latest historical fiction by Benjamin tells the little-known story of Blanche Ross Auzello and her husband Claude who managed the famous Ritz Hotel in Paris from the Jazz age into the 1960s. The parade of guests included the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Cole Porter. This nonlinear, intricately plotted novel focuses on the hotel’s occupation by Nazi officers during the French occupation, and the years leading up to it. The rocky marriage of Blanche and Claude began when Blanche visited Paris as an aspiring actress in the 1920s. Swept off her feet by the suave and romantic Claude, their quick courtship and marriage did not prepare them for the clash of cultures they would experience. Blanche, a strong independent American, had no intention of conforming to Claude’s idea of a traditional French wife; and Blanche, in turn, found herself surprised by the French acceptance of the idea of a man having a mistress on the side. Their relationship is further challenged when the German’s take over their much-loved Ritz Hotel and unbeknownst to each other, they are each drawn into resistance work, going to great lengths to hide their secrets from other. The use of a nonlinear time line, and dual narratives keeps the reader in the dark as to the secrets that these two intriguing characters are keeping, and Benjamin builds suspense as she slowly unveils the truth.

This is a compelling story, with fascinating characters pulled from the pages of history and richly portrayed. With so many novels set in this time-period, Benjamin gives us a fresh look at the French occupation through the eyes of Blanche and Claude. Lyrical prose and gripping drama make this a highly readable novel and one that will no doubt be in high demand. The book is well-researched and is thus able to educate as well as entertain. A great choice for fans of historical fiction, history and biographical fiction.

Several of Benjamin’s books have been exceptional for me, so I was grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an Advance Review Copy of The Mistress of the Ritz. What a disappointment awaited me.

Contemporary readers are flooded with historical fiction texts set in World War II era Europe, some of which are absolutely brilliant, so the bar is quite high. Benjamin falls far short of it with her account of a couple who could be heroically memorable, but come off as cliche and superficial. The back and forth chapter structure is gimmicky and overdone, and the side characters come off as caricatures or simple name-drops.

For most of the book, the pacing and voice are more indicative of a light romantic beach read than such an horrific scar on modern history. I am glad to have been introduced to Claude and Blanche Auzello and given the opportunity to research their place and involvement in the war, but The Mistress of the Ritz is not the way I will be introducing them to my friends.

I was honored to receive the book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have been on a WW2 reading jag recently and this one perfectly fit the bill. Although it should come as no surprise that the Germans took over fancy hotels, I did not know about this before. Other books I have read focused on the private home billeting. It was a peek into a world both fascinating and horrifying. I loved the prose and rhythm of the book. This author just nails it with her lyrical writing. So far the Aviator’s Wife is my all time favorite of hers. But this is a close second. The story is interesting and I enjoyed the freshness of a new take on WW2.