Lucy Checks In is a wonderful story. Who wouldn’t want to live in a boutique hotel inside a chateau in France? I loved the beautiful descriptions of Rennes and the chateau property. The delightful characters who lived there and helped Lucy were eclectic. I was ready to check in myself! There is some romance and some drama but mostly this is a story about how you can make your own family.

Lucy Checks in by Dee Ernst

I’d like to extend a special thanks to @stmartinspress and @dee.ernst.7 for the chance to read this #eARC! Lucy Checks In will be out August 16 and is available for preorder.

Lucia (Lucy) Giannetti is in need of an overhaul. Career, love, life, the works. She’s just had her hotel executive boyfriend break her heart and make a fool of her in one fail swop when he makes off with her any many other’s money and leaving her to pick up the pieces and be investigated by the FBI. With her career in tatters, she eagerly accepts a job in Rennes, France getting a defunct hotel back up and running. When she arrives she learns it’s going to take a lot more than some new decor to get this hotel back off the ground and most of the residents don’t have faith she can pull it off. Will she be able to restore the Hotel Paradis to its former glory or will this project be more than she can take?

This was a solid summer read. It really helped my need for vicarious wanderlust. I was mildly disappointed that the groundwork was laid for the ghost to play a part and it was ultimately just left a very minor piece (I love a good spook!). The story was solid and I enjoyed the character development in Lucy and how she fulfilled that before she let herself fall for Bing. Romance, growth, comedy, this was solid and had it all. I recommend for those looking for a good, easy summer read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5

DNF @ 12%

I don't think that I am the target reader for this book. I am down for a book where someone is finding themselves. I am down for a book featuring an older protagonist. But this book just did not work for me. Lucy was self centered and truly insufferable to read about and I don't have hope that she's going to be better. She also mentioned weight loss several times, and as someone in ED recovery, I don't want to read books about intentional weight loss, even when it's just mentioned in passing.

I think that there is an audience for this book, but I'm not sure who -- I wouldn't recommend it to friends for the weight loss comments I mentioned above.

It's very difficult for me to judge this book as a reviewer, as it's not truly a romance, which is what it was categorized as in Netgalley. It's a very pleasant romcom. I think the travel experience is described very well, and I enjoy the fact that we have a middle-aged heroine enjoying life and having great experiences. However, because I went into it expecting a romance, I think I felt a bit empty throughout it.

Lucy Checks In was a nice break from the twenty-something love stories that I've been surrounded by lately. Lucy is successful, strong and charming. But she found herself in the middle of a horrible situation which now affects her place in society as well as her self confidence. I found this main character to be very interesting and also realistic. Lucy's struggles are very common in the real world: losing loved ones, familial expectations, financial issues. Her trip to France and the story that follows is somewhat dreamy but in a good way that pulls the reader in emotionally. I really liked this book, it was a bit of an escape but also a book about hope.

As a women in my (cough) late 40s it was so nice to see a heroine a similar age! I adored the setting and the friends/neighbors that became family. It was a cute heartwarming story (not too much romance).

Lucy checks in was a good piece of women's fiction with a light romance side storyline. We don't always get a heroine in her late 40s in the romance genre. Lucy was a mess in the beginning but she slowly won back her self esteem and found a new family among her neighbors. The hotel sounded really charming. I'd stay in that hotel. There is a lot of renovation talk in this book so if you like watching HGTV non-stop and have a thing for old hotels this book is for you.

Lucy is 49 and starting over. She takes a 6 month contract at a hotel in Paris but she gets more then she bargained for when she arrives. The hotel is historic and in need of complete renovation which apparently is her job now with 6 other locals who are all different ages who live at the hotel. I absolutely loved this book! I loved getting to see the hotel be restored bit by bit. I loved the growth of all of the 6 people and Lucy throughout the restoration. I didn’t want this book to end and I created so many notes on my kindle highlighting my favorite quotes. Some of my favorites were “ There’s a tension that you feel when your not around each other. Then when you are together there’s a bit of rush, exhilaration. A surprise of joy. Even though the time in each other’s company may be perfect, it’s the waiting that is really telling. The wanting.” The second quote that really got to me is “ Because of him, you don’t trust yourself anymore. You chose to love him, you think you will never be able to make any real decision about who you let into your life. I want you to be able to love again.

I can’t thank St Martins Press and Netgalley enough I absolutely loved this book and so thankful for this opportunity!! Everyone needs to pick this up on Aug 16.

A delightful, feel good story about Lucy, an almost 50 year old woman whose professional (and personal) life is in tatters but who gets a second chance when she moves to Rennes (northwestern France) to manage a small, rundown hotel. Lucy is so relatable and likeable and the other characters are very charming - it is so nice to see a story with strong, vibrant middle-aged main characters. The story flowed along at a good pace and was very easy to read - the descriptions of the hotel and the garden were very vivid and I felt that I was right there with the characters both at the hotel and Rennes. A very calming, feel good read that put a smile on my face that stayed there until the very last page. The perfect summer read!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really adored Lucy Checks In. Our MC Lucy has a mid-life crisis (she's almost 50) and finds herself, trying to get a hotel in a city in France up and running again. I thought this was a delightful escape read, and really loved that Lucy was more middle age. and the side characters added lots of charm to the story. I feel it is a little miss marketed as a romance, there's a bit of a love story, but that's not the main point of this book. I do believe that editing could have been better because there was a side story involving an ancillary character that felt unnecessary to me. Highly recommend picking this one up especially if you're wanting a trip to France but can't go! Dee Ernst paints such beautiful pictures of Lucy's location in Rennes, that you'll feel like you're with Lucy on her journey. Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the free book.
This was fine. When a book features a renovation project, I know that it can be done well and complement the story. Or the renovation can take over the story and it's more of an HGTV episode than anything else. Unfortunately this felt like watching a renovation show, not a book about a woman rediscovering herself. I could easily visualize this hotel in France and all of the renovations. I wish there had been more depth to the character's and their interactions. Everything felt very surface level. It was hard to root for a character when there was a lot of telling vs showing when it came to them and their relationships. I was invested enough to finish, but it's one that won't stick with me long-term.

This was such an easy summer read. I really enjoyed following Lucy’s new adventure and it gave me a bit of wanderlust, but there was still a serious side with the things happening in her family. I felt like the book was really balanced and I enjoyed it!

Perfect vacation read in my opinion! The descriptions really painted a good picture of the setting and I had a fun time reading.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Steam Level: 🔥🔥 (closed door and brief fade to black sex scenes)
Trigger Warning: death of a loved one, brief mentions of cancer and alcoholism

Lucy Giannetti has worked in hotels all her life, but two years ago her boss/boyfriend was found guilty of embezzlement. After being investigated for her possible involvement, Lucy was forced to move home in her late forties while she struggled to find work. Now her luck seems to have changed. Lucy has been hired as the manager of Hotel Paradis in Rennes, France. When she arrives, though, it's nothing like she imagined and will be a much bigger job than she's ever faced. As Lucy and the other residents of the hotel work to prepare for its historic reopening, she starts believing in herself again and finds a family of people who aren't focused on her troubled past. Perhaps Hotel Paradis is just what Lucy needed to build a successful and happy future.

Well this was just delightful! I know some people don't like women's fiction, but I enjoyed this story of found family and overcoming past hurts. I loved reading about the French culture and how Lucy was able to soak in the simple joys of her surroundings. The side characters were all lovable and supported Lucy throughout the difficult renovations. It was also really fun to learn about how they cleaned, decorated, and restored Hotel Paradis to get it up and running as a chic and charming boutique hotel in Rennes. There was even a bit of romance between Lucy and Bing that picked up at the end and was really sweet. Lucy really found herself and was in such a good place at the end emotionally, and it was nice to read about a heroine finding happiness later in life. If you like women's fiction then I think you'll really enjoy this book!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lucy is forty-nine years old and starting over. Two years after the owner of the hotel she managed (who also happened to be her boyfriend) ran off with millions of dollars and left her to take the fall, ruining her professional reputation and draining her savings, Lucy has been offered a job managing a hotel in Rennes, France. She has visions of a beautiful countryside chateau with opulent furnishings, but when she arrives she finds something altogether different from her expectations. Now Lucy has to renovate a charming but run-down hotel in the center of the old city and get it ready for customers, find her confidence again, while also getting to know the charming but quirky inhabitants of the hotel.

This was a charming book that felt like its own vacation. Lucy has been through a lot and she has baggage, but she also has courage and humor that make her a relatable and fun narrator. The descriptions of Rennes, the hotel, and the people she meets there are all wonderful and charming, and shenanigans that go on to get the hotel ready bring a lightness to events that could be turned into major conflicts by other authors. Instead, the conflicts in this book - while feeling authentic and honest to the characters - are never ones that create too much angst or get in the way of the overall tone of the story. This is a happy story with happy endings for pretty much everyone, and it is a perfect read for someone wanting a feel-good book. Even better, the most of the characters (and the people in the primary love story) are middle-aged, not twenty-somethings, so there is a gravity to them that comes with experience and living lives that are full but not always happy. Honestly, who wouldn't want to visit Rennes and the Hotel Paradis after reading Lucy Checks In?

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Lucy Checks In early in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars

Lucy Checks In is a lighthearted read that I felt lent more towards self discovery than romance, as Lucy tries to rebuild her life and career. It was a bit of a slow start for me, but overall was a great read!

Reviews Posted: July 31, 2022
Goodreads
Storygraph

I thought this book was really cute. The romance was defiantly slow to pick up, but I think it worked for the overall story. I think our main character Lucy has a journey that many people can relate to.

The romance doesn’t really pick up till the second half, but it worked because Lucy wasn’t ready when the story began. I will say, though that the romance felt a little lackluster to me, and I just didn’t really feel the chemistry between them. It wasn’t bad, just not my favorite one.

I think the hotel was a great way to show Lucy’s journey of growth, and it was fun seeing everything come together.

So I am in my 40’s and I detest books about people in their 40’s. They always seem so old and I don’t feel old at all. This book I loved! The setting, the characters, the emotions. So excellent.

A light read with an in-depth interesting plot. Definitely more women’s fiction than romance, and I wish the relationship was stronger sooner. Loved the descriptive text for the culture and landscape. Thanks NetGalley for this advanced copy!

Lucia Gianetti is reinventing herself. She used to be the general manager at a high end hotel in NYC until the owner ran off with millions of dollars. After that, Lucy lost her job and her life fell apart.

Two years later Lucy is heading to Rennes, France to manage the Hotel Paradis. Lucy expects to find a luxury boutique hotel just in need of a few tweeks to get it in running order. Instead she finds a run down, dilapidated hotel that's going to need quite a bit of work in order to turn it into a tourist attraction. As Lucy begins working on the hotel with Bing (an incredibly attractive artist) and the 5 permanent residents who live there, the hotel begins to feel like home. But will Lucy be able to return the Hotel Paradis to its former glory?

What an amazing novel! The setting was so vividly written. I can imagine myself in Rennes and inside the Hotel Paradis. It was like I was right there inside the book with Lucy as I was reading. Lucy is a strong protagonist. Despite everything being thrown at her, she pushes on and doesn't give up. She's incredibly successful in her career field and she isn't afraid to let others know that. However, after being burned in a past relationship, Lucy became afraid of opening up her heart and falling in love again. The secondary characters are written with just as much care as Lucy. I enjoyed reading about each of them and their backgrounds. This novel is about fresh starts, finding a new home, finding new friends and family in unexpected places, and opening your heart back up to love. I really did not want this novel to end. I honestly wish it had at least 100 or so more pages because I was so engrossed in Lucy and all of the other character's stories. Excellent, excellent read.