If you are looking for a romance-forward book ,this isn't it. That being said, it is a cute, easy read featuring an older (49-year-old) protagonist than you usually see in beach reads - which was refreshing. Ultimately, I found lucy unlikable. Though she's starting over, I found it a little unreasonable that she would be so clueless, and expected her age to come with some maturity.

I loved this book! "Lucy Checks In" by Dee Ernst is a delightful book. I was rooting for Lucy the entire time. She had recently had a complete life revamp due to something out of her control. She was offered a job in France and decides to take it. I felt invested in the story, but it was also easy to read and enjoy.

If you are a fan of Hallmark movies, you should enjoy this book. The story line follows the pattern of those movies and the ending tied up the book with a neat little bow.

I found the book to be an easy read but the plot was a bit predictable. Lucy is a woman who has been wronged and is looking for a fresh start. An opportunity to leave her previous life behind and move to France presents itself and she takes off for a new adventure.

But all is not as it seems and she finds herself wondering if she has made the right decision. She is in a foreign country and committed to a job she is not sure she can handle. As she faces these challenges, I began to be able to predict what would happen next.

I was hoping for a bit more substance to the story but it is a quick beach or poolside type read. So grab a towel and glass of lemonade and settle in.

This book was not my cup of tea. I mean it was interesting and I read it all but it didn't give me the sparks like I though it was going to give me. From the cover it gives you a totally different aspect of how the story is. But when you actually read the story you are going to be very confused...

The story is about a older mature lady in the 50ish, she is brought up into a scandal in NYC and she had to move back with her parents, jobless and no money. She has being a GM for Hotels for many years, but she fell in love with someone who was a con artist and took everything from her and some.
So she looked very bad in the hotel business. Then comes along this hotel in France that needs her help to get it back into place. She thinks this hotel is going to be a luxury hotel with not many things to do. But when she gets there its a whole other story.
She comes across all these characters that will change her life for the better. Also finding a man who at first didn't really believe in her but falls in love with her after.

I mean the book had a nice story, It did not have the love romance, not even a little tiny bit. A light fast-pace book that will teach you a lot about renovating a hotel and what goes behind the scene.

I don't know about the cover thought.. maybe they should change the cover into more of a older lady so that it doesn't give the wrong impression ... 🤷‍♀️

Thank you for Netgalley for providing me a E-ARC of this book. Also I want to thank St.Martin's Press. This is my hones review.

xoxo

This was quite a so-so book. I didn't get why Lucy was so clueless when she's supposed to have had this high-powered job that she worked her way up to, yet she doesn't know why cleaning wet spills with a dry rag doesn't work. Also, the cover depicts her with straight brown hair looking 25 but she is 50 with salt and pepper curls. The character did not act her age at all, it was a bit confusing as I thought she was in her early twenties until she said she's 3 months off 50.

I just loved that we had an "older" main character, a fab destination, a cheeky and engaging dialogue. This is what summer beach reads are made of!

You won't be disappointed with this book. It had it all!

This book is perfect after binging Emily in Paris and needing a fix for another "American woman packs up everything and moves to France" plot. The main character Lucy is a career driven woman who has never had time for anything else, but when one mistake ruins her reputation and her job, she wants to start over. Cue dreamy hotel in Rennes, France. Or not so dreamy- she gets more than she bargained for when she takes a job working at this run down place. The setting is without a doubt one of the best parts of the novel. I felt immersed in the magical and romantic tiny French town. I also loved the second chance type message. Lucy is in her "second act" of life and it breaks down the typical stereotype of making a young 20 something the main protagonist, especially for a romance. The character development was good, and I enjoyed the small subplots as well but at times the pacing felt slow (lots of time focused on renovation talk). It was still without a doubt an easy and charming read.

I thought this was a cute book and a pretty quick easy read. It was nice having an older character represented since most often I come across romances with younger leads. The book was more of a slow burn than I was expecting and could have used more interactions between the love interests earlier. I found that most of the "action" happens in the last 90% of the book which is fine. However I wish that there was more going on throughout the rest of the book. I did really enjoy Lucy's interaction with coworkers and friends in the hotel. f this book was marketed as Chick Lit I think it would be better suited than a romance since I personally enjoyed Lucy's journey with herself and the hotel more than the romance. That being said I did enjoy the book and recommended it to some friends to read.

Lucy was the general manager of a successful hotel in New York City when the man she loved ran away with all of her money, as well as the retirement funds of everyone that worked with and for him, and left her to pick up the pieces. After two years of wallowing, and figuring to regain her good name, Lucy accepts a new job at a boutique hotel in Rennes, France. She rushes to France, only to learn that she will have to work to practically rebuild the hotel from the ground up. All while figuring out how to regain the sense of self that her lying, cheating boyfriend stole along with her life savings.

I'm not honestly sure how I felt about this one just yet. I started it thinking it would be about a younger main character, and it's possible that the cover for that into my head. But the main character is 50, and the main love interest is older as well. This is not me being down on any older woman as a main character, but rather that I felt a little like I got misled, similarly to Lucy herself at the start.

It took me a couple of tries to really start the book, and a while to really get into it. It seemed that there was a lot of "one step forward, two steps back" movement, with everything just a disaster that kept on being a disaster rather than letting her catch a break. I think I only really started to enjoy myself in the last couple of chapters, which was disappointing.

I liked the love interest character from the start, and liked most of the tertiary characters, though the secondary ones left a little to be desired.

I'm sure those is the right book for someone out there. I think it just wasn't for me. Not every book can be a winner for every reader, and that's okay too. I hope someone finds this book and loves it.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

Lucia Giannetti has worked in hotels her whole career. That comes to a crashing halt when her fiance and the hotel owner skips out of town with millions of dollars. No one, especially the FBI believes that as hotel manager and lover, she had no idea this was coming. Two years later, after a huge investigation, she is proved innocent, unemployed and broke. (Lawyers aren't cheap.) When offered the manager's position to Hotel Paradis in Rennes, France she jumps at the chance. But it turns out that the hotel will need more than a little work to turn it into a bustling tourist attraction.

Why I started this book: Description and cover promised a lighthearted romp thru southern France with romance and second chances.

Why I finished it: This book was disappointing to me solely because of the marketing expectations. A rom-com focuses on the couple and the humor. A chick-lit focuses on the woman and the romance is secondary. This is a delightful chick-lit book, and I would have enjoyed it so much more if the cover and description better matched the story. Lucy is 49, and starting over. She's described with salt and pepper hair... and she grows so much throughout the story. She also drinks so much. (To be fair, I'm not French or a drinker, so I don't know if this is normal... but it felt excessive.). Overall a fun story.

Lucy is a disgraced middle aged hotel manager who cannot get hired in the US after her former boyfriend/hotel owner swindled millions of dollars away from people (unbeknownst to Lucy) and left her holding the bag. After years of hard work, her reputation is now mud . The only job she can get is across an ocean in Rennes France, where she has to help restore a run down hotel to its former glory.

This book is listed as a romantic comedy but there is almost no romance, Maybe one chapter is worth considering as romance. I would not classify this book as a Romance, or a romantic comedy. It is more a second coming of age story. . The author does a great job of being descriptive about the hotel Lucy is helping to restore and all of the diy stuff, but this book wasn't for me. I was expecting a romance but I didn't see it develop it just sort of happens and that’s it.

What I did love about this book is that Lucy is in her 50s and shows that no matter your age, you can always create the life that you want and not to let others opinions of you stop you from achieving that dream. It shows that life may kick you down but you can always get back up.

Lucy Checks In is light quick read but just don’t go in expecting a full on romance. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC

While this book was enjoyable and had diy elements, this book did not feel like a romance to me. Overall I liked the book, but it should not be marketed as a romance, more like a second coming to age/finding oneself.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I was able to read this for free thanks to Net Galley, although that does not affect my opinion of the actual book. If there’s mentions of refurbishing, redecorating, or rebuilding, I am automatically interested in reading more. This book is about Lucy, a woman who is in need of renovation, as is the hotel that she just began working at. For the most part, I could picture this book as a movie in my head. There were definitely some moments throughout the book where it felt like Lucy forgot that she was in fact forty nine, as she acted a bit high schoolish. Ultimately, I just didn’t really connect well with the story like I was hoping I would.

Lucy Checks In
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 (Rounded up to 4 ⭐️)
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 8/16/22
Author: Dee Ernst
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 288
Goodreads Rating: 3.67

TW ⚠️: Alcoholism and death of a loved one

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing a digital advanced readers copy of the book for me to read for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Lucia Giannetti needs a fresh start was once the hotel manager of a glamorous NYC hotel. Two years later, forty-nine years old and unemployed, Lucy takes a job in Rennes, France to manage the Hotel Paradis. Lucy is now in charge of turning the run-down, but charming hotel into a bustling tourist attraction. Between painting rooms, building a website, and getting to know Bing, the irritatingly attractive artist, Lucy finds an unexpected home. But can she succeed in bringing the Hotel Paradis to its former glory?

Thoughts: The book is a slower burn type book. This book has been classified as a romance but feel it is more contemporary fiction or women’s literary fiction as the romance is sprinkled in here and there. It was more about Lucy’s journey. I wish more time had been spent with the couple’s courtship, that would of upgraded the book to the next level. The author does a great job of describing this small city in France, it makes you feel as if you are transported there, with this journey with Lucy. The characters are well developed, however, the depth is only explored to the surface and the chemistry is lacking. The ending feels a little rushed. Overall, a good read and I would read other books by this author.

This book really only has a touch of romance for a book marketed as a romantic comedy. This book was a light, fun read and I enjoyed the cast of characters we got to know.

Netgalley has this listed a Romance but out of the entire book, there is maaaaybe one chapter worth of romance. I would not classify this book as a Romance. It is more a second coming of age story. Those stories aren’t really for me - hence the 3 ⭐️ review. The author does a great job of being descriptive about the hotel that our main character, Lucy, is working at but none of that interests me. There were too many side characters for me to keep straight in my mind and we never saw her relationship with her love interest develop. It just sort of happens and that’s it.

What I did love about this book is that Lucy is in her 50s and shows that no matter your age, you can always create the life that YOU want. It shows that life may kick you down but you can always get back up.

Lucy Checks In is worth the quick read but just don’t go in expecting a full on romance.

This book really gave me Emily in Paris vibes at first but I was truly disappointed. The pacing of the book was so slow, for me there was no real chemistry between both love interests. Really thought we were going to get more romance but sadly that was not the case. I do believe this might have just not been a right book for me mostly because of the age gape between me and Lucy. But I encourage everyone to pick this book up and give it a try!

Thank you St. Martin Press and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

So this was a lovely read, I appreciated a mature MC but did think that the romance wasn’t the biggest part of this story. I’d have categorized this as womens fiction, or maybe just a story about falling in love with yourself or finding yourself again?

There’s a delightful cast of supporting characters who are well fleshed out, and I could almost see the hotel in my mind.

I enjoyed this one, it did get a bit bogged down towards the middle and I will say a death in the family, family drama, amid running from scandal felt like a lot packed in the plot but it somehow worked!

A very cute one. Lucy is a great character and I love it when main characters are not run of the mill 20 year olds.

I won't be finishing this book. I'm 25% in and it's a whiny privileged mid-life crisis with odd pacing and a romantic interest that is woefully lacking. Not for me.

**Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC**