This was such a lovely book to read. Every time I sat down to read it I felt like I was transported to France. The descriptions of the people and scenery were so life like I got completely lost in the story. It was such a sweet and loving story about how to come back from such a tragic event and all the places that life could take you.

Readers who dream of living a simpler life, renovating an old building, or finding new love in middle age will be delighted by 49-year-old Lucy's luck and pluck. A confident and intelligent heroine, Lucy managed a glamourous New York City hotel until her boyfriend embezzled millions and disappeared, In her new job and in an unfamiliar country, she takes in stride the lack of fancy accoutrements and the hard work required to prepare the run-down Hotel Paradis for its opening, She does spend perhaps too many pages taking the tarps off old furniture, thinking about paint and plaster, and working long hours in the heat-- but proving herself willing to work hard for this second chance may be the point.

Lucy Checks In was one of those books that took me on a trip, I felt like I was walking and living with the main character, Lucia! And it was a wonderful trip!

The book was a delightful read, that I hated to see end. I wanted more of the French life, the French food, the hotel, the characters! The book ended exactly as I hoped it would with an unfortunate family sadness, but happy endings for Lucy, the hotel staff, and more!
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I love reading on my kindle, but there are some books I wish I had read as a real book, because they are so good; this is one!

All in all: 5/5 ⭐️

When I first picked up this book, I assumed it to be a romance that had something to do with a hotel. While I was close, I couldn't be farther from the actual plot. This book revolves around a 50-year-old something and the romance is on the back burner if you will. It's there, but it's not the central point of the book. Now, while I realize it was my mistake to assume so, this book didn't grab my attention either. The writing seemed all over the place, and the ending was very rushed. I almost quit on this book numerous times, but I got through it thankfully. On the other hand, this isn't exactly the book I was looking for... that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a try!!

One ticket to France please!
This book places you in a modern time setting with a newsworthy backstory we could read about at anytime in the newspaper or online then shows you how magical and freeing it is to open yourself up and take a second chance. I absolutely loved this book. I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to see how it all played out. The author did a spectacular job at creating a cast of characters I would love to know!

Lucy Checks In is like a Hallmark movie in the best way possible. It’s lighthearted and while the main character, Lucy, has her struggles the book ultimately is a wonderful story of life and starting over. It’s predictable at times but still is enjoyable all the same. I adore books that involve a move from the U.S. to a foreign country. This book picked me up and placed me right into Rennes, France. From little tidbits about cultural differences to the different personalities and quirks of each character, this book made me feel warm and happy.

Lucy Checks In was an enjoyable read. It reminded me of "Under the Tuscan Sun" and I adored the setting descriptions - definitely had me ready to pack up and move to France! I also enjoyed a more mature main character, who I felt was a nice change of pace from my usual reads. Overall, however, I didn't feel like I connected much to the over all storyline, and my favorite part of the book was mostly scenery descriptions. A fun and easy travel read, but left me wanting more. 3/5

After reading this book, I am now day dreaming about running off to a small town in France to manage a boutique hotel.

I really enjoyed this book. It is well written, and the story had my attention from start to finish. Although the main character is in her mid-40s, I think this book would appeal to all (adult) ages. As someone in their 20s I often don't enjoy stories about middle aged characters as its hard for me to related to but this story mainly focuses on Lucy starting a new and trying to rebuild her life, and is a theme I think many people can related to no matter their age.

This however takes me to my biggest complaint about the story, the genre. It's listed as a romance novel, but I would classify this book as more of a general adult/contemporary fiction. Although there is romance in the story, it isn't the main focus and in my opinion, is the least interesting part of the whole story. Although it is very obvious from the beginning who the romantic interest is, there wasn't a lot (if any) of build up to the romance. At no point was I super eager for them to get together which I feel is an essential aspect of any romance. It was just a nice extra I suppose? Additionally, I do wish there was more relationship development between all the characters. I liked the characters but watching their relationship grow wouldve been a nice addition. I've rated this book as 4 stars, but to me its really more of a 3.75 I think?

Otherwise, I would recommend reading this book, just go in understanding this is quite a romance novel!

Initial thoughts:
I like the vibe of this book. It has the whole she’s gonna go on this huge life adventure after a scandal, have a whirlwind romance and re discover herself . It has important messages you can decipher from and apply to your own life which makes for good annotating + life in general (for some people).
Overall thoughts ☁️
This is a very clean novel, as in the smutt level, angsty meter and the 🌶 romance meter is dialled to the minimum so you know your expectations from the book. I read this was under the romance category but I found this to be more of Lucy’s journey of new adventures and the romance was just a part of the book. This being a less than 300 page book was slow at first but I did finish it quiet quickly because I wanted to know what happens and what does Lucy decide since she went back and forth on her feelings a lot (don’t love that but I can’t blame her for me skeptical) She is in her late 40s but I quiet enjoyed the dialogue and witty side of Lucy and her banter was pretty funny. While I am an avid romance reader and don’t usually read books about older MCs or pg-13 books too often, this book had something very unique that clicked with me. you see Lucy here all warm and funny and has so much life to live, makes me less worried about my own insecurities of turning older. Idk but as a female this book just gave me good vibes.
Will I think about this book from time to time? Yes it has some great lessons.
Do I think this book had flaws? Yes
Did I wish there was more chemistry and 🌶? Yea a little more than what was given at least.

Its hard to rate this book because it spoke to me but the story was ok. I liked it but not a lot yk. I’d still recommend this book for someone who wants to explore diversity in their book tropes/ choices!!

I wanted to love this book, but felt that it wasn't really a romance the way it had been marketed. Outside of the settings, there wasn't much for me to dig my teeth into, for me to care about.

Last night I finished reading the galley of the book Lucy Checks In by Dee Ernst. It took me about two days to read it, but that is just because I was pretty busy this week. I really enjoyed the cover, and as a lot of readers know, a good cover is the first thing to pull you in. </p>

The synopsis of the book was well done and what made the decision to read it.

"Lucia Giannetti needs a fresh start. Once the hotel manager of a glamorous NYC hotel and intimately involved with the hotel’s owner, Lucy had her entire future planned out. But when the owner disappears, taking millions of dollars with him, Lucy's life as she knows it falls apart

Two years later, forty-nine years old and unemployed, Lucy takes a job in Rennes, France to manage the Hotel Paradis. She pictures fur quilts and extravagant chandeliers, but what she finds is wildly different. Lucy is now in charge of turning the run-down, but charming hotel into a bustling tourist attraction. Between painting rooms, building a website, andgetting 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?"


I have not come across a book with a storyline like this, and it sounded very interesting to me, especially since the main character was closer to my age than a lot of characters are in these types of books. I have noticed that I am more drawn towards stories including middle aged characters than not.

The characters drew me in very quickly and were entertaining. I became invested in the story and wanted to know what happened next. The main character deals with a lot of feelings not only towards herself, but towards the hotel owner after he leaves and a good chunk of the story is her dealing with how to get her mojo back in different aspects of her life.

The descriptions of the locations and scenes made me wish I could visit this hotel in person someday as it sounded so charming and the things to do around the hotel sounded wonderful as well. France has never really been on my travel bucket list, but I may rethink that now.

I gave this book four stars. The reason I only gave it four and not five was because I felt that while it wrapped things up at the end, I could have easily read a bit more and still enjoyed it. I think that continuing the story would have been a benefit and not a detractor.

There was also one character that I didn't really connect with as well as the others, and he just irritated me any time he showed up in the story. I never felt bad for him at all, and the plot point that he was involved in would not have been hurt if the reader felt a little torn about what ended up happening between him and another character.

This was an easy and enjoyable read. If you are looking for something to read on a cozy weekend or a day at the beach, I would recommend this book.

This was my first ARC that I was granted for review by NetGalley, so first and foremost I would like to give thanks for the opportunity!

Anywho. Moving on with a quote that perfectly sums up the entire feel-good vibe of this particular book:

"We were famous for that, weren’t we? Women, I mean. We believed in the second act, the next great thing, the moment when fortunes would change for the better."

This book was an uplifting and lighthearted story centered around a woman’s inner-strength, adaptability, courage and ability to heal not only herself but others around her.

Lucy is our main character who finds herself heartbroken with little faith left in others and the world around her after being scorned by an ex-lover and business associate. When the man, Tony, is outed as a criminal and disappears with millions of dollars that belonged to those working beneath him Lucy is left to pick up the pieces of not just the business he left behind but also her heart. A pariah in the hospitality industry she’d once thrived in, she’s bankrupt and forced to move back in with her parents… until the offer of a lifetime comes in and she’s given the opportunity to leave New Jersey and move to France, begin in the industry anew and abroad, and thrive once again.

Upon arriving in her new home, Lucy is quickly brought back down to reality and realizes that her perfect daydream is not what her contract actually offered. Now living in France in a run-down historical inn and far from family and friends, she finds herself reacting to the hopeless situation in the mental state that I feel most others fairly would:

Miserable.

After a single night to mourn what her life was panning out to be, Lucy awakes the next morning and chooses to fight - not just for the inn’s future but also her own.

“We have faith.”
“Why?”
“No one works harder than a person with something to prove.”

LET THE TRUE REVIEW COMMENCE.

I’ll start this review by saying that I personally felt the cover does not correctly portray the main character and our lovely heroine, Lucy. While the silhouette of the woman on the cover appears to be in her 20’s or potentially 30’s, Lucy mentions in a discussion to her love interest that she’s actually 49 and will soon be turning 50. The silhouette is also a rather petite woman with brunette hair, while it was stated in the book multiple times by Lucy herself that her hair was full of gray curls and she had gained 20 pounds that "would not go away." While her age wasn’t an issue for me as a 28 year old reader, I certainly felt the cover was a bit misleading as to who Lucy was.

Full Disclosure: I am a very romance-driven reader. I like a good plot, I enjoy world-building and I love some solid character development. That being said, I devour books that go heavy on the character’s romance throughout.

If that’s also who you are as a reader, this book may not be for you. The romance was a serious slow-burn in the first half of the book, while in the second half it went 0-100 out of nowhere. I didn’t buy into the love story and didn’t find it believable.

However, while I found the romance to be a bit of a let-down I was thoroughly entertained and delighted by what this book truly focused on: a lost woman in many ways reclaiming love and passion for herself, her career and life as a whole.

The side-characters were an absolute delight with their varying quirks and mannerisms as well. Of course, with that being said, I had two issues that came up in the story:
1. It’s mentioned by Lucy’s new supervisor that two of the individuals do not get along and it stems from racism (one of the characters is a young man, the other is a black woman). Prior to the issue being clarified for Lucy, there had been only one comment made. After? It was never brought up again, no further issues occurred and nothing was resolved. I found myself asking, “Okay… so why is this being brought up? Why is this an issue being brought into play?” It felt unfulfilled.
2. In a FaceTime conversation with her parents it’s brought up by her mother that Lucy’s ex-husband had called and they had chatted. The relationship and closeness between the two was never divulged, nor was the conversation and the ex-husband was never brought up again. Once again I found myself asking, “Alright… but what was the point of that?”

✨OVERALL RATINGS✨

This book, while not one I would likely pick up again, was a quick and enjoyable read that was light-hearted, fun and had a full happily-ever-after ending. The romance was definitely not the focus of the book and the spice was non-existent. However, this was a book I was able to read and enjoy in less than 12 hours and would be the perfect palette cleanser for a fellow reader!

⭐⭐⭐ - A solid 3 stars for being enjoyable and a great pick-me-up!

A solid 3 stars. This book gave me Under the Tuscan Sun vibes, where a 40-something woman is looking for a fresh start after personal and professional heartache. Lucy goes to Rennes, France to take over a crumbling hotel but she takes on more than she expected. Along the way she makes friends and lets down her walls.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins for the arc.

This was a very interesting book. I had expected a burning romance (clearly I've been reading too many of them), but Lucy Checks In was more about a woman trying to find herself again.

Lucy was working as a hotel manager in a prestigious hotel in NYC, but unfortunately, life had other plans for her. When she is offered a position in Rennes, France, she jumps at the opportunity to reinvent herself.

Lucy works hard to get an old (1700's) hotel back on it's feet. Along the way she meets a host of wonderful characters that all live on the hotel property. Although each character was introduced, I felt as though some of their storylines could have been a bit more in depth. I will say, my favourite character was Karl.

Although Lucy's journey was pleasant enough to follow, there was a certain "je ne said quoi" that was missing for me.

Overall, 3/5 stars

(3.5 stars)

I thought this was a cute book! I will say- I would only recommend this novel if you are looking for a slow burn, "heart felt" story about a woman who is middle aged. I'm used to reading romance novels about men/women in their 20s-30s (my age group) so this was a bit outside of my comfort zone. Nonetheless, I found this story to be well-written and interesting enough to keep reading.

My main critiques of this book would be Lucia's character (she is quite boring and stuck up at the beginning) and the slow relationship development between Lucia and the love interest. The romance sub-plot felt dragged out for the first half of the book and suddenly rushed at the end. I felt like Lucia's character was rather immature for her age and difficult to read-- though she does have a redeemable character arc. I was much more intrigued by the side characters (Marie Claude and Phillipe in particular).

If you can look past those flaws, this novel has some phenomenal lessons on love, betrayal, and maturity. There were plenty of moving quotes sprinkled in to this novel that I really enjoyed.

Overall, 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

“Because no one works harder than a person with something to prove.”

Synopsis: Lucia Gianetti aka. Lucy spent her life working in and running hotels. That is until a scandal breaks out regarding the hotel she is currently managing and involving the man she loves. In her late forties she finds herself jobless, broke, and hating the man she once loved. Lost in life, she gets a job offer to start a new hotel in Rennes, France from the ground up. There she gets a second chance at a life she never thought possible.

Review: If you liked Eat, Pray, Love and Under the Tuscan Sun you will LOVE this book. The whole time I was reading I kept picturing the main character as Julia Roberts.

I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary romance books and new adult novels, it was nice to read something a bit different! The writing of Dee Ernst is truly wonderful. It is so witty and she gives each of her characters such a voice! Throughout this book I kept thinking of the quote, “Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.” This book does have a love story component, but it is more about Lucy coming to terms with her past, and learning how to trust and love those around her.

For me this book definitely gets 4 stars!! Thank you so much Dee Ernst for writing such a wonderful book and giving me the opportunity to escape to Rennes, France for a bit :)

This was my first ARC I have received and reviewed from NetGalley and I was so thankful for the opportunity!

This book was easy and cute, and while I enjoyed it, I found a few things misleading.

First, the cover does not give a good impression of the book. Our heroine is 49, not in her mid 20s as the cover would lead you to believe. While this did not lessen my enjoyment of the book, I did go in with the wrong expectations.

Second, while there is some romance in the story, I wouldn’t classify the novel as such. While the author’s descriptions of France (and specifically the food) were delightful, I failed to feel the same way about our main characters and their love affair. It was nice that they got together, but I didn’t have strong feelings about it happening.

The best part of this book was definitely the setting. I’ve been dying to go to France for years and this book just increased my desire! I could taste the coffee and smell the flowers as I was reading. I can’t wait to be there in person someday.

Overall, this book was nice. However, I couldn’t help wanting just a little more character development.

Lucy Checks In, written by Dee Ernst, a contemporary story with a splash of romance, might be the type of book, at first glance, that gives a reader Eat, Pray, Love vibes. And while the main character, Lucy, is a middle-aged woman in search of something to stabilize her and does that searching while in a foreign country, that’s where the similarities end. Lucy, after her hotelier boyfriend disappears with all the company’s money and has the Feds hot on his heels, is trying to put the shattered pieces of her life back together. Lucy was the general manager of the hotel, and her reputation, in the wake of the scandal, is in tatters. When she’s offered a job as the general manager of a small hotel in Rennes, France, Lucy practically jumps at the chance, and off she goes to try and mend her broken heart and reassemble her life. She leaves behind a dysfunctional family, whose problems continue to find her, even in France.

With a cast of odd-duck type characters–practically a hotel of misfits, really–Ernst gives readers a beautiful and heartwarming view of what it can be like to put one’s life back together. Lucy is stubborn, but there’s no way she is more so than Claudine, the owner of the hotel. In fact, though the hotel’s residents have all chipped in to help in whatever ways they can, none of them really think Claudine can possibly get the hotel up and running. It’s been closed down, after all, since the end of the war. With Lucy’s determination and gumption, because she most definitely has something to prove (to her family, to those who doubted her, and most obviously to herself), Claudine’s sheer force of will, and the rest of the hotel residents begrudging support, Lucy Checks In ends up being a truly wonderful story for anyone to read.

Fans of quirky, fun reads like Where’d You Go, Bernadette? and those who are pulled toward the warmth of the classic Little Women will enjoy Lucy Checks In.

Lucy Checks In is a cute quick read, but I wish it had a bit more sustenance. I like that the protagonist is in her late 40's, as that isn't super common in the genre. I also enjoyed all the scenes of her redoing the hotel (They were weirdly satisfying. I love a good makeover), however there were a few too many of them. Most of the book was just Lucy working on the hotel. There wasn't a ton of romance, and when there was some, it was a bit underwhelming. So although this book had a really nice atmosphere and premise, I wish it had a bit more than that going for it.

This book was a quick and interesting read. I enjoyed that there was an older protagonist going through the stages of life still. I enjoyed the setting of Paris as I have become slightly obsessed with the city myself. The author keeps the story interesting and engaging to the final moment, and I recommend this to anyone