Love that the mc Lucy is late 40s having to start over after she gets pulled into a scandal that she was cleared from but that didn’t translate to being hired.

She’s now in France thinking she’s going to help a hotel get up to date but it’s very out of date. Excited to renovate this old European hotel and meet the cute artist.

Thank you stmartinspress and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

I need more Dee Ernst books! Love the characters she creates and the adventures she takes them on. This new novel doesn't disappoint - Following the travels of Lucy, a former, high-powered hotel executive to a now disgraced, broke woman seeking to reinvent herself and her career at a new hotel in France. Once there, she realizes the charming hotel she envisioned turning around is a complete disaster. Humorous, captivating and hopeful. Loved this book!

Lucy Checks In by Dee Ernst is a romance with an older main character in her 40-50s. I had a hard time getting into the first half of this book. The French setting had great promise but overall this book was okay. I will not be posting this review.

This is another super cute romantic comedy style book. Boy meets girl and they both fall for each other when they know they should not! If you enjoy happy light hearted romance this is one for you.

Lucia Giannetti is 49 years old and looking to start fresh after a scandal in NYC. She was the hotel manager of a prominent hotel with great aspirations, when the owner disappears with millions and leaves Lucy down on her luck. This prompts a move to France, where she assumes the role of manager at Hotel Paradis. While in France, Lucy rejuvenates the hotel’s image, meets good friends, and finds love. I adored this story as it isn’t your traditional 20-something looking for love. Lucy’s character had more depth and life experience to dig into.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was as charming as the French boutique hotel it’s set in. 😍 Lucy feels like her life is over when, nearing 50, her life partner leaves her and her career ends all in one fell swoop. But she gets a second chance when she’s offered the General Manager position at a boutique hotel in Rennes, France. When she arrives, the hotel is not quite what she bargained for, but I’m the end turns out to be so much more. 💖 This was a quick and charming read!

This is a new to me author and I have to say I am looking forward to reading more by this author! I loved this book

Seems to have the beginning to a good plot but just couldn’t get me hooked. Don’t know if it was me being in a bit of a book slump but I couldn’t really get into the book. There was definitely something that could lead to something with two of the character though.

Long overdue on this one! I haven’t seen much about it on bookstagram, but I thought it was pretty cute. Loved the premise and the setting in France. I did like Lucy’s character and the growth she experienced throughout the book.

My one criticism is that the storyline with the hotel was a little too perfect and seemed too easy. I thought for sure Lucy would’ve faced more hardships. I did still enjoy this book, but won’t be one that really sticks out in my mind.

This was a cute and fast read with a story that made me want to visit Hotel Paradis.

Lucia Giannetti is starting over, After getting indicted in fraud charges and losing her job as a hotel manager in a glamorous hotel in New York City, Lucy has lost it all. But now, she has the chance to start over after getting an offer to manage a small hotel in Rennes, France. Lucy pictures a glamorous French hotel with all of the extravagances she has grown accustomed in her former job, but when she arrives, she realizes Hotel Paradis is starting from scratch. Not only the hotel is run-down and neglected, but Lucy's role is more of a builder and painter than a manager. She can't afford to quit the job so she stays and makes Hotel Paradis her home and the group of tenants living in the hotel her friends.

I truly enjoyed this story and grew to like Lucy much more than I expected. When she is first introduced, Lucy comes off as entitled and spoiled because of her former position as a hotel manager at a fancy NYC hotel. She truly believes she will arrive to France and just take over managing a successful fancy hotel with a loyal customer base. When she realizes she has been hired to remodel and set up the hotel from scratch, she has an attitude and entitlement issues that make her unlikable. It isn't until she starts to get to know the other tenants in the hotel that I started to warm up to her,

I truly liked to read the process Lucy goes through to set up the hotel including her role as a designers, painter, builder, and graphic designer. I liked how she goes from basically not knowing what she is doing to an empowered woman learning to embrace chaos. It was also heartwarming to have an older woman as the main character in a romantic story line as it seems that most books have younger women in these roles. I thought it was clever that her male counterpart is someone somewhat famous but also living a quiet life in the middle of a small town in France. I also liked the secondary characters and found them lovely. Their interactions with Lucy provided a great opportunity to get to know them and to learn about their small town. Overall, and enjoyable and fast read,

In this Rom-com, Lucia is a disgraced hotel manager through no fault of her own who travels to France to help rebuild a centuries old hotel and get a fresh start on her own life. This book was fantastic. Being in my late 40's, I love a romance with main characters that are more mature. Lucy is over 50 when she takes on this adventure. The other characters are clever and fun, the descriptions of the setting just beautiful and the food and wine bring it all home. I would love this one to be a series!

Do not let the cover of Lucy Checks In by Dee Ernst fool you, the girl on the cover may look young, but our MC Lucia (AKA Lucy) is actually forty-nine years old. Now, this doesn't make a difference to me, but I thought it was an interesting creative liberty taken by whoever illustrated the new cover (which in all other rights, I love). I am not too far away from 40, and something I have come to love is reading books that have an older female lead. Lucy along with many of the other characters in this novel completely stole my heart (some of them took a minute!), and I loved the wittiness and heart Ernst uses to tell Lucy's story. There are definitely some romcom qualities to this book, but overall, it felt a bit more like a romance to me and wasn't quite as funny as I was expecting it to be (this is NOT a bad thing though!).

Gillian Vance is the narrator extraordinaire for the audiobook and I loved her just as much as the setting in France. Her voice was fitting for Lucy’s character, and if you want a new audio to check out, I would definitely recommend this one! I loved the message that Ernst conveyed in Lucy Checks In, basically that age doesn’t matter, and you can do anything you set your mind to, and the fact that she had a mature and self-sufficient woman as the lead in this story. While I was expecting it to be funnier, and you will most likely have to suspend some disbelief, there were still plenty of times that this book made me laugh, and it warmed my heart as well. If you love strong female leads, some romance, and a story you can use as a getaway from everyday life, Lucy Checks In is for you.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was my first book by this author and I throughly enjoyed it. A light and delightful read. I loved the descriptions of the hotel and could envision staying there. The characters were all interesting and made me want to not put it down. I love a feel good book! I would recommend this book to all my friends. Thank you for the ARC!

This was a slowww read and it took a lot of time to get involved in it. I also felt that the main character had mostly everything just work out for her and had little issue which would not be the case when renovating a building that old. 3.5/5 for me

I felt mislead by the cute cover and description of the book. I thought this would be such a fun and sweet romance but this book was none of those things for me. I enjoyed the French setting of the book and the idea of renovating and bringing an old hotel back to life but the book did not live up to what I was expecting.

The characters, most of whom range from 50-80 years old, came off as immature and flighty, especially the main character Lucy. I was expecting to fall in love with all the unique characters who lived at the hotel, but did not fell like any of the characters were developed enough for me to form any attachment to them. I also did not care for the romance in the book and had trouble seeing the chemistry between the two characters.

I probably would have rated this book as 3 stars if not for the ending which felt rushed and like the author was just trying to tie up loose ends. I did not find that what happens at the end of the book was handled with care and was angry with the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this beautifully written tale of Lucy and she looks to rebuild not only her professional reputation, but her very essence as she recovers from a devastating betrayal. The "scenery" in Rennes, France is rendered in glorious detail and I'd book the next flight there if I could. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press!

I loved the "Under the Tuscan Sun"-ness of this book! It was a fresh, fun "woman of a certain age rebuilding her life" story focusing on the titular character, Lucy. By reasons out of her control, she loses her position at a luxury 5 star hotel in New York and is blacklisted by the industry. In an effort to turn her life around she accepts a position running a boutique hotel in France. Only, her expectations are high and reality doesn't quite match up. Lucy and her coworkers work hard to bring life back into the struggling hotel and meaning and purpose to their lives.

Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for a copy of Lucy Checks In!

Rating: 4/5 stars

What’s it about?
Lucy is looking for a fresh start after being screwed over in her prior hotel manager role, so she takes a job in Rennes, France. The hotel is charming, but run down, and wants to turn it into a tourist attraction, so she’s got to get to work. This hotel becomes her home, but can she completely turn it around?

I love romcoms with the theme of a fresh start. I think at one point or another, we’ve all found ourselves in the spot that Lucy is in after her life takes a downward spiral and she wonders what and where to go to next. I loved that Lucy is nearly 50 - mid-life looking for a new start, this was a breath of fresh air.

A lovely little romance that reinforces that it's never too late to start over and find love. Honestly, my favorite part about this book is that the characters are flawed and growing. Plus, I love a good slow-burn.

I requested this book specifically due to the synopsis. Who wouldn’t love starting over in France restoring an old hotel?!? I absolutely loved the setting and I couldn’t love the restoration of the hotel more. Unfortunately where the book fell flat for me was the romance. It was cute, but predictable.

This book is a quick and easy read perfect for a Francophile and HGTV lover.

I want to thank NetGalley, Dee Ernst and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.