Omgg I LOVED this book! What a fun ride 😍

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️ (light)

Merry needs to get over her unrequited love for her best friend - especially since he just married her sister. After she’s offered her godmother’s chateau in France, she heads off to the perfect place to do so.
Little does she know, Noah, her best friend’s other best friend, rented that castle to work on his next documentary.
The biggest problem? They hate each other. AND there’s only one bed (of course).

Troubles in their past make it difficult for both of them to believe, and trust in love. But they slowly go from enemies, to friends, to more, as they open up and trust each other.

This book was sweet, and pretty funny. I enjoyed all the antics Merry got herself in to 🙃 there was also a little mystery to solve, that added to the story!

I read the ebook & listened to the audiobook, and loved both.

Read if you enjoy:
⭐️ Enemies to lovers
⭐️ Only one bed
⭐️ Forced proximity
⭐️ Holiday in France
⭐️ He falls first
⭐️ Slow burn
⭐️ Romcoms
⭐️ Single POV

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for an advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

(3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars)

What an adorable read!

If I had to summarise this book in one sentence, I would say this was the soft-focus version of Merry's life that she absolutely deserved. I liked the language of this book and how it was so descriptive of what Merry was feeling.

Ever since I was little I’ve considered myself the ugly duckling that never became the swan. Magic was something that happened to other people. I never even tried for what I wanted because I figured I’d fail.

This is basically what the book's sweet and optimistic Merry entailed. Noah was a version of Mr Darcy with a twist. Here he's a famous travel documentarian with a persona, especially for the camera and another off-camera. He resembles Mr Darcy because he's deeply misunderstood (from Merry's perspective definitely). Since the book is in first person's PoV, I found a lot of it as an ode to Noah. Maybe it was Merry's rose-coloured vision, or maybe how the plot unfolded, but one thing is for sure, I really liked the descriptiveness of it all.

A perfect read for people looking for a little sunshine in their lives.
Thank you Netgalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This book was really funny, I loved that. You should definitely give it a try if you like romantic comedies. This one is set in a castle in France! An unexpected love story, a mystery awaiting to be solved, a dark and sensuous location...

Even if the plot and the characters weren't as complex as I wanted them to be, the fact that I laughed a lot while reading this novel made it absolutely worth it. I didn't want to stop. I wanted to keep going, which may not seem like a huge thing but it is, cause I've had a reading slump for longer than I can remember.

Once you start "French Holiday" it's quite difficult not to find yourself wanting to be in the protagonist's shoes. Who doesn't want to go on vacation to a castle? Who doesn't want to have a romance with an attractive, intelligent, and yet a bit grumpy, taciturn and sarcastic boy? The secondary characters were also entertaining and added tons of drama to the plot. I didn't mention this before but, as you can imagine, there's DRAMA in this book.

I knew what I was going to find in this book after reading the first chapter and I was okay with that. I needed something refreshing, exhilarating and enjoyable. That's on the books that aren't perfect but still make your heart and mind happy.

The perfect romcoms for a cute quick read.

The actual story was a fast paced and exciting to read until about half way, then it slowed down. The characters were likeable and had great growth throughout the book.
Overall a good read.

FRENCH HOLIDAY is a delightful romp through the French countryside, and if you liked Gus from Beach Read, I think you'll like the love interest here.

The story starts off with Meredith (Merry) being distraught at her sister's wedding to her best friend. Who she's been in love with for years. Merry's godmother suggests she get out of town for a bit and offers her French castle to stay in while she kind of starts her life over anew. The problem is, the godmother also rented the castle out to Noah, a travel documentarian and best man at the wedding. The one that Merry hates.

There are some misunderstandings in the beginning, like Merry thinking she and Noah had slept together at the wedding, which wasn't true, and it's obvious that Noah is already in love with her, but the enemies-to-lovers bit here is believable, as is Merry's lovesickness over her sister stealing her unrequited crush.

There's a whole secondary mystery plotline that comes into play in the back half of the book, which I was less enthusiastic over, but for me, the jewel of the whole story was around Merry and Noah opening up to each other. They were so sweet!

Pick up if you like:

🏰 Enemies to lovers
🏰 Miscommunication
🏰 Unrequited love, but is it?
🏰 French cheeses and French flings
🏰 Dilapidated castles with only one bed
🏰 Lobster scene stealers

I loved this book! It has everything in it that a rom-com should with a little bit of mystery rolled in. Merry is heartbroken when her best friend marries her sister. When the rest of her life starts crumbling down, she decides to flee to France only to find her least favorite person, Noah Wright. I loved all of the characters, except for Merry’s sister and best friend. The French countryside and crumbling castle were a great background to the story. This is a fun, easy read to take to the pool with you. It’s also a fast read, I read this book in two days. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes rom-coms, enemies to lovers, or the forced to share the same bed trope.

This book was amazing! It had everything I look for in swoony-enemies-to-lovers romance. The story line was superb and drew me in from the very first page… I didn’t want to read the last chapter because I didn’t want it to end. But it was the perfect ending for this story.

Merry’s life is falling apart. Her job sucks and her best friend that she has been in love with for the past 4 years is marrying her sister. Needing an escape, her Aunt Jupiter sends her to her chateau in France. Three months on a vacation is exactly what Merry needs. Only, those plans are foiled when she arrives and Noah the best man from the wedding, who seems to hate her for no reason has rented that chateau to work on his latest project. Neither wanting to leave, they come up with a truce, co-habitat as friends for the three months.

I absolutely adored this story. Both MC’s have pasts that have shaped and molded who they are. The more time they spend together as friends, the more they start to like each other. The setting, the food, the art, the romance of it all was a superb setting and only enhanced the story along. I truly can’t say enough good things about this novel. I highly recommend – you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️. This was a cute and quick romcom. Was it one for my top favorites list? No. I’ll break it down into two sections: what I liked and what I didn’t like.

Liked:
*The beginning - until about 50%.
*The characters - Merry, Noah, Pierre, Camille. (Angela and Leo were just okay to me)
*The descriptions - so much detail that I could imagine being in France while reading it.
*The humor - a few favorite parts: When Merry compared the chateau to a beautifully wrapped Christmas present that you look at for weeks with excitement and then open it up and it’s a package of white cotton crew socks. 🤣 Also the dialogue between Noah and Merry often made me laugh. A couple favorite quotes. First when they were deciding who would get the only bed in the castle….Noah shakes his head. “I am not chivalrous . You sleep on the floor“. Also the first time Merry sees Pierre and thinks “holy smoking hotness”. The author really did a great job of making me laugh out loud at times.
*The last 5% or so, I was happy with how it ended.

Didn’t like:
*50%-about 95%. Thought the storyline started to drag.
*It also started to become quite silly (not in a good way). (Ex. The Lobster scene. It started off funny but then just went on for too long)
*The mystery of the great artist Arnout - kinda meh and felt like a filler just to make the book longer.
*The sex - cringy. Just weird and awkward. The flirting and anticipation leading up to the characters getting together was good…but once they were together, I just didn’t think it was written well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

To see other reviews I’ve left, check out my Goodreads and Instagram pages:
*Goodreads - Cherihy808
*Instagram - bookworm_traveler808

ok, DNF pq eu nao gostei da trope "o amor da minha vida casou com a minha irma" e ele pode ser trabalhado de outra maneira que não "vou continuar amando esse homem e nunca vou abrir meu coração para outro homem" e entao, não. nao vai rolar.

além disso que juro que se eu fosse o noah (interesse amoroso) e já sacasse que a guria ainda tem sentimentos por um cara casado, eu nao me envolveria nem ferrando com ela entao... zero simpatia para quem tem zero responsabilidade afetiva...

anyway, thank netgalley for the eARC :)

Such a fun and enjoyable story. Probably one of my favourites this year.

I mean who doesn't love an enemies to lovers/forced proximity?

Give it a go you won't regret it!

This book was such a cute romantic comedy! The setting was beautiful, it made me want to book a flight to France. I liked our main characters, Merry and Noah, and I thought they had great chemistry and funny banter. There is a mystery subplot, which only added to the story and made me like it more.
Things I didn't like were the quickness of loving someone, it felt very unrealistic. And the book was a bit longer than it needed it to be, some scenes were unnecessary and ridiculous (rat, lobster). Maybe I'm just too much of a realist.

Read if you like:
- Forced Proximity
- Only One Bed
- Enemies to Friends to Lovers
- Mystery subplot
- RomCom vibes

Full review with book aesthetic and more will be posted on my instagram page @milasreadingcorner on April 7th 2023

Thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

French Holiday - Sarah Ready

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5/5)

𝘓𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰.

🏰 🕶️ 💖

Merry and Noah wind up at the same crumbling castle in France, each on a holiday meant to be alone. Merry is in search of falling out of unrequited love with her best friend Leo who just married her sister, while Noah is in search of answers from his past.

If you love these tropes: Forced proximity. Friends to lovers. Miscommunication. Handsome MMC. 😍

This book was more than just a love story. It was comical and spicy and also had a mystery story line woven within where Noah tries to find out what happened to his mom who disappeared years before. I kept holding on to when Noah and Merry would finally get together and it did not disappoint. 🥹

Also don’t miss the personification of Louis the lobster which had me laughing. 🦞 😂

Thank you to NetGalley, Swift & Lewis Publishing, and Sarah Ready for my advanced review copy. Don’t miss this book on its pub day on 4/26/23!! 💖

Fun and wonderful - a really good romcom. Utterly readable and delightful with characters that are so well defined and articulated.

I am a huge fan of forced proximity, especially when it is enemies to lovers. It just works for me. When Merry needs to get away after her sisters wedding, her godmother asks her to stay at her French chateau. Sounds perfect, right? Well, when she gets there….the last person she expects to bump into is Noah. The best man and her worst nightmare!

This book was full of charm, with two likable main characters. I really felt like we got to know them both and it was such a fun ride to the end. We also get a two for one story with Camille and Pierre mixed in. Even though I knew immediately how the mystery Noah was trying to solve was going to play out, it was fun how it all came together. Overall a delightful read!

Bottom Line: Read it!

**I received a copy of French Holiday from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

The love of Merry's life, Leo, is getting married... to her little sister. Merry struggles after the wedding and her godmother offers her an escape, a three month trip to the French countryside to look after her chateau. Merry takes the chance to escape only to find Leo's best friend and her biggest enemy, Noah, is also staying at the chateau for the summer. A great set-up for the enemies to lovers story that unfolds.

The French Holiday was my first book by Sarah Ready and I definitely enjoyed it enough to pick up another. It was a light and easy to read rom com with some really sweet moments. The mystery aspect kind of came out of nowhere for me and I wasn't a huge fan of it, but it wrapped up nicely. Overall, I would recommend this to a friend.

Thank you Swift and Lewis Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced e-copy of this book.

What is better than a cute enemies to lovers and unrequited love romance based in the French countryside? The answer is nothing.
This book made me super happy! It was cute, fun, and charming.

The characters had so much depth to them and in turn were a delight to read about. I felt like I was cheering them all on, I wanted them to find love and feel loved.

Sarah Ready knows how to write, I felt like I was there alongside the characters. It is a story you truly feel immersed in.

Love, love, love it and would recommend it highly!

I wasn’t a big fan of the story in the beginning but it quickly got much better! It wasn’t so much an enemies to lovers because Merry had a good attitude. I loved Noah! He was so good for her and good to her.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating: 4.5/5

What I liked:
• Merry and Noah’s bickering.
• The humorous scenes and lines.
• The deep conversations and sweet, sincere moments.
• The plot being more than just a simple romance.

When I found this arc on NetGalley, although the synopsis caught my attention, it was more the cover that pulled me in. At first, I thought it would be a simple enemies to lovers romance, but it was so much more, which I think is why I read this is just a day! The journey of Merry’s learning about receiving and accepting love was beautiful and the discovery to Noah’s past was emotional to say the least! This delved in to many different areas of love, which was refreshing and had me reflecting a lot. Everyone has a different meaning of love and this showed exactly that. If you’re looking for a sweet, heartwarming, emotional, beautiful story, French Holiday is the one to pick. I’ll definitely be buying a physical copy once released and in the meantime, exploring more of Sarah’s work.

Thank you NetGalley, Swift & Lewis Publishing and Sarah for accepting me as an arc reader in exchange for an honest review.

Such a cute book. I was going in thinking this was going to be a simple romance book, but I was so wrong this is so much more. I loved the small touch of mystery.
Poor Merry must stand on the side lines and watch her sister marry the person she loves. After that who wouldn’t want to escape to a castle in France!!
I really enjoyed how the characters interact with each and how their story progresses. Noah is book boyfriend goals. I like how their enemies to friends to lover’s story develops throughout the book. I do wish Merry could have gotten over Leo and moved on from him a lot faster.
All in all, I like this book and I recommend it to everyone who is looking for a lighthearted and romantic read. I can’t believe this is the first book I have read from author Sarah Ready been?! I’ll be reading her other books!

SPOILERS

French holiday is a story about a girl (Merry) whose sister is marrying her best friend aka her first love. She’s the brides maid and absolutely hates the grooms best man (Noah). The wedding was the first chapter of the book so it doesn’t really focus on any of that but rather her and Noah’s relationship.

She decides to to France, as a form of escapism from her reality of having a terrible job, love life being horrible and the one man she truly loved was married to her sister.

I love how Merry was such a good sister, and her love for everyone else. Her character was so wholesome and she was very straight forward about things. She did over think slot but she definitely spoke her mind.

This book was meant to cover enemies to lovers however the enemies part cut very short and there was more friendship. I would definitely say it was enemies to friends to lovers. They were friends for a VERY long time before becoming lovers. the mmc was secretly pinning over her so was it really enemies to lovers? Also include forced proximity and one bed trope which I am a SUCKER for.

I loved the way France was described, it made me want to go visit myself. I was ready to book a one way ticket to see all the castles and soak in the scenery.

This book was also quite rom com and the most absurd and silliest things (Louis specifically) happening. also loved the plot twist and the scene with Noah and his dad, it made me shed a tear🥺

There was SO many things this book unpacked - specifically trauma they both faced as kids and growing up. Murder accusations and the whole mystery plot was a nice touch to the book. It didn’t just focus on their relationship but everything around them.

The discussion about love and everyone’s perspective and how their own life changed their meaning of love. That touch was really nice and I love a book with second couple, Pierre and Camille were just ADORABLE. It was kinda confusing how Camille went from flirting with Noah to Pierre unless she was trying to make him jealous.

The spice was very limited definitely closed but there was one scene that did talk about it however it was child like when I read it as if a 13 year old on wattpad was writing it and I did cringe. This book should’ve kept the spice more up to their imagination and let it be a romantic YA book.

This book was quite fast paced no tragic heartbreak. It was cute and soft.

I would rate it 2.5 out of 5 however I can’t so I rate it a 3.