French Holiday is about Merry, who is in love with her best friend, Leo. But Leo is marrying her sister. Merry is doing what she always does, chokes down her feelings, and tries to make everyone else, especially her sister, happy. On her way down the aisle, the best man, Noah, tells her to smile and hide that she's in love with Leo. At first, she denies it but then heeds his advice. At the reception, she and Noah discuss unrequited love and end up talking to each other all night and drinking.
Merry wakes up the next morning naked next to a naked Noah with condoms all over the room. She quietly leaves the room and talks to her godmother, who tells her of the chateau in France that she bought. She tells her to go stay there and after leaving her job, she does. But Noah is there.
What ensues is a story of love, finding oneself, learning to accept what is given, and understanding.
I found the sister and Leo annoying, and they didn't have much depth or growth as characters. I did enjoy Merry and Noah. This book gripped me from the start, and I couldn't put it down. I definitely recommend this one!

I grabbed this because I love Kelsey Navarro as a narrator, and I wasn't disappointed! The story was good, not necessarily my favorite so far this year, but still good!

Unfortunately, I have decided to dnf this audiobook. I will switch formats to ebook, I found the narrator robotic and therefore distracting.

I was intrigued by the cover and synopsis of this book so I requested the advanced listeners copy. I enjoyed this book off and on. I was hooked for the first 20% and then the main character mistaking a rat for a kitten in her bed was the first red flag for me. There were several other ridiculous things that happened and that just turned me off. I found the characters likable so that’s why I decided on a 3 star rating.

Love, love, love this book! The character build is good, the storytelling was great, the lobster scenes were hilarious. This is the perfect mix of romance-comedy, easy-read!

French Holiday by Sarah Ready

Merry DeLuca's sister married Leo, her best friend who Merry happens to be in love with. Merry has kept her feelings for Leo a secret from almost everyone except for Leo's friend, Noah who has noticed how Merry looks at Leo. After being in the wedding party and watching her sister marry the man she loves, Merry jumps on a chance to travel to France to live in a Chateau for three months. What she doesn't count on this that Noah, a travel filmmaker, will be there as well.

There was some good humor especial with the lobster that was so funny I laugh so hard. If a book gets me to laugh that much then it is a good book to read. I recommend this one to people who love romantic comedies that are about friends to lovers this one will be for you.

Narrated by Kelsey Navarro and she did such a good job with the characters which made this a more enjoyable listening. This is a four star read for me and I cannot wait to see what Sarah Ready puts out next.

Thanks to Netgalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for a free audio copy of French Holiday for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing L.L.C for giving me this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this audiobook.
I knew right away when I saw that it was being narrated by Kelsey Navarro that I would enjoy it.. Kelsey always does the best job at keeping me entertained. Her french accent was wonderful and as always she did a great job at changing up her voice to differ between all the characters.

This book has everything I want in a romcom! Enemies to lovers, one bed trope, romance abroad, and grumpy sunshine trope.I loved that Merry was a very realistic character and easy to connect with. I also enjoyed that this book has a bit of mystery in it as well.
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Overall, this was a very charming, funny, enjoyable audiobook!

This has everything you want in a feel good rom-com! Enemies to lovers, a mix of cute and romantic moments, and a holiday abroad. Merry and Noah both had interesting backstories, and there’s a small mystery subplot that you learn about halfway through. I really enjoyed the setting, most of the novel takes place in a chateau in France and I loved listening to the narrator describe the French countryside. Overall a cute and enjoyable read!

Merry, who just watched her sister marry her best friend and only man she's ever loved, wakes up in bed with her best friend and only man she's ever loved’s best friend, who she thinks hates her guts. She finds them both naked and condoms all over the floor. So thinking she just had a night of wild sexscapades with the best friend of her best friend and only man she's ever loved, who I will call Noah from now on, she sneaks out of the room and plans to never run into him again. Or at least only occasionally at Christmas or birthday parties. After that traumatic experience and quitting her job, she’s in need of a reset. And her godmother gives her the perfect one. Three months in the french countryside living in a quaint castle. Sounds like the perfect way to get over unrequited love, and to figure out what’s next……

Until she actually arrives at the castle and finds out Noah is also staying there as research for work. As if forced proximity wasn’t enough, you guessed it, there’s only one bed. the castle is in disarray, infested by rats, bats, and roaches with no amenities and little furniture. But things start to look up when Noah and Merry strike a truce and Pierre, their neighbor, offers to show Merry around.

Tropes:
one bed
enemies to lovers
city of love, paris countryside
familial love, unrequited love, romantic love, platonic love
muses, art
Miscommunication

I loved this rom-com. Easy to read. Relateable characters. A conversation about sticking around to work things out, the importance of communication, regretting the things we don't say as much as the ones we do, etc. The setting is gorgeous. The set up, hilarious. Absolutely recommend as a spring/summer read.

"You’re allowed to get out Mary. when the walls are closing in you’re allowed to leave. For goodness sake, you don’t have to stay ."

"Everyone is an artist. Every day we all create our life. our destiny. and what’s more artistic than that?"

This one was sweet, fun, and will leave you wondering what's coming next all the way until the end! The characters are well crafted and hilarious in their antics. I only didn't like one part - poor lobster! - but at least even that ends on a somewhat happy note.

The audiobook for this is a must listen! Truly brings this story to life and makes the laugh out loud moments of this story all the more funny. Kelsey Navarro did a phenomenal job with this one.

An enemies-to-lovers, only-one-bed rom-com that harks to Gothic romances like Jane Eyre, is set in the French countryside (in a castle, no less) AND has a third-act art mystery?! Say less. I’m there.

I came for the blurb that promised all the good silly romance antics I love in a quick romcom, but I stayed because NOAH 👏🏻 IS 👏🏻 A 👏🏻 DREAM 👏🏻. We love a brooding hero. I kept picturing a cross between Scott Foley and Josh Gates. Rwar 🐅

Here’s my one complaint, and I think it’s just that I don’t mesh well overall with this author’s writing style. She constantly adds in ridiculously unnecessary moments that aren’t needed for the plot, nor for humor. It’s cheapening. In this instance it’s a rat and then a lobster. In a previous book it was jello. It seems to be a crutch to add antics that make us laugh, but the awkwardness of falling in love is enough. Without those cringy moments the book would be a solid 4 stars for me. But the frequency of those types of forced moments really take away from the charm. 3.5 ⭐️

Audiobook notes: The narration is great, and is easy to follow at high speeds.


Thank you NetGalley, and the publisher, for the ARC book & audiobook and for the opportunity to share my unbiased opinion!

This was such a fun listen! Merry has always thought that she was in love with her best friend, but when he married her sister she is at a bit of a loss. Her godmother Jupiter offers to let her stay at her French castle, but she doesn’t tell her there will be another guest as well! I loved listening to Merry and Noah’s banter… they are great 😊 Noah was on a mission to find answers, but he ended up finding so much more…

Thank you @netgalley for the ALC!

Whenever I see Sarah Ready’s name, I always know I’m in for an absolute TREAT! Ladies and Gentlemen, French Holiday DID NOT disappoint!

Ready has this phenomenal way of making her characters incredibly life like. They’re romantic in their approach, they make realistic decisions, but they’re also filled with several flaws. They’re not generic. They’re complex and you can’t help but feel strongly towards them because you’re drawn in to their journey from page 1.

I think the book walked that perfect line where unrequited love and bitter sweet romance exists in a space without it coming across as patronising or, as I like to call it, eye-roll-inducing.

I listened to this book as an audiobook and the narration only served to pronounce and solidify the characters further.

Sarah has become one of my favourite authors and I highly recommend her work.

My true rating was 4.5. And the only reason why I knocked off a half star is because the French population is so diverse and I feel like I wanted a bit of diversity featured in the book

This was a simultaneously adorable, funny, and steamy read. What a ride! The narrator for the audiobook was incredible. I really appreciated the bits of beautiful literary writing interspersed with hilarious scenes and also quite a bit of steam, without being overbearingly erotic.

This book really has it all! Love, romance, travel, art, mystery and awesome enemies to lovers trove! Merry DeLuca is devastated that her sister just married her best friend and the man she thought she loved, so she escapes to France to forget her troubles and her sorrows. But who does she run into at the magnificent castle where she will be staying for the next 3 months? Noah, her best friends best man, the only person who knew of her forbidden love.
However, when Merry decides to form a truce with Noah and be “friends” she discovers his deepest secrets and allows him to really see into her soul. She realizes that she’s in love with him and decides to follow him on the quest to find what he’s been missing for years.
I enjoyed the snarky remarks between Merry and Noah, the playfulness of their love and the way that they accepted each others secrets. This book makes it easy for you to get lost in the story and truly see both point of views with the double narrator.

I downloaded this on a whim— needing background noise at work while my neighbor continued to yack at everybody that walked by. It failed miserably at its intended purpose—help me concentrate— and instead insured I got absolutely nothing done for the rest of the day.

I’ve never read this author, nor did I really know who she was. Now that I binged this, I’m excited to download some more from her— and even more excited to see that I recognize quite a few titles.

Merry and Noah were absolutely perfect. I could feel his love for her almost immediately— and while I called the “twist” almost immediately it was still entertaining and unique.

NetGalley clocks this as just over 12 hours. I listen to all of my audio books around 2X speed and I easily finished it in one day— while still being a productive mom.

This was a creative story but it was just too much description. I listened to it and felt the author and narrator were both just trying a bit too hard to be cute. I really enjoyed the plot and the characters and how it all played out, but it could have been a lot shorter. The first half was just very meandering and it took so long to pick up. Then a ton of stuff was crammed at the end. 3.5 ⭐️ and thank you for the ARC!

This is a fun romance read with a bit of a mystery entwined along with it. I listened to the audiobook and, as always, Kelsey Navarro does a fantastic job. The location of the story felt magical and wonderful, and I really loved that part. However, I didn't get that wonderful ache in my chest with these two main characters. I just didn't quite fall in love with them. When I REALLY love a "he loved her first" book, I have a heavy butterfly feeling in my chest when they speak to each other and I just never quite got there with this book. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the read!

The audiobook of French Holiday by Sarah Ready was well narrated and had an interesting storyline however, it felt so slow because there was too much excess. I really struggled to get into the story but finished because around 70% a touch of mystery picks up and pieces started falling into place. Merry and Noah are so easy to root for with their chemistry, I just wish it didn't feel so slow. I'd definitely like to read another Sarah Ready book, though!

Thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for this ALC!

I really wanted to enjoy this audiobook but I didn’t. There was a lot going on in the story and it just seemed to be too much. The story wasn’t relatable to me so I struggled to connect with the main character. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC.