Once upon an evening, I was in search of an audiobook that could transport me while I busied myself with chores—and I found French Holiday, which delivered!

Read this book if you like:
- the idea of vacationing in the French countryside
- enemies-to-lovers
- one bed trope
- 27 Dresses vibes (my first and one of my favorite rom-coms), but with more likeable characters

Despite a slightly saggy middle, French Holiday delivers a heart-forward story full of hope and love. I especially appreciated how real the characters felt; none of them were painted to be complete angels or cartoon villains. Instead, they showed up with their gifts and flaws, which feels (too) rare and refreshing.

Finally, the narrator really stole the show. I'm so glad I got to listen to the audiobook because her voice really brought Merry to life.

Sometimes, all it takes is a change of scenery to give you a new perspective on life’s everyday problems. And in the audio edition of French Holiday by author Sarah Ready, a brokenhearted young woman decides to escape her troubles in France—only to find new problems waiting for her there.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery

What does Merry do when Leo, her best friend (and the man she loves) marries her little sister? With perfect timing, Merry is offered a three month stav at a French Chateau. She packs her bags and takes off to the French countryside. What she doesn't know is someone has already paid to stay there..
Leo's friend Noah, who Merry has never gotten along with. In true romcom fashion, we go on an adventure as these two navigate a crumbling Chateau with one bed, a bunch of laughs, and a little mystery.
As for the narration, I really enjoyed listening to Kelsey Navarro. believe this is the first book I've listened to of hers and think she did a fabulous job.
The characters...I loved Merry and Noah. However, I really did not like Leo and Angela (her little sister). I found them to be extremely annoying and selfish.
Overall, an adorable read or listen! I loved the mystery that was added. It helped it feel like a little more than a enemies to lovers/forced proximity rom com. The banter between the main
characters = AMAZING.

Thank you to Netgalley, Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC, and Sarah Ready for allowing me to listen to an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book for an honest review.

Can enemies become friends and then lovers? This book is for anyone that answered that question with an enthusiastic yes! 😊

Meet the characters:
Merry DeLuca is in big trouble. She has the worst heartache and she just can’t get over it. That’s because she was (or still is?) in love with her sister’s new husband. To be fair, Leo was Merry’s best friend of five years and the only man she’s ever loved. Angela, Merry’s sister, has always been her role model. So when Angela tells Merry that she and Leo have fallen for each other, Merry doesn’t have the guts or the heart to do anything but celebrate the new couple. After Angela and Leo marry, Merry is given the opportunity of a lifetime. She packs her bags and heads to France for a holiday where she hopes to indulge and relax.

Noah Wright, the best man in Leo and Angela’s wedding is a famous travel documentarian that is also known for his arrogant demeanor and pompous attitude. Noah plans to spend the summer writing in France.

The problem:
Merry arrives at her French accommodation, formerly a beautiful castle that is now in shambles. She learns that she is not the only person granted the opportunity to reside there all summer. Her new roommate is the one and only Noah Wright (ugh!). Merry and Noah have been enemies since they first laid eyes on one another. But, everything will be okay….there should be plenty of room in a castle (regardless the crumbling exterior) to avoid one another.

Tropes:
Enemies at First Sight
Friends to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Forbidden Love
Grumpy x Sunshine
Love Triangle (sort of)
One Bed

What I Liked:
💕 Sarah Ready keeps readers engaged the entire time.
💕 A comical series of events.
💕 Persistent female lead. Determined to lose love and then find it again.
💕 Main male character is a bit grumpy and guarded.
💕 Main characters are oblivious to true love.
💕 The ending is honest and happy.

A fun romance with depth featuring my favorite trope, enemies to lovers. This will be a great one for the summer beach reads!

A big thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing and Netgalley for my ALC of French Holiday! Expected release date: April 26, 2023

I was intrigued by the cover and cover art and immediately requested this one. It's literally so cute and I knew I would be getting a good romcom from Sarah Ready!

This is your classic enemies-to-lovers story line and I was here for it. It's my absolute favorite romance troupe and Sarah gave us a slow burn, open door love story. I loved the whole "whoops, looks like there's only one bedroom/ bed here, guess we'll need to share" situation. There were several times where I actually laughed out loud and will absolutely not think of lobsters without also thinking of this book. You will find plenty of drama throughout the entire story and I was absolutely never bored. The only reason for the 4 stars was that the burn felt a little to slow for me.

The audio was killer on this one and I loved Kelsey Navarro! I would absolutely recommend listening to it or probably anything else she narrates.

Overall, come for the romance and steamy bit, stay for the comedy, drama, and mini mystery.

I really expected to love this one and it was just missing something. I found the main character annoying. I love enemies to lovers and was excited for Noah and Mary to do that but it was just meh.

This was such a charming and heartwarming story! I couldn't stop smiling while listening to the audiobook. The main characters, Merry and Noah, are both so likable and relatable and their witty and honest dialogue with each other had me rooting for them from the start. The story is about Merry, who's been in love with her sister's husband for years, but to escape her feelings, she decides to spend three months in a French chateau. But when she arrives, she finds out that Noah, her nemesis and Leo's best friend, is already staying there. Despite their initial bickering, they slowly become friends and start to develop feelings for each other. The audiobook narration by Kelsey Navarro was also excellent, bringing the story to life with her voice. Overall, it was a delightful and fun read that had me laughing and swooning. If you're looking for a cozy and heartwarming romance novel, I highly recommend picking this one up.

"Because that's the best kind of love. The kind where you love someone with your whole heart and they love you with their whole heart right back."⠀
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Sarah Ready, French Holiday⠀
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French Holiday by Sarah Ready is a fun romantic romp with a surprise mystery twist. Merry, the victim of a narcissistic sister and the unrequited love of her best friend, needs a break from her humdrum life and books a spontaneous trip to France to stay in a chateau owned by her larger than life family-friend. There she collides (quite literally) with her bff's best friend, Noah, and travel filmmaker. Their enemies to lovers story is adorable with picnics, renovations, art classes, and...rats and lobsters?! This is a delightful story that starts off like a romcom but develops into a beautiful and mysterious generational love story. I would recommend it to anyone who dreams of finding love in unexpected places.

"𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮, 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘺𝘯𝘪𝘤. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦'𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳... 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯."
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Dear Sarah Ready,

Please stop making me sob and feel all the feelings while listening to your audiobooks.

K, thanks.
______________________

One of the big themes of this book is unrequited love. A state I have known all too well throughout my life - one I lived in permanent until I started dating Matt. Obviously, looking back now, I'm grateful for all those people who wanted nothing more than friendship from me.

Also, additional kudos to Sarah, for her ability to write characters that are truly hateable. LOL because I wanted to crawl through my phone and punch Angela in the face.

Thank you Sarah, Swift & Lewis Publishing and @netgalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for this review!
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#bookstagram #booksta #books #booksbooksbooks #avidreader #ilovereading #thetwistedlibrarian #professionalbookworm #whatsnikkilisteningto #frenchholiday #sarahready #book24of2023 #audiobookreview #audiobook #meryandnoah #pierreandcamille #unrequitedlove #enemiestofriendstolovers #itwasalwaysyou #forcedproximity #onlyonebed

Look at this: Jessica listened to a romance book! Well chick-lit at least. And it was an entertaining listen! It was a fun/fluffy book to listen to, and had several cliché tropes to it: unrequited love, best friend marries sister, and enemies to lovers. Of course, there are more that I am not giving away! Like all chick lit reads, you are in it for the light heartedness and a fun beach read type book. And you get that with French Holiday.

We experience the wedding of Merry’s sister to Leo and meet Noah, the guy she instantly hates. And he keeps popping back up in Merry’s life when she would rather never see him again! And one of those places is a French castle that she is staying at for three months!

Of course, you know where the story will end and we have a journey to get there. Some parts were a bit much for me- there is an over-the-top extended scene starring a lobster that was very similar to the scene from the Little Mermaid. It just went on way to long for me! But that lobster was entertaining to say the least!

For most of the novel it was a three-star read for me, until we find out something about Noah, and then I was ready for the rest of the story! It picked up for me after that. We also had a bit of a mystery involving a painting that pulls things together and gives some intrigue to the story.

This was a first novel for me from the author and narrator. I did enjoy the story and narration. If you enjoy romcom/ chick lit/ romance you should give it a try! Many thanks to the publisher for granting me an audio-arc to listen to.

Rom-com with a mystery to solve -- yes, please!
Kelsey Navarro brought Sarah Ready's heroine, Merry, to life in this audiobook. I enjoyed every minute of it.
Merry's (oblivious!) sister just married the only man Merry has ever loved. She accepts an offer from her (fairy???) godmother to vacation in a (crumbling!) castle in the French countryside. Merry knows her French holiday will fix everything. Until she finds Noah—the best man at her sister’s wedding and the worst man she’s ever known—staying in her castle. It's hate at first sight and a holiday where nothing goes right until they find a truce—and a mystery to solve. Together!
I loved this story. Except the lobster...he creeped me out. I loved everything else! The characters are charming (even the grumpy ones and the narcissistic one). Ready's descriptions bring the decrepit chateau and the French sights into vivid view.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun and funny romantic story with some grumpy/sunshine, friends-to-lovers, French neighbor love triangles, and a mystery.

French Holiday was available in the “Listen Now” on Netgalley. I'm always looking for armchair travel plus I’ve been meaning to try out Netgalley’s audiobook feature for a while now, so this seemed like the perfect little getaway.

Merry DeLuca is in unrequited love with her best friend, but as soon as he meets her sister, he falls in instalove. Merry is tired of watching her sister live out her dream and sick of her demoralizing job. So when her godmother offers her use of her chateau in France, Merry jumps at the chance to escape. But the chateau is a crumbling mess, and Merry finds out she is not the only one staying there. Her nemesis (and only person to realize she is in love with her now brother-in-law) is also staying there. And neither is willing to leave.

The story makes use of a lot of romance tropes: enemies to lovers, only one bed, and grumpy X sunshine. Merry was a bit formulaic as a heroine, nevertheless, she was an endearing, loveable character who was easy to root for. Noah was not as lovable. I’m not really into the emotionally damaged moody hero with a secret type. But he did grow on me. And just when I thought the plot was following the predictable path, it did curve enough to keep me interested. Swoon level and spice level were somewhere midway on the scale - satisfying but no irreparable scorch marks.

I appreciated the nod to gothic tropes even though it wasn't a gothic story. It does have a little bit of the formula of a gothic romance: a young woman goes to a crumbling manor house, things go wrong, and there is a brooding love interest with a secret. So even though the atmosphere was not gothic, it still was a fun little nod.

The story fulfilled enough of my wanderlust, but admittedly it wasn't a major focus. There are some scenery descriptions and a fair amount about food, but other than spending time with two of her neighbors, Merry didn't explore the area or culture. She barely even went into the town. Nevertheless, the descriptions were enough for me to add Annecy to my travel list. But I would have loved a more immersive travel experience. My wanderlust is never satisfied.

Overall, French Holiday is a great summer romance or beach read if you want something fun, light, and with a little French scenery.

Super cute story! A quick read and a lighthearted but deep story.

The characters were very like-able and I appreciated the story like of Noah searching for his father versus it just being the typical boy meets girl trope.

I’m going to start off by saying I absolutely loved the narration on this, and I will definitely go look for other books narrated by Kelsey Navarro; she made the book so much more enjoyable.

Now about the book itself; the storyline was really entertaining. And though some cliche tropes were used and I usually can’t stand that, it didn’t bother me much. Because there was too much other stuff going on. Speaking of that; for a while there I couldn’t stop listening. I was hooked. I thought it was going to become a new favorite, then it just became too much. What I mean by that is too much was happening, and it went on way too long. I had to take breaks because it became exhausting. Don’t get me wrong though, I still liked it, but if a lot was cut out, I could have loved it.

Now about the characters. First off, I loved Noah. I don’t have one bad word to say about him. Merry, on the other hand, my feelings are complicated. Sometimes I liked her, sometimes I found her unbearable. Being stuck in her head with her frustrating thoughts didn’t help matters much either. The side characters also had a mix of people I either liked (ex: Jupiter) or were indifferent to (ex: Pierre) or just disliked (ex: her sister). However, it was a fun mix of characters all the same.

Finally, the romance; I have got to say the romance was my favorite part. This was the enemies to friends to lovers trope done perfectly. Okay, they had a few annoying obstacles I’m going to ignore and I admit sometimes I wasn’t sure Merry deserved him, but besides that, I absolutely loved them and was rooting for them from the start.

Overall, despite its flaws, this was a delightful read, and I’ll be checking out more books by this author in the future.

This story was a lot cuter than I thought it was going to be...Noah as a character, I truly enjoyed and I loved Merry's journey of self discovery. I thought that the premise was fun and put Merry in the understandable position of needing the out of fleeing to France (her sister Angela married Merry's best friend/big time crush Leo) and the only one bed trope in a crumbling French chateau, was chef's kiss.

Merry's history of her parents disappointing her and Angela's self centeredness (even if Merry didn't see it) was sad and I'm glad that with the help of Noah and her own self discovery she better learned how to navigate it and heal. It was also great that in her effort to heal and explore herself that she also started to better understand Noah and is motivations and help him in his journey. I'm glad that they were both able to heal and discover more of themselves during their time at the château and wink, wink get together.

Kelsey Navarro's narration was perfect for this book and I greatly enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC.

FRENCH HOLIDAY By Sarah Ready

Merry DeLuca has a problem—a big problem. Her sister just married her best friend and the only man she’s ever loved. Her life is rapidly spiraling down the drain and she doesn’t have an escape plan.
So when Merry is offered a three-month holiday living in a romantic castle in the French countryside she leaps at the chance. Merry knows her French holiday will fix everything—there will be mouthwatering pastries, delicious (meaningless) flirtations, and languid strolls through vineyards at sunset. Her holiday will be perfect.
At least, Merry believes that until she arrives and finds Noah Wright—the best man at her sister’s wedding and the worst man she’s ever known—staying in her castle.

😊What i liked -

✔ Enemies To Lovers/Vacation Romance/Grumpy-Sunshine/Rom-Com
✔ OMG i died laughing in this one. There is a long list of instances that were super funny which involved cucumber, rats, lobster, cockroaches and so on.
✔ Merry was such a relatable character, Always keeping everyone else (especially her sister) before her.
✔ Noah has the silent type swoon and sexiness.
✔ I absolutely love allllll the side characters in this. (okay not all but mostly all).
✔This book is a good combination of heartaches, laughs and spicy swoon.

Audiobook :

✔ I read this book while listening to the audiobook, and let me tell you I enjoyed the book more I think because of it.
✔ Kelsey Navarro's voice is a perfect fit for Merry's character.
✔ Kelsey managed to get Merry's emotions across so well and not only her's but of the side characters too. (it was an absolute pleasure to hear)

🤔What could have been better -

✔ I had a bit of a problem with Merry's sister's character. It felt like she was left off quite easily.

📚Who Should read :
👶Beginners
💝Romance Lover
💕Enemies To Lovers Romance
🏰Vacation Romance

📈My Rating : 4/5


Thank You, Sarah Ready. Swift & Lewis Publishing and Netgalley ,for a copy.

Book Name: French Holiday
Series: NA
Author: Sarah Ready (Kelsey Navarro)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Is there anything quite as painful as unrequited love? If anyone would know, it’s Merry. She been in love with her friend Leo for years and the day she finally builds up the courage to tell him how she feels, he meets Merry’s sister and falls instantly in love. They’re engaged the next day.

Merry finds herself in France, in her godmothers chateau as she tries to take some time for herself and maybe sort out her life and priorities. It just so happens that Noah, Leo’s best friend and her nemesis, is also staying in the chateau for work.

I don’t listen to a lot of audiobooks but I really enjoyed this one. The voice artist was good and really got you into the story. The mystery that ran along in the background to the romance had you guess what was going to happen and there were lots of funny moments to keep things interesting. The whole lobster thing had me laughing along as it just got more and more ridiculous.

Their relationship was sweet and I liked how it evolves throughout the book. It’s a very slow burn, but also doesn’t really feel like it. Though if you’re waiting for spice it doesn’t happen until like 80% through the book. Also, can I please just mention the scene near the start of the book with all the condoms!!! HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF A BIN! On the floor? In the bathroom? IN THE BED!! Animals. 😂

Thanks to #NetGallery and Swift and Lewis Publishing for the free advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Genre: Romance
Format: Audio
POV: Single
Spice: 🌶️ /5
Age suggestion:

Thankyou to netgalley & the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

There was so much going on in here, but in the best way! The main plot was about Merry, who needed to make a change and decided to go to France. There were a few different subplots, surrounding Noah & there new french friends. I loved Noah, and I loved Noah and merry together. All the tropes!! They had enemies/friends - lovers, forced proximity, one bed! If you love a good romance, this one's for you

This was a fun read. I felt like the story dragged on a bit but was still enjoyable.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC