Really good story about a woman redoing a house in France, beautiful setting. enjoyed this very much.

This is definitely going to be one of my best reads of the year. If you can read one book this summer, then you gotta read it. This gave me some The Idea Of You vibe but imagine it happening in a picturesque Chateau in France.
The last few chapters were a little hard for me to read because I knew the other shoe was going to drop. But it was do worth it.

A Perfect Vintage has the most gorgeous scenery, food, and setting - I wanted to drop everything and immediately run away to France. The pacing of the book moved reasonably quickly and I found it an engaging read. I enjoyed the way everything came together at the end. The romance didn’t quite captivate me as much as I hoped and I found it a little convoluted at times but overall this was a fun and gorgeously set read.

Enjoyable book, though a little slow at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Perfect Vintage makes me want to uproot my entire life and move to France! This was a sophisticated read with excellent characters that you easily fall in love. The romance blossoms beautifully and while it’s not truly spicy, you feel the romantic longing of Lea and Théo. The setting of a château in France is well written and it’s easy to get lost in the rich beauty of the descriptions. When I read this book, I think of the French château from the movie, “The Hundred-Food Journey”. Overall this is a well written book about love, second chances, family relationships and society expectations. I would highly recommend this book and suggest reading it with a glass of rosé and some smart French music playing in the background!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orsay Press for this advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Lea Mortimer is a successful consultant who specializes in converting old French estates into luxury hotels. As a single and childless woman, she enjoys her independence and the challenges of working with the demanding French aristocracy. However, when her cousin Stephanie Bryce goes through a difficult divorce, Lea agrees to take her and her daughter to the Loire Valley for the summer. Despite her reservations, Stephanie and her daughter accompany Lea on her latest renovation project, and their presence threatens to disrupt the project's timeline.

As Lea navigates her complicated relationships with her clients and colleagues, she finds herself drawn to the son of her boss, who is much younger than she is. But as she falls deeper into the affair, Lea discovers that the chateau is a hotbed of familial conflict, with inheritance battles and betrayals threatening to destroy everything she's worked for. With her carefully constructed life at stake, Lea must confront the risks of losing control and the possibility of a shattered heart.





Regenerate response

Thanks to NetGalley, Chelsea Fagan, and publisher for the ARC!

I really enjoyed the story of a consultant transforming an old chateau in France who brings her closest family along for the trip. Her work is made even more difficult as she tries to navigate new and old relationships and has to decide what is most important to her. A Perfect Vintage was an easy and enjoyable read, and although I personally thought the characters were a little one dimensional I recommend this relaxing read! 3.6 stars!

A Perfect Vintage is a fantastic debut from Chelsea Fagan! If you like an international romance but don’t want something too explicit, this is a great read.

feel very lucky to have received an ARC of this, especially as I was excited for this book after seeing the author Chelsea Fagan post online about the release.

No surprise from my rating, I personally really enjoyed this book ~ as someone who doesn’t typically read much romance, this read contained a good mix of romance, a bit of spice and an entertaining plot in its own right. I loved the writing style and felt it was easy to immerse myself into the story, to see the chateau and imagine the characters.
Also I LOVE the cover, it’s stunning.

I can imagine this would be a perfect summer holiday read, if (and when) Chelsea releases another book I look forward to checking it out as well, from this book it is clear to see she is very talented.

First and foremost I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC*

Lea is the type of woman who doesn’t mix work and pleasure. That is when you throw in a summer in the French countryside in a very large château home to some very good looking men and her soon to be divorced cousin in the mix.

What was suppose to be a getaway/ work trip slowly turns into a summer of love.

Lea soon founds out that there is more to life than always being serious.

I highly enjoyed the relationships between the characters. How strong a family can truly be.

Rounded up from 4.5 stars

I loved this book, and think I'd have loved it even more had I been sitting on a beach or poolside rather than reading it from my Kindle Web Browser at work. I was rooting so hard for Lea and Theo, and it was great to read about an "older" female protagonist. Feminism! The side characters here are so well fleshed out, and the French countryside setting is *chefs kiss*. I would die to stay at this hotel.

My slight gripes: I didn't loooove the "addict brother is the devil" villain subplot, it felt a little one-note. Lea's dismissal of Theo as a person based on his age also infuriated me a lot of the time... but it was supposed to, so alas.

All in all, I had a great time with Chelsea Fagan's debut novel - thank you to NetGalley & Orsay Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orsay Press for the advance copy!

This was an unexpectedly fun read - well written and plotted, fun without being too fluffy, with a wonderful setting and rich details sprinkled throughout.

Set in the French countryside during an unforgettable summer, A Perfect Vintage follows American Lea as she works to restore a family's chateau into a boutique hotel. Accompanied by some last minute guests, she navigates her work in France with family and romantic relationships without being over the top and too cutesy, as is the way most romance novels are.

Definitely for fans of The Idea of You, but I did enjoy the France setting and details from Lea's work on the chateau, French food, fashion, and wine.

A perfect spring/summer read!

This book ruined my sleep schedule.

I picked this up shortly after receiving the email that it was available for me to read and couldn't help but read it whenever I had free time. I was able to cut myself off at midnight the first night, but the second night I was up until 2AM because I just HAD to see how the story wrapped up.

Part of me is disappointed that I didn't read it while next to a body of water with a cold drink nearby, because A Perfect Vintage makes for the perfect summer read. The setting is magical, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a number of readers book trips to France after finishing this. It's a story packed with romance, betrayal, a dizzying amount of family drama, and so much more. I was surprised at the number of characters in the book, but the author did a great job of integrating them and making them important to the story in their own way. The writing was easy to follow, with the perfect amount of detail used throughout.

A Perfect Vintage was a pleasant surprise and one of my favorite books of 2023. I had a lot of fun reading this and highly recommend it.

Special thanks to Orsay Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

What a beautiful escape and quite the learning experience this was. While I enjoyed this book, I did not read it quickly - felt very lengthy and that it took me a long time to get through it. Not necessarily a bad thing, I just prefer a faster paced book that holds my interest for long periods of time.

Unlike any other book I’ve ever read. The perfect balance of introspective character-driven development and the fun and messiness of a romance where characters need to get out of their own way. I absolutely loved the descriptions of the details of the hotel, meals, and intricacies of the culture — it’s obvious the author has spent enough time in French culture and around French people to help bring the lovely and sometimes silly (but always loving!) details of it to us. I also loved the main character, her relationships, baggage and personality were very relatable to a lot of women I know.

I highly recommend this book paired with a pool day where you are sipping a fun drink and feel amazing.

I hope to see more from this author in the future!

I absolutely loved reading this book. I was completely drawn into the topic and could not stop reading it.

Lea Mortimer owner of LeMor Consulting, is leaving in exactly three weeks for the Loire Valley in central France to work with the Lévesque family. She’s been hired to transform the neglected country estates and vineyards of defunct French aristocracy into a trendy boutique hotels.

But then she receives an urgent phone call from her friend Stephanie who confides in her that she’s finally left her husband and is staying at an Airbnb. Lea offers Stephanie her place since she’s traveling to France for work. But Stephanie insists that she and her daughter Maya could use a change of scenery and then asks Lea to take them with her to France.

An interesting contemporary read with beautiful characters and lovely setting. I enjoyed this book
Thank you to Chelsea Fagan, NetGalley and Orsay Press LLC – Orsay Press for the arc of this book

The setting, a French countryside, is what drew me to read A Perfect Vintage. I’m always looking for books set in places I want to visit. Lea is a thirty six year old woman who owns a business focused on transforming old chateus into chic boutique hotels. Her best friend/cousin is in the depths of a messy divorce and asks to tag along with her daughter on Lea’s summer project at a chateau in the Loire Valley. The friend falls for the chateau owner while Lea secretly dates the owners son. Not surprisingly it turns messy and Lea’s career and relationships are on the line.

This is Chelsea Fagan’s debut novel and there were elements I really enjoyed so I’d consider reading another book by her. I appreciated that the main character was 36. It’s nice to have a slightly older protagonist. I also liked the setting but felt there could be more sense of place. Besides Lea’s age there wasn’t much to like about her. I found her to be self absorbed, particularly in her actions following a family feud and again when she details her “life saving sex” to her ex partner. Overall it was on ok read and I’d recommend it someone who loves France and is looking for a predictable, light read.

If you like French Countryside settings, summer romance, reverse age gap, and messy problems, look no further, this book is for you.

Lea was 36yo, a successful career woman, perfectionist and independent. Unfortunately, she was not lucky in the love department since she had trauma from her mother’s relationship with men. So she kept herself guarded with high walls, only to fall in love with a man 12 years younger than her, whom her niece had a crush on.

Theo was 24yo and one of the youngest sons of the French family, where Lea was working as a consultant in their chateau. He’s thoughtful, helpful and lively, not forget to mention handsome.

The first half of this book was kind of a struggle for me to read. I thought I would see how Lea fell in love with Theo in more depth, but I felt the chemistry was just not there. By the second half, I was getting more frustrated. How Lea dealt with the complications of her relationship with Theo also felt immature. And I’m not a believer in insta love, so when Lea’s cousin, Stephanie, fell head over heels for Lea’s boss during her ongoing divorce battle, I was put off by this book. It’s like, hello mistake, please meet bad decision.

It could be bad timing when I read this book. I don’t hate it but I don't love it either.

Thank you NetGalley, the Publisher and the author for the eARC, in exchange for my honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing this read. All opinions are my own.
First, I'd like to acknowledge that I follow the author on her social media platforms and through her career in podcasting, on Youtube, and as an author for her company The Financial Diet. As a fan of her work for a long time, I was thrilled to hear she fulfilled a personal goal by writing a novel. Truly a gift to us all!
APV hit me at the sweet spot for recreational reading; funny, sexy, smart, engaging, plus that elusive quality of escapism wherein I want to be Lea Mortimer and live her life in France.
On the surface, Lea appears chic and effortless; underneath she's keeping tight control through her spreadsheets and timelines. Her business life and personal life collide while Lea is leading her current project towards completion. The stunning backdrop of a hotel in the Loire Valley sets the scene for sultry flirtations to develop into deeper romances. Lea's self-imposed high expectations and stringent deadlines are threatened every time she relaxes her guard. Interpersonal relationships are a key element to plot development, and Lea and her cousin/bestie Stephanie navigate complex situations with the raw emotion that often accompanies our closest relationships.
As if that weren't enough, rich descriptions of clothing and food paint a visual picture. The vocabulary and writing style are delicious. The sexytimes are just spicy enough. The ending, while not quite what I expected, delivers!
Highly recommend for any summertime/vacation reading; it's getting a place on my library's shelf!