The Little Swiss Ski Chalet

This is the first book from Julia Caplin that I have read and wow, I’ve been missing out. I loved everything about this book and the food angle was really wonderful to read and learn about.
Minas zest for life was refreshing and I loved the growth she made as a person. As much as I loved Luke, my favourite character was Kristian. I’m now off to download more from Julia.

Instagram : @Raena_Reads

I’m not usually a romance/rom com reader but boy, has 2020 changed that! They are so fun and cathartic and easy to read. I chose The Little Swiss Ski Chalet because hello, FOOD! I loved Mina’s zest for life and her relationships with her godmother and with food. I loved that while there is a romantic element to the plot, the book seemed to focus more on Mina’s self-awareness and growth. While her relationship with Luke was a factor in her changing future and plans, it didn’t read as Mina becoming a better person because of a guy. Luke was a difficult character for me to wrap my head around...there was just something in cohesive about all his traits and experiences and while the romance was cute, I felt maybe Mina and Luke were too similar/too perfect for each other. The hints of possible shadiness and secret didn’t work for me, and the “love triangle”/jealous friend subplot was completely unnecessary. Lastly I am not a steamy romance book reader but I will say, for all the mentions of lust and electricity, I was a bit surprised that the romance was so “closed door,” it felt like it was leading up to SOMETHING but all we got was “Luke spent the night” or “They said their final goodbye under the cover of night” (not exact quotes). Overall I really enjoyed the book and all its food, travel, and Swiss culture. And now I need to read all the other books in the series!

CW: cancer, heart attack, death of parents

The Little Swiss Ski Chalet was the perfect cute contemporary romance for the season. Mina escapes on an two week adventure to the Swiss Alps to find herself and heal from a romance gone horribly wrong. With help from her strong supportive godmother, Mina grows as a character.

This is my first dive into Caplin's writing. Her imagery of the setting is absolutely divine. Add she created a cast of interesting and well thought out characters. I adored the interactions between the characters. The romance followed the usual format of a meet cute, conflict, and resolution. And let's not forget the food! I love a good read with delicious meals, a tasty love interest and an absolutely rich setting. Despite being a bit predictable, this was a perfect holiday read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review The Little Swiss Ski Chalet.

Forget about packing your bags, instead slip away for Julie Caplin's Swiss escape read! A jarring meet-cute leaves Mina sprawling over Luke as the train leaves the station. Putting aside her pointy elbows, Luke and Mina share stories, chocolate and a serendipitous surprise that leaves both wanting to continue the conversation after reaching their destination.

Picking up the pieces of her broken heart, Mina embraces a rejuvenating vacation and swears off her impetuous ways. Vowing to look before she leaps, the handsome stranger's stirring kiss makes her rethink her decision.

The lull of the Alps, coziness of the chalet and the tantalizing smell of chocolate will tempt Mina with a delicious European divergence. Readers will find themselves curling up under the cover equipped with a steaming cup of hot chocolate to indulge in Caplin's latest adventure.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the early edition in exchange for an honest review. Having an engaging escape read to review during the pandemic was a delectable treat. I could almost smell the chocolate and the fresh mountain air from my living room. I didn't want to check out of the 'Little Swiss Ski Chalet!".

I’ve just finished the first chapter and stopped to tell you...
THIS is the first book I have read in a LONG time where I feel like I KNOW these CHARACTERS and I could comfortably sit around the table with them, like old friends. What WONDERFUL WRITING!

Mina our main character struggles throughout this book to discover what she really wants out of life, what will make her happy and satisfied. I think this is something most of us can relate to and this is the strength of this novel.

I highly recommend this wonderfully written, next level novel which combines deep and meaningful, with light and uplifting. I’m so happy to have a new author in Julie Caplin to add to my favourite author list!

Bravissimo to Julie.

- The blurb from the publisher, as they do it best. -

Preorder the new book in Julie’s bestselling series for a slice of escapism at the turn of a page!
‘Up there with the best of them…A big, fat five stars from me’ Sue Moorcroft.
‘An irresistible slice of escapism’ Phillipa Ashley.

It’s time to pack your bags and head to the breathtaking, snow-covered peaks of the Swiss Alps for velvety hot chocolates, delicious cheeses and a gorgeous love story…
Food technician Mina has always believed that chocolate will solve everything – and it’s just what she needs when her latest relationship mishap goes viral!

So with her bags packed and a new determination to sort her life out, Minna decides to drown her sorrows with the best hot chocolate in the world at her godmother’s cosy Swiss chalet. Chocolate: yes. Romance: no. Until she has a run in on an Alpine train with a mysterious but oh-so-gorgeous stranger…

Thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for an advance copy.
#TheLittleSwiss SkiChalet #omcreads #OneMoreChapter #NetGalley #BubblyBookReviewer

(Amazon & other social media will be shared closer to publication date)

Chocolate... check!
Cheese... check!
Snow... check!
Skiing and Snowboarding... check!
A real feel that you have been in Switzerland while reading... check!
Made to feel hungry while reading... check!
Wonderful attention to detail and enchanting storyline.... check!

I mean what more do you want, or need me to to tell you have the latest standalone Romantic Escapes book! It's wonderful, I feel as though I've spent some time in the Swiss Alps, and met some truly wonderful people.

I would love to stay at Amelie's Swiss Chalet. She has such a way of mixing her guess, and bringing them out of themselves. I found I felt as though I was there alongside all of her regulars. And it was just so cozy, and even featured a daily cake each afternoon.

And the Swiss food and cooking, especially their cakes had me continually hungry as I was reading this. Then again so did the whole of the Cheese and Chocolate train journey and I was fascinated by Minna's love of improving recipes, and the science behind the food.

Actually I just loved all of Minna's personality and wish i was as impulsive as she is, then again if I was able to swap lives with her, I'd also have multiple serendipitous meetings with the luscious Luke! And I wouldn't say no to him!

There is just so so much to love about this book but I don't want to spoil any of of it for you. It is just so wonderful and another excellent addition to this amazing series. Although Switzerland in winter is certainly a lot colder than the countries I tend to favour, I loved its picturesque charms and really wish I was able to visit a real live ski resort at some point.

I just really really loved this book, and it was perfect to curl up with while at the time of reading, rueing the real life travel restrictions in place. What an incredibly lovely book that I couldn't get enough of.

Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Well, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to go to Switzerland now! The Little Swiss Ski Chalet by Julie Caplin was a great little story of finding what makes you happy. After Mina gloriously blows up her relationship in grand fashion, she decides a two-week holiday to visit her godmother in the Swiss Alps is the best solution. On her way there she runs into Luke.....physically runs into him and the chemistry is instant. What follows is a great tale of finding what makes you happy while enjoying each day to the fullest. While reading this book, I kept looking up things to do in Switzerland and the best times to visit. This wasn’t a travel guide book but it definitely made me want to go to Switzerland! If nothing else to try all the cheese and chocolate!!! I’m pretty sure it’s serendipity....😉. As I received this through NetGalley from the publisher, I can tell you this was a great read. It is the 7th book in Julie’s Romantic Escapes series and I plan to read each and every one of them!

This book truly lives up to its title ( The Little Swiss Ski Chalet ) and its series (Romantic Escapes) as the cozy ski chalet in Switzerland serves as the ideal backdrop and setting for the story while you as the reader feel like you’re on holiday/vacation as you read through this sugary sweet romantic tale. As a side note, even though this is the seventh novel in the series, it can serve as a standalone novel. It was fantastic to discover that this author (Julie Caplin) also writes under the name Jules Wake as I recently read The Spark , which I greatly enjoyed. It was interesting as even though the two are written by the same person, the styles were distinct yet familiar.

We open with our main character, Mina’s life in Manchester, UK. She works in as a food chemist and recipe developer for a packaged food brand, but her creativity gets stifled by the company’s desire to not branch out from the classics too far. She lives the seemingly ideal home life as she is the “hostess with the mostest” as the theme party queen among her group of friends as she hosts them in her small apartment. Simon is also the perfect guy in her life as they’ve previously discussed moving in together, marriage, and kids. Not only is he a great boyfriend, but he also has been Mina’s most successful relationship, and longest lasting, to date. During Mina’s latest theme party, a Mexican theme night, her proposal to Simon goes awry and maybe this isn’t the right path for her anymore due to Simon not being exactly who she thought he was.

Given the events in Manchester, Mina uses her time off to finally visit her godmother in Reckington, Switzerland at her newer ski chalet. She goes into this trip not expecting much, but you never know what can happen when you take a chance and have a new adventure. This small alpine village located in the Swiss Alps (perfect skiing and hiking country) serves as Mina’s temporary new home as she tries to put her life back together and decide where she wants to go from here. Through her journey, she meets a great cast of characters that were all well-written and each have their own backstory and play their parts in the story. Each character was great and there wasn’t one that I didn’t dislike. There isn’t a huge amount of depth for most of the characters, but you don’t expect them to in this type of story. Our main newer love interest does get his own backstory and character growth along with our main girl Mina getting her own character growth too which gave this story just enough complexity while still being a light-hearted escape read.

Switzerland is truly a standout location for this novel as it is written as a fairy tale type landscape. I’ve been lucky enough to have visited twice and I can never get over how magical it seems and it just makes you content as you stare out into the landscape. I found the love story with chocolate to be extremely relatable as it is true that it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t like chocolate (unfortunately I’m one of them – I don’t dislike it, but I just prefer fruit type products more and I know I’m a rarity). Luke played an excellent guide when it came to teaching Mina about outdoor sports and it made me want to go immediately to the mountains as I wanted to try cross-country skiing! I also need to get back over to this country apparently as I never knew there was a chocolate and cheese train that I am now anxious to try!

Overall, this novel fed the foodie in me and gave fuel to my wanderlust tendencies. It served its purpose as a sweet romantic novel and also gave a nice easy read. As long as you go into it fully expecting some improbable (not impossible though) events and some cheesy moments, then it’s hard to find faults. There’s always more that I wish every novel could have done, but with this one I found it to be a heart-warming escape read that gave the “adopted” family away from blood-related family vibes, community feelings, learning about yourself no matter your age, and living your dreams to do what makes you happy and not what others always expect of you while having a nice support system. I fully plan to go back and read the first six in the series and will now anxiously wait for the eighth, where we visit Mina’s sister Hannah in Ireland to be released!

**Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK, OneMore Chapter for my ARC to read. I enjoyed the opportunity to read this novel and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

Loved this book! It was so Christmassy but also perfect for January as it’s all about new beginnings and changing your life! The main characters are really likeable and I was gutted when I finally finished the book. I’ve recommended it to my mum already and bought her the first few in the series to read.

It made me want to visit Switzerland ! I learnt so much about it - I feel naive that I didn’t realise how different the way of life was over there. I’m not sure if I’d be able to embrace the trains as much as Mina does but I definitely relate to the love of chocolate and cheese. I found myself googling all of the places she visited and looking at images and thinking ‘why have I never visited?!’.

It was a really feel-good heart warming book. 5/5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! One of the best ones I’ve ever received.

If you think you are going to be able to read this book without a bar of chocolate on hand, you are living dangerously close to the edge. You just wait until the protagonist enters a boutique chocolate shop and the author seduces your salivary glands with her prose. Trust me, you’ll be reaching for the chocolate. Julie Caplin’s ‘The Little Swiss Chalet’ to be published January 30, 2012, is the seventh book in the Romantic Escapes series. Perfectly enjoyed as a stand-alone, this is exactly what the world needs right now – escape from our lockdown and an opportunity to travel again!

Mina from Manchester thought she had it all: the perfect job as a food technician, supportive family, and a dreamy boyfriend who not only lasted longer than the other men in her life but was open to discussing marriage and moving in together. In true Mina style, she planned a Mexican themed party complete with a pinata and was brazen enough to propose to Simon in front of all their friends. Unfortunately, getting married to Mina wasn’t Simon’s long-range plan and suddenly the fiesta wasn’t the only thing wrecked in Mina’s life. Escaping from ‘Smurfgate,’ Mia hotfoots off to her aunt’s ski chalet in Reckington, a small alpine village in the foothills of the Swiss Alps. Will two weeks help her refocus and clear her mind of Simon? Does she discover that chocolate really does solve everything?

I don’t often reach for a romance novel because I find them too sickly sweet and oftentimes too raunchy for my liking. However, I took a gamble on this one because I love travelling and trying different foods. This read surpassed my expectations. Not only was my inner foodie satisfied, but also my wanderlust at a time when travel is restricted. Caplin’s easy reading story, filled with a cast of interesting and relatable chalet guests, and the perfect mix of romance will tug at your heartstrings. You’ll be rooting for this strong-willed and clever protagonist as she struggles with who she is and what she’s looking for in a romance. You’ll love it when Mina finds a connection and obvious chemistry with one of the guests; finally, a couple who are worthy of each other. Perhaps you’ll even giggle to yourself as I did and think that she can throw away the bottle of hair dye as she won’t be needing it this time around! As is true of this genre, there’s conflict challenging Mina’s relationships that needs to be overcome and in doing so she experiences unconditional love leaving the ending on a high note. Willy Wonka, eat your heart out! I will be reading the previous 6 books in this series and anxiously awaiting the next heartwarming instalment, book 8, where readers will be travelling to Ireland with Mina’s sister, Hannah.

Thank you to Julie Caplin, Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for this 5-star advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

You better have a hot chocolate in hand when snuggling up on the couch with this cozy winter romance, because WOW the author's writing won't only appeal to your heart, but also your love and craving for chocolate. It's the author's descriptive writing that really shines in this book – in a year defined by being confined to your home, I actually felt as if I had travelled along with Mina to a cute European ski town (if only I actually had!)

This is not typically the kind of romance I read, but I was feeling something lighter and fluffier since it's the holidays and it's been a rough year. The Little Swiss Ski Chalet was exactly what I was looking for – the perfect blend of adventure, romance, and the holidays, not to mention the FOOD! There is likely something about Mina that everyone will be able to relate to, whether it comes to her work life, love life, or family life! When it comes to her romance with Luke, it was exactly the sweet and heartwarming romance I was looking for.

If you're looking for some holiday escapist fun this winter, I highly suggest transporting yourself to this European ski town with Mina, Luke, and the gang!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.