This was a feel good book about how the past shapes us but lets us know you alone choose your future . It is set in a beautiful part of the world and the title conjures up summer days with the scent of lavender on the air .
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review the book

Tempeste worked in New York as a restaurant critic. After her father’s death she inherits a small inheritance and buys an old house in need of repairs in Sainte-Colombe in Provence.
Tempeste finally gets a chance to move away from her controlling grandmother and discovers the villager where her mother once lived.
Lots of nostalgia and rediscovered memories.
I loved the way Tempeste gradually discovers who she is and the life her mother lived in the small village.
A love story with lots of descriptions of delicious food, friendships and family relationships.
A pleasure to read.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Muse Publishers for the chance to read and review this E-Book. I loved it.

Heartwarming, enchanting, and full of hope, this book grabbed me within the first few pages. "The Memory of Lavender and Sage" reminds us that the past may help shape us, but we alone can choose our future and decide what makes us truly happy. With memorable characters, an idillic French countryside setting, a splash of whimsy, and included recipes referenced in the story, this would make an excellent book club pick.

I loved everything about “The Memory of Lavender and Sage” by Aimie K. Runyan. In this captivating and well-written novel, the author writes in a sensory manner, and vividly describes the scenery and the landscape as well as the colorful and dramatic characters. Not only can I see the plants, and the food, but I can smell, and feel them. There is feeling of magic in the air. The genres for this novel are Historical Fiction, Romance, France, Magical Realism, Family Drama, and Fiction. The story takes place in a small province in France and New York.

The author describes her characters as complex and complicated. Some come from dysfunctional families. The female protagonist, Tempesta, is a food critic, and feels uncomfortable with her family. Tempesta’s mother passed away when she was a thirteen, and she was brought up by a cold and indifferent grandmother and a father that works compulsively. When her father passes away, her brother Wal reads the will, and Tempesta doesn’t inherit anything from her father. She is left with an envelope with some money that belonged to her mother. Tempesta has always been drawn to France, her Mother’s home.

Tempesta is captivated by a run-down in the French village, and purchases it. The Mayor and some of the people don’t seem to want Tempesta there. She gets help from some of the people, and starts to fix the house. Tempesta realizes that there are secrets that her mother had, and she wants to discover them, and herself. Tempesta has an unusual talent of growing herbs and plants.

I appreciate how the author discusses the importance of family, friends, communication, honesty, love and hope. There is also a wonderful section of recipes. I highly recommend this charming, delightful, memorable and thought-provoking novel to everyone

This book was not what I expected at all. The setting was beautiful and charming. The kind of place I hope to visit some day. I did find that this book kind of dragged for me. It was beautifully written. It felt like it drifted a lot of the time. When I was relaxed, it was a good read.

This book is one that makes the reader think about the meaning and importance of family as well as the idea that life is something more than how much money we make or how many hours we work. The narrator, Tempesta, suddenly loses her father after having lost her mother when she was a teenager. Her grandmother is cold to her and makes Tempesta feel as if she doesn't belong in her family. Tempesta works as a food critic in the United States but decides to go to her mother's village in France and buys a small house there with the small inheritance from her mother (her brother got the lion's share, from the father), sight unseen. Although she is not initially welcomed by everyone there (some call her a witch), she comes to make a life there, coming to understand that a life is more than going to work each day and making money. She gets out of the rat race and discovers that the community is all around her and she finds her own true talents, in spite of the pressure placed upon her by her brother who wants her to come home to help him run the family business, that is literally making him ill.
There are wonderful characters in this book, beautiful descriptions and important and meaning messages for the reader (without being didactic). I definitely look forward to reading future books by Ms. Runyan.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse for providing me with the opportunity to read this wonderful book.

This book was so beautifully written! Aimie K. Runyan’s books are some of my favorite and The Memory of Lavender and Sage did not disappoint.
This contemporary fiction novel featuring Tempesta Luddington, the black sheep of her family, was just incredible. I absolutely loved reading of Tempesta’s courage in finding and pursuing her family legacy in the beautiful Provence region in France. I felt like I was transported to her greenhouse, tasting her pesto, and drinking her fresh mint mojitos. I would absolutely recommend this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

If you’ve visited any of the gorgeous villages in France’s Haute Provence, The Memory Of Lavender And Sage will be a wonderful reminder of what you’ve experienced during your time there. If you haven’t yet been to that part of the world, this book will definitely help immerse you in the landscape. The imagery throughout this book is exquisite and it's clear that Aimie Runyan is very familiar with the landscape, the villages and the people there.
I loved the story of Tempèsta and her discovery of a place to belong and family she didn’t know she had. She’s such a beautifully drawn character that it was easy to imagine her strolling through her greenhouse talking to her herbs or creating magic in her kitchen. While this is her story, there were many other characters who helped to create a sense of welcome and belong, at least after a while, and a sense of promise for the future. The herbs in this story are almost characters in their own right, each representing a feeling, for example basil for love. It was fascinating watching the village of Sainte-Colombe transforming from a tired place where people, businesses and homes were slowly dying to somewhere filled with beauty and vitality thanks to the seeds sown by Tempésta and her friends. This story is filled with hope, sunshine, a sense of regeneration and belong and is one I’ll read again for sure.
Oh, and there are recipes, wonderful recipes at the end! What more could you want?

A charming and wonderfully atmospheric book about a young woman who moves to a small village in Provence and discovers her late mother's roots and secrets. She buys a run-down but charming old house and goes about rehabilitating it, which was rather reminiscent of other books and shows ("Under the Tuscan Sun" and "The Durrells in Corfu" come to mind), but I'm a bit of a sucker for that storyline. I enjoyed the developing relationships between Tempesta and the locals and learning about the Occitan language and culture. I was less enthusiastic about the supernatural elements, but all in all I enjoyed this book. Many thanks to Harper Muse and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Aimie K. Runyan and Harper Muse for this ARC. After a childhood feeling like the odd person out, and missing her beloved deceased mother, Tempesta takes her inheritance and heads to her mother’s homeland, Provence. While not immediately accepted by the small community, she soon finds a home, friends and a new innate talent that helps her connect with her neighbors and brings a sense of self-confidence and belonging.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story of a single woman with strength of character and moxie. It inspires all to have the courage to step out of our comfort zones and follow our hearts, even when the going gets a little bit rocky.

This book received a five-star rating from me. It is a story of family and personal discovery that is moving and inspiring. It depicts the beauty of Provence in vivid detail, which makes the reader want to travel there. The characters are unforgettable.

When Tempesta's father dies he leaves her nothing, she moves to France to start her life there. Lovely setting and a great story.

Completely invested from the first page, I stayed up to the early morning hours unable to put it down. I have longed to visit the French countryside most of my life. Thank you, Aimie K. Runyan for taking me there—oh, the power of a book and the beauty found within its pages.

I absolutely loved the story, the characters, and the setting, but I was crestfallen when the “magic/mystical” aspect of it was introduced to the story. Personally, I don’t read books that have anything of the sort in them, and would have loved for it to not have gone there. Having received an ARC, I felt a responsibility to finish the book and offer a review. So, once again I say, it was a beautiful story and I loved everything about it with the exception of the supernatural, mystical element.

A special thank you to Aimie K. Runyan, Netgalley, and the publisher for the honor of reading The Memory of Lavender and Sage before it was released.

Come and share The Memory of Lavender and Sage with Tempesta, her brother Wal and the friends in Sainte-Columbia, France where their mother grew up; who always smelled of lavender and sage. Where the sister and brother reconnected and they both found the love of family and new friends.
Aimie K. Runyan has made this family and town come alive in this family drama and coming to live life freely story.
It is a great book with so many wonderful characters and a fascinating story to tell.
I loved it. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own
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I’ve been reading Runyan’s work since her third novel, “Girls on the Line” which I really enjoyed. While I haven’t read all she’s written, her 2023 novel, “A Bakery in Paris” was really delightful. So, I knew – more or less – what to expect with a new novel, and therefore didn’t bother looking too closely at the summary when I asked for this ARC. Or, at least I thought I did. In fact, Runyan surprised me with this book on a few things. First, from what I can see, this is the first contemporary fiction book she’s published. That’s never a deal-breaker for me, so that surprise was a pleasant one. I was also glad that despite the mystery in our protagonist’s past (and that of her family), we didn’t get a dual-timeline here. That there’s a bit of romance here was not at all unexpected, since Runyan has always included at least one love interest in her stories (more about that below).

The thing that really amazed me in this book was the magical realism she included. Okay, so I’m calling it that, but I’m not sure this is the proper term for it. You see, Tempèsta seems to have “powers” or “gifts” for a few things. First, she’s got a couple very green thumbs. So much so that the way her herbs grow seems unnaturally fast and exceptionally abundant. That part wasn’t totally believable for me. Plus, she seems able to communicate with her plants, and they seem to send her vibes in return. Finally, if she’s feeling sad or angry or happy or wishful for something when she uses these ingredients, that emotion seems to seep into what she’s preparing. This also means that when someone consumes or uses what she’s made, that emotion gets transferred to the consumer/user. Yes, I agree that you can sometimes metaphorically “taste the love” that a chef puts into their food, but I can’t believe that you could “taste the hate” if someone was angry when they made the exact same dish.

As for the romance, thankfully, Runyan doesn’t make her protagonists’ main objective in life as getting swept off their feet with some knight in shining armor, which always pleases me. This is even more essential in a contemporary novel, because today’s modern women have far more opportunities and wider horizons, than their historical ancestors. Yes, I know, some women honestly do only want the adoring man who can provide them with the white picket fence and lots to babies. You know what, all power to them. I personally don’t think that makes such great fiction, but to each their own! No, I think that no relationship is ever that perfect, although I do believe in true love that can be mutual and last a lifetime. I also happen to believe that with all that, a marriage is something we have to work at, and that also means supporting each other as individuals. This is why I am glad that Runyan’s romances are more aligned with my experience, and that comes through beautifully in all her stories.

Finally, I should admit that I’m a bit of a glutton for home renovation TV shows, so having a protagonist buy a “fixer-upper” of a house, and slowly turn it into a home was another reason to enjoy this book. That this happens in the charming region of Provance was even better, which is beautifully depicted on the cover. Plus, I enjoyed how Runyan drew each of the characters, and how they grew/changed throughout the book (hence the “coming-of-age” bit). Finally, some of the descriptions of the foods… O.M.G (and yes, there are recipes at the end - YEAH)! This is the second time Runyan has made me drool (YUM… culinary fiction)! With all of this, Runyan really has delivered for me big time, and although she didn’t make me cry, Runyan did make smile a good deal. That’s why I’m very warmly recommending this novel, and giving it a hearty four and a half stars out of five!

This was a book I truely savoured, I took a while to read it but could have gone on without any trouble.
Ever since her mother died when she was 13 yrs old, Tempesta has felt like an outsider of her family. She makes her own way from the family as soon as she can but when her father, heir to the Luddington Foundation dies suddenly, she doesn’t receive anything from his will but he does pass on a substantial amount of money that was her mothers.
She decides to go to France where her mother grew up and discovers a whole new life and this is where the magic happens. Loved the villager’s and their interactions, little bit of romance, little bit of magical realism and this was a beautiful story to loose myself in.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

The Memory of Lavender and Sage is a lovely contemporary story of a young woman, Tempesta Luddington, who pulls up roots in America and moves to her mother's small town in France. Her parents are dead, she has a brother who followed in his father's successful footsteps and a loathsome grandmother who does nothing but ridicule and scrutinize Tempesta. With her inheritance, she buys a sight-unseen old run-down chateau in France, and her life is changed dramatically.
I liked the characters (not the grandmother), but I felt the story dragged a bit and seemed a bit monotone. HOWEVER, I've read other books by Ms. Runyan and she writes beautifully. This story picks up toward the end.
I recommend !!

The Memory of Lavender and Sage by Aimie K. Runyan exudes loveliness with the cover, title, plants, food details and the Provence setting. As I live between Canada and the Mediterranean, I experience completely different lives distinct from one another, as does the protagonist. The lavender and scorpion thing is very real as is the luxury of fresh and wonderful ingredients. My hope was for realistic mentions of culture shock and challenges in restoring an old house along with km of residency paperwork. But maybe it's a good thing it's largely omitted. Life in a tiny ancient European village which drips with charm and character is incredibly enriching and fulfilling. Nothing better. The author captures that beautifully.

Food critic Tempèsta leaves New York after suffering terrible loss. She lost her mother at 13 and her father recently. Her father's estate went to her brother but her mother's nest egg went to her. What better way to invest in a new life than to go to the land of her mother's ancestry in Provence? She speaks the language adequately. She buys an old house in need of restoration in Sainte-Colombe and meets a handsome and good man in the form of a carpenter. She quickly meets villagers and even attends village meetings. Building on her culinary background, she jumps right in with cooking. There is a thread of pleasant predictability which takes a turn with village issues. It adds a different layer.

Snippets of magic appear here and there which isn't my wheelhouse but it was well done. My favourite aspects are the descriptions of quintessential France and expat experience. The characters didn't particularly endear me but this light read does inspire and will hopefully entice readers to travel and live long-term outside their comfort zone if that is their dream, family connection or not.

My sincere thank you to Harper Muse and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this charmer in exchange for an honest review.

The Memory of Lavender and Sage by Aimie K. Runyan was a great story and truly unique and an engrossing novel.
I loved the character development and was completely invested in them all.
The writing and the story with this book was done well.
A well-written and captivating story from Runyan it was truly fantastic, fascinating, and an enjoyable read.

Thank You NetGalley and Harper Muse for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!