I'm a little conflicted with this. I liked the story and the characters but I wasn't really a fan of the writing style.

A slow paced, sweet, moving story. Great characterisation with detailed, well thought out MCs and some fabulous female secondary characters.

However, the writing style wasn't for me. It felt like it was trying too hard to be beautiful. There was a lot of description which I felt was unnecessary and sometimes pulled me out of my reading enjoyment because the comparisons were a little odd.

"Leaves flew around like confetti violently thrust from left to right, like the tourists he always saw frantically trying to work out London's public transport"

Of course the latter is personal taste and too much for me maybe just right for other readers. I will admit that that the writing did evoke fabulous images in my head for the village in France .... I just wish it had been reigned in a little.

This novel was mostly a delight, although I do have some reservations which hold me back from giving five stars.

It tells the story of Rye and Boone who meet when Rye decides to holiday in the house his grandfather left him in rural France. Boone, a gay American, is working as a waiter in the local cafe. Rye has had a little heterosexual experience, but is unquestionably gay.

Rye has been in an emotional limbo since the death of his parents. Boone is a drifter. The novel relates the voyage of individual and mutual discovery they embark on while forging a relationship.

The writing, especially in the narrative sections, is lyrical and, in places, rather fine. Unfortunately the authorial style does not work at some points in the dialogue which is intermittently stilted and rather didactic in tone.

The characterisation is excellent. I had, from early on, a firm picture of Rye and Boone. The major female characters Amy, Viola and Anouk, as well as the children, are well-drawn and vivid.

There were some typos, one of them delicious- “Mills and Boone”- could this be deliberate? “Renee Mackintosh” for “Rennie Mackintosh’, “palmer-violet” for “parma violet’, “counsellor” for “councillor” and “William Wallis” for “William Wallace” were five I detected.

I did not like the ending which felt too rushed after the slow unfolding of the story and I also have an aversion to endings where gay couples get engaged /married/ adopt children. Why ape heterosexual
relationships? Gay couples have the opportunity to have a unique status which does not have to be validated in these ways.

There is no explicit sex here, although it is clear that eventually this does form an element in the relationship. For me, that is a bonus and very much part of what Rye and Boone became. This is a REAL romance. I look forward with sense of eager anticipation to reading further novels by J J Bamber.

Thank you to NetGalley and Less Than Three Press for the ARC of a most pleasurable read.