This is a tough one. The premise sounds so promising. The novel is set at the Ritz in Paris, where Claude is the director. Blanche is his beautiful but unpredictable American wife. They spend most of their marriage fighting with each other. Claude thinks Blanche should be, in his eyes, the typical french wife. This includes cooking for him and allowing him to have a mistress. But then, war arrives and everything changes.

While I enjoyed this book, like many other readers have pointed out, it was not hard to figure out the big secret being kept by one our main characters. I also felt there was too much emphasis placed on how often this couple fought and how unhappy their marriage seemed. I understand that it plays a part in their dynamic, but it seemed a little over emphasized.

I did enjoy the fact that this is based off of real people and real events. I had never heard of the Auzellos before this book. It does help to remind you that there are people out there who fight. All in all, an enjoyable read. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC for review.

This book hooked me from the first page until the very end- I could not put it down and stayed up practically all night reading it. It truly brought the history of the time to life and made me feel as if I had actually been transported to the Ritz. I loved it and highly recommend it.

When I first heard about the premise of this book I fell in love. The premise the Nazi's taking over Paris and using the Ritz as a headquarters is intriguing. The best part? It is based on factual information! The Ritz is synonymous with luxury and grandiose staircases and over the top glamour. The author, Melanie Benjamin did a phenomenal job weaving fact with fiction and telling a previously unknown story of the war. I found myself stopping parts of the story to do my own research and this story is one of glamour and heartache in the throws of the war. Well done!

Mistress of the Ritz is an engrossing novel with complex characters. This novel is worth the read and will leave you thinking about it after you have read it. Melanie Benjamin is a excellent writer who slowly weaves her tales.

A very enjoyable, fascinating story of the Azuello's management of the Ritz Hotel in Paris during World War II. Heros during that war, they helped the resistence smuggle out allied airman caught behind enemy lines eventually landing Blance Azuello's an American Jew in prison. The Azuello's story should not be forgotten.

Mistress of the Ritz was not what I was expecting. It's not really a look at life during the occupation of Paris by the Nazis. It's about a couple--Lily and Claude.

Claude manages The Ritz in Paris. He is the old-fashioned manager who caters to his guests, no matter who he is, even if he's a Nazi. He realizes that their situation is precarious and does what he can to support the people of Paris. He ultimately knows that if the "guests" are happy, they are safe and he can do as he chooses. If they are not happy, life can be difficult and he will be watched even more closely. He really isn't a good match for his wife, although they seem to have a connection, perhaps even love. The ending implies that they were very much in love, but I never felt the love connection reading it.

Blanche is high-spirited and doesn't think before she acts. She follows her emotions and desires at the time, whether it is dating a guy she's just met or Paris or drinking until she gets drunk or drinking until she can't control her tongue. Her friends are not the people Claude would spend time with because they are people who live always on the go. Blanche can generally fly by the seat of her pants, but her choices eventually catch up to her. She doesn't like protocol or tradition. She wants to have fun and doesn't care what anyone thinks. She also doesn't listen to Claude when he tries to tell her the danger they are in.

I wish the novel had made me felt like I was in Paris. I didn't "feel" the danger and, therefore, wasn't in suspense as to what could happen. I also had no sympathy for Blanche or even Claude because they didn't really resonate with me. I did find the information interesting, as I was unaware of this particular story in Paris.

I enjoyed this book about an American woman whose husband was the managing director of the Ritz Hotel in Paris during WWII. The book moves along, and it's good light reading.

No spoilers, but what I first thought were flaws in the characterization turned out to be clever plot devices. This was a new technique for me, and I'm not sure it worked. However, readers should keep reading if they feel some of the characters' actions don't make a lot of sense!

This is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. It is beautifully written and thoroughly researched. It makes history come alive and let me understand what it was like to live in France during World War II and the sacrifices that people had to make and the frightening experiences and times that they had to live through. This story makes the people of that era come to life and the characters of Blanche and Claude Auzell will especially remain in my mind for a very long time.

This book is a slow burn, but worth the payoff. I greatly enjoyed Melanie Benjamin’s other works, so I was excited to receive a free advance copy of her latest. I won’t spoil the twist, but it truly made me think deeply about another angle of WWII, and the lengths at which the French Resistance went to thwart their occupiers. Realizing the novel was based on true events and people made the novel that much more intriguing, gaining a depth Reserved for the most compelling of historical fiction.

What a fascinating novel! This is the story of an unlikely husband and wife duo, an American ex-flapper and a proper Frenchman who manage Paris' Ritz hotel during the Nazi occupation. Blanche and Claude Auzello struggle to retain the image of happily married couple as they face the realities of the occupation and their crumbling marriage. The details are impeccable and the story captivating. However, the Ritz is the true star of the book.

I really wanted to love this story. I enjoy books written about or set during World War II. Overall, the story was good, but I felt the main characters were lacking. They seemed superficial and while they were assisting the Resistance in Paris, it was hard to feel their passion for it. At the end of book, I read the author's notes. She stated she could find very little in Blanche and Claude while doing research and created the story from basic facts. It made sense why the characters felt lacking.

Lately I have been reading a lot of WWII books and this story was particularly interesting: a story about a troubled marriage and a spy for the French Resistance, set in Paris's Hotel Ritz. Ms. Benjamin imagines an event that actually took. place.
The plot line seemed somewhat contrived, but overall the characters were well described.

I’m a voracious reader of WW2 fiction and non-fiction, I love Paris and I enjoyed Melanie Benjamin’s Swans of Fifth Avenue (though not so much The Girls in the Picture), so there was no chance I wasn’t going to read this book. On the other hand, I was underwhelmed by a recent book about The Ritz in World War II, Tilar Mazzeo’s The Hotel on Place Vendome. Because of those competing experiences, I went into this with a wait-and-see attitude.

The book started off a little too self-consciously portentous for me, as Claude and Blanche Auzello return to the Ritz from the south soon after the Nazis have taken Paris and commandeered half of the Ritz. Then, a hint is dropped early on about some secret of Blanche’s, and you just know this will be oh-so-subtly alluded to several times before there is finally a big reveal. That kind of plot element always seems gimmicky to me, especially when (as in this case) it’s not difficult to guess what the secret is.

Despite this inauspicious start, I read on. I’m not finding the story of Claude and Blanche’s relationship particularly interesting, but I continue. I’m figuring things will become more compelling when the focus is on the WW2 era when the Germans occupied Paris and one of the two wings of the Ritz became home to the Nazi command.

Well, it would have been more compelling except for one thing or, actually, two things. First, so much of the plot depends on Claude and Blanche not confiding in each other. In fiction, this is called the “idiot plot” and I really dislike the idiot plot. But even worse than the idiot plot is a character you are supposed to like but who behaves like an idiot. And that’s Blanche, the quintessential too-stupid-to-live character. Not that she’s actually stupid; no, she’s worse because she does things that are needlessly risky and dangerous for herself and others. It’s infuriating and unnecessary to the plot, because all the same things in the plot could have happened without Blanche behaving stupidly. In other words, let’s have the woman character behave idiotically for no good reason. This is not something I admire in a novel.

On the plus side, the last 10% of the novel, from the time the Allies re-take Paris, is strong and affecting. Too little, too late for me, though.

Melanie Benjamin writes that she was inspired to write a novel about Claude and Blanche Auzello because there is little historical documentation about them, even though he ran the Ritz for decades and he and Blanche lived there through the intense WW2 period. She’s absolutely right that this makes them seem like great characters for a historical novel. I just wish she had not treated Blanche so shabbily.

Thoroughly enjoyed this engrossing novel. I've read so many books about this time period - and this was a new perspective. Highly recommend.

Did not finish- been having trouble with historical fiction lately. Got about 55% through but life is too short. Boring, all over the place, and unlikable characters.

1/5

This book, based on real life people, is the story of Blanche and Claude Auzello during WWII in Paris. Blanche, an American, and Claude meet during her stay at a Parisian hotel. Even though she is engaged to another man, they are soon inseparable and are married. Claude becomes the manager of the Hotel Ritz and Blanche, its Mistress. There are a lot of well known and influential people that grace the Ritz and make cameos in this story. On a trip away from the Ritz, Blanche meets a young woman, Lily, and together they work for the Resistance working on missions. Blanche keeps this secret from Claude, who has a couple secrets of his own. I wish the author had focused more on the Resistance and the missions that Blanche and Lily performed for it. Unfortunately, a large portion of the book deals with the relationship between Claude and Blanche, Their relationship is troubled, unhealthy and monotonous. I found myself skimming sections in search of more information about Blanche's missions, etc. I found myself wondering why Blanche and Claude were even together. They didn't seem to have any real affection for each other until it was almost too late. And even then, as the story ends we learn of the devastating final end of their relationship.

Mistress of the Ritz tells the story of Blanche Ross, a young American woman who travels to Paris with Pearl White, a friend who is her link to get into the movie industry. At this time, Blanche was the paramour of an Egyptian prince, J'Ali, and was to meet him in Paris. Before the prince arrives, she meets Claude Auzello, a Frenchman that manages the Hotel Claridge. Claude is enamored with Blanche, and they have a whirlwind courtship and get married. The format of the book has the chapters going back and forth between Blanche and Claude, which works very well, as they are two very different personalities and gives the reader a clear perspective on each of them. Upon Blanche's urging, Claude becomes manager of The Ritz Hotel in Paris. The hotel actually takes on a life of its own, thus becoming, in my opinion, another main character in the book. The couple struggles with their relationship while becoming more and more entangled in The Ritz. When the Nazis take Paris, during the second World War, The Ritz becomes one of their main headquarters. The experiences of Claude and Blanche during the Occupation become even more complex. The reader gets a view of Paris during and even after the Occupation that is rarely seen or discussed. There are some unexpected plot twists in this book and Melanie Benjamin, as usual, does a great job embellishing the missing parts of this story, of which there are many. She explores the relationship of a husband and wife amid the complications of war, mistresses and even the toll a demanding job can take on a marraige. Thank you Random House-Ballantine Publishing Group and Netgalley for sending me this preview copy of this wonderful new book by one of my favorite authors. I have reviewed on Goodreads, and will review on Amazon when the book is released.

I love stories written about this era of time. I'm so drawn into the lives of people who lived during WWII and the different impacts that had on people around the world. This story was unlike most of the others I've read about this time, though. It was such a welcome new spin! I had never heard of either Blanche or Claude, but so enjoyed hearing parts of their story. This novel has inspired to dig deeper into the stories of true, real life characters like these. This book will stick with me for a long time. Grateful for this ARC.

I'm unsure of how I feel about this book and story. Almost the whole first half, character development, yes, but a lot of name dropping, was rather dull. However, it seemed to be necessary for the second half of the story about the three main characters; Blanche, Claude and The Ritz Hotel in Paris. It still surprises me, after reading so many books that take place during WW2, that I am still learning new things that happened then. I enjoyed the author's embellishment of the lives she invented for what is not historically known about the real life people, Blanche and Claude Auzello. I also agree with her that the historical records of these people that have them taking back their lives after the war and going back to the way things were at The Ritz Hotel like there was no war and living happily ever after just did not make sense. I like Melanie Benjamin's take on the Auzellos and ended up liking the story.

Historical fiction about the director of the RItz, Claude Auzello and his American flapper wife, Blanche (the mistress of the Ritz). I love historical fiction for it's ability to entertain as well as educate. It seems the author has done very thorough research of this time in history. It is a thoughtful story of the couple doing their best for each other, the hotel, and their guests during the terrible time during WWII and just prior to it. Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this ARC.