Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I ended up not finishing it, as it wasn’t working for my current read mood. But I definitely have some patrons in mind to recommend this one to.

Having never visited France myself, I love that I was able to visit France through this book.
The descriptions are sumptuous and I swear I could smell the heady scent of the grapes in the vineyard as I was reading.
A time split novel the past and present mesh effortlessly .
In present time Rosalyn travels to Champagne to elect vintages for her Napa-based employer.Her attitude is not a good one. Her young husband died an untimely death and since then she has not been living, just going through the motions, nothing brings her joy.
When she reads through a previously hidden stack of letters from WWI she becomes intrigued. Meeting the owner of the vineyard, she explores the limestone tunnels where the women of the past worked and hid underground she is inspired by their positive attitude.
As she works to uncover a long hidden mystery is she ready to a accept friendship that may lead to love again? Interesting historical, I enjoyed it a lot and look forward to reading more by this author.

Published January 21st 2020 by Berkley.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Well-researched, dual timeline story of grief and loss, WWI and the beautiful vineyards of France. Rosalyn and Emma connect on a flight to France over Emma's 1918 war letters and pair up for an adventure. Personally, I was never quite invested in either of the two main characters. Although the present day story of Rosalyn dealing with the heartbreak of losing her husband to cancer dragged for me, many readers love the book and there is much for historical fiction lovers to appreciate.

Blackwell's novel is fantastic - well-written with amazing characters and an interweaving of real history and wine facts that made me feel not only entertained by informed.

The author wrote in her epilogue that a visit to Champagne for the purposes of drinking champagne was where she learned about people living in the caves during WWI and inspired her to write this book. Having visited the area myself, I can certainly understand why she felt inspired to do so, and therefore thoroughly enjoyed reading the tale of Emile and Lucie during WWI, and Rosalyn, Emma, Blondine and others during present day. Overall, the characters were likable, and the both the historic and present day plots compelling. My biggest annoyance with the book, and really, it’s a small one, is that the author is overly descriptive about the physical qualities of champagne (the beverage)...don’t get me wrong, I love champagne, and am fascinated by the rules governing its production, and feel like that could have been covered more...it was the description like the “golden effervescent elixir” or something like that just was a bit over the top.
If you are at all interested in Champagne or champagne, or WWI or French history, I would definitely recommend this easy read.

I enjoy historical fiction which highlights events I wasn’t aware of previously. This story takes place in the present and WWI, introducing details about the residents of Reims, France in the champagne growing area during the war. After extensive bombing and shelling, the people of Reims had to live underground in the caves under the various wineries. Creating there own town, there was a temporary school and more in order to exist. The story of Lucie, and her paramour Emile, enhances the historical sections, while in the present, we see Rosalyn get past grief at losing her husband and learning to move forward. Recommended. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

A wonderful story that hooked me from the beginning. This really made me want to explore the Champagne region. It seems to be well researched, and historically accurate, and not the least bit a history text.

The story traverses between present-day France and the battlefields of WWI where Rosalyn travels to France to represent her employer at a wine festival. While en route she meets Emma who hopes to find letters between her aunt and a WWI soldier who wrote of the destruction of war and the civilians who hid in the caves where the champagne was stored.

I really liked the premise of the book, and some of the elements were definitely delivered on - but not all. This was one of those cases where I think the story could have been stronger had some of the plot lines been removed or narrowed in scope. I really liked the WWI plot, and wish it could have delved more into the history of the Champagne region at that time.

The modern day story was well told, and I think it seemed to portray a wife in the different stages of grief in a believable way, but I have never experienced a grief like that myself so I can't say for sure. Some parts of the present day story moved a little slow for me, and I wasn't able to really get into the talk of the wine, champagne, or the French countryside, but that could have been a personal thing.

Overall I would recommend this one to people with an interest in WWI, dual timelines, and France.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, & Penguin Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

This was such a beautiful story! The characters were brought fully to life in this story and developed in a way that felt natural. The setting was extremely well done and I loved the use of the letters to tell the story. The historical story was just as fascinating as the modern day one and I loved learning about how the people of Champagne coped during WWI. Overall I really enjoyed and highly recommend this book!

I loved this book so much! The Vineyards of Champagne is an amazing historical fiction novel that opened my eyes to some of the historical facts of what happened in WWI and the families who lived in the underground caves in those regions in France. Rosalyn, a recent widow still reeling from the death of her young husband is set to travel to France for her employer in Napa Valley. There Rosalyn meets Emma who is researching about the letters she found. The book is written so beautifully and I really enjoy reading historical fiction from that period. The writing is well researched and provided a lot of accurate historical facts surrounding that area in France, the families lives during the war and the Champagne culture in France. I highly recommend this book for HF fans. I enjoyed reading about this book about hope and healing as well.

3.75 stars

Very enjoyable novel featuring a modern protagonist whose story is threaded through with the World War I letters she is researching. The background is French champagne country and the city of Reims, where the major champagne houses and their underground tunnels sheltered civilians during the war, a fascinating story.

Rosalyn is a young widow who is still rudderless several years after her husband's death from cancer. She adored him, but he left her in a financial mess. She can't reconcile her anger at him with her grief at his passing. His friend Hugh kindly offered her a job selling wines for his import firm, a job which she appreciates but has little aptitude for.

When it's necessary for someone to make a buying trip to French champagne country, Rosalyn balks. She and her husband honeymooned in Paris and being in France again is bound to be painful. But she has no choice, so she flies to Paris. She meets an interesting Australian woman on the flight who tells her about her project to trace World War I letters with a link to her aunt back to a small village in the Champagne region. She is confident and a bit brash, everything Rosalyn isn't, and Rosalyn declines her offer of a ride to the countryside even though they are going to the same place.

She finds she can't face Paris, so she heads immediately to the small village. Over the course of the next several weeks, she regains a little of her equilibrium, and as she notices about herself -- she is "not unhappy." She and Emma, whom she met on the plane, delve further into the story of the young French couple and their lives during the horror of the Great War.

The story from the past gets revealed finally, with a few surprises. And Rosalyn gains enough peace to move forward with her life and begin to re-connect with the people around her. A satisfying read with appealing characters and some quite interesting true history from World War I. Thanks to Net Galley and to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Set in the beautiful Champagne region of France, Juliet Blackwell’s latest novel The Vineyards of Champagne follows Rosalyn, an American woman who is traveling to France to find new wines for her company to distribute in America. Rosalyn, still reeling from the loss of her husband, isn’t excited about the trip but her boss thinks it will be good for her. On the plane, Rosalyn meets Emma, an Australian woman with a larger-than-life personality and who is working on a project that piques Rosalyn’s interest.

Emma has a packet of letters that belonged to her grandmother, who was corresponding with a young French soldier named Emile LeGrand during WWI. The letters were written by Emile, and Emma is heading to France in hopes of finding out more about the French soldier and hopefully finding her grandmother’s side of the correspondence. Rosalyn is drawn in by Emma’s enthusiasm for the project, and so what started as a business trip for Rosalyn slowly becomes a trip about healing and moving forward, as she and Emma dive deeper into the letters and learn more about Emile and about what life was like in the Champagne region during WWI.

This was such an easy book to fall in love with. I adored both Emma and Rosalyn from the moment they met. I felt tremendous sympathy for Rosalyn because of her loss and how much she was struggling to cope but could tell right away that Emma was going to be good for her with that live-out-loud personality of hers. I also loved the quaint little town that Rosalyn stays in while she’s there, as well as the array of wonderful secondary characters, especially Jerome, a champagne maker who catches Rosalyn’s eye.

The biggest draw for me in The Vineyards of Champagne though was what I learned about WWI. The history that unfolded through the letters just made for such a fascinating read. I had no idea that the citizens of this region in France had taken shelter during the war in underground caves beneath the champagne houses. The women and children basically lived in underground cities, educated the children there, and periodically came up to harvest the grapes to keep champagne production going. How amazing is that?

The Vineyards of Champagne is a story of love and loss, resilience and survival, and above all else, friendship and hope.

I love historical fiction, especially WWI and WWII. I visited Reims and when I had the opportunity to read this novel set in Reims, I jumped at it. I always hope to get some education with my historical fiction and this book did provide a bit of insight. I did not know that the occupants of the Champagne region lived in caves during WWI, nor did I know about the "marraines de guerre" or godmothers of war who corresponded with soldiers throughout the war. Other than those two gems, there was no new information for me.

The story unfolded in two time periods. The WWI time period was told through a mix of letters written then (and read either then or in present day) and through character narratives. It was disjointed and did not make for a smooth or engrossing story. The present day portion of the story was a string of romance novel tropes with all of the "twists" being totally predictable. At times, the dialogue was trite to the point of distracting. I did not care for the main character, Rosalyn and at times, I just wanted to slap her.

If you do not know much about WWI and are a fan of traditional romance novels, you will find a lot to love here. I wanted to love this book, but it was just okay, but not a stellar read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Summary: Rosalyn Acosta works as a wine sales rep for her friend Hugh in California. He offered her the job and some essential financial support after her husband died of cancer, leaving her grieving and bankrupt. She dislikes sales and is an artist at heart, but it’s hard to support herself and make enough money to pay back creditors by painting.

Hugh sends Rosalyn to a sales conference in the Champagne region of France. She doesn’t want to go since she dislikes champagne and has too many painful memories of her honeymoon in Paris.

On the plane, Rosalyn is befriended by a boisterous, wealthy Australian woman, Emma, who offers her assistance. Rosalyn just wants to be left alone, but becomes intrigued by some old letters that Emma is trying to organize and translate. The letters were a legacy from Emma’s great Aunt, written to a young soldier in France during WWI, as part of the marraines de guerre project. Emma was captivated by the soldier’s love of a young woman named Lucie Marechal, who lived in the wine caves under Reims during the war. Emma is traveling to France for both business and research.

While helping Emma translate the letters, lonely, grieving Rosalyn is pulled into the simpler pace of the French vineyards and people. With the help of new friends, she discovers her true calling and begins to heal.

Comments: There are so many things that pulled me deeply into The Vineyards of Champagne. In this warm and lovely novel, I deeply related to Rosalyn’s numbed feelings of grief and betrayal. Emma is such a bright light despite her own issues. The determination of Lucie and the other townspeople to make champagne and and thrive amidst daily bombings and shootings tugged at something deep within me. I couldn’t help but wonder if I would survive or give up in despair in similar circumstances. I was reminded of my paternal grandfather, himself a soldier during the Great War.

And bright and shining, flowing through the grief and loss, is a sparkling reminder of the many joys and celebrations in life: the champagne.

Highly recommended for readers of Historical Fiction, General Fiction and novels about World War I, as well as those with an interest in France, champagne and wine history.

My Rating: 5 STARS

An enchanting story that drops the reader in the heart of the Chamapgne region of France. I loved reading this, and only wished I had more chamapgne at my side to get me through!

The Vineyards of Champagne is Juliet Blackwell’s story of Rosalyn, a young woman adjusting to life after her husband died. The wine seller she works for in Napa sends her to Champagne to obtain new wines from small vinyards. On the flight to France she meets Emma, an Australian woman who shares a remarkable story of the brave people of France during WWI. She asks Rosalyn if she’d like to help solve a mystery that involves the area of Champagne and letters between a soldier, a young woman, and an Australian marraine de guerre (war godmother). This is a story of learning to move forward through grief when it would be so easy to not let go of it. My heart broke for what the French people endured during the war years and yet they continued to bring in the harvest and make the wine. The ability to put one foot in front of the other was inspiring. The Vineyards of Champagne touched my heart and I recommend it to fans of Juliet Blackwell and Historical Fiction.

The Vineyards of Champagne follows three storylines: Rosalyn, Doris and Lucie. The main focus is on Rosalyn, a widower in present day Napa valley, struggling to pay off debt that her husband kept from her when he tragically and suddenly died. Rosalyn is told to go to the Champagne region of France to source some smaller vineyards for the winery she words at back in Napa. She doesn't care for France and does not like Champagne so she is not really looking forward to the trip. Rosalyn meets a vivacious Australian, Emma, on the plane who has a handful of letters from a relative, Doris, who lived during the World Wars. While in France Rosalyn also meets Blondine who is the daughter of the owner of the place she is staying at.

Emma and Blondine seem to have this strange rivalry that is never fully explain and it was odd to read their dialogue at times. I liked Rosalyn's character and was really interested in her story about overcoming her grief, moving on, finding love again and getting swept up in the old letters and the mystery that unfolds itself within them. However I found that sometimes she was just odd, like she would always comment internally how she wasn't representing all Americans when Emma (Australian) or Blondine (French) would make comments about American stereotypes. Like I feel like Rosalyn was unaware of the stereotypes and got too defensive about it. While I was interested in the letters and the connection between Lucie and Doris and Rosalyn I feel like we did not get enough of Lucie's story which took place in the town near where Rosalyn was staying. During the world wars citizens would take refugee in the caves under the city and I really wish I got to read more of that and more of Lucie's story. We did get to read letters within Doris' and Lucie's perspectives but most of them were in Rosalyn's perspective.

I really liked the connection and the whole tie in of the mystery at the end. I enjoyed the romance and the setting of this novel as well. There were just a few points I think weren't needed in Rosalyn's story and that space could have been given to Lucie.

Thank you for the arc!

One of the things I love most about reading is being taken to places I've never been and learning about long ago events hidden to history. The Vineyards of Champagne easily did both, recounting the tales of World War I and the families who lived among the caves of the Champagne region of France to avoid the shelling and sniper fire that devastated homes and villages and lives.

The story moves back and forth in time as we first meet Rosalyn in the present day, traveling to Champagne to find vineyards willing to sell to her employer, a wine grower and distributor in Napa Valley. But Rosalyn's heart is not in the trip, or even in her work, as she mourns for her deceased husband.

But through a chance encounter, Rosalyn is sucked into the history of the region. She begins translating letters from a French World War I soldier, Emile, and we learn about Emile and Lucie and life in the caves and in the trenches of war. It was a fascinating story and I loved hearing the voices from the past. It was also encouraging to see Rosalyn as she began breaking out of her shell, making friends, developing relationships and finding a new life for herself. She develops close friendships with Emma, the owner of the mysterious letters, and Blondine, the daughter of the vineyard owner where Rosalyn's staying. And of course, she meets the handsome Jerome, who helps her learn to love and trust again.

Some of the dialog seemed stilted at times as one character or another doled out pieces of history about the region, about champagne, or about the Great War. The ending was somewhat predictable, though not completely, and it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the book.

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC of the Vineyards of Champagne for the chance to read and review this story.

I did not enjoy this book. I think while we felt Rosalyns grief, too much of her story was solely about Dash. I was hoping for more letters and relationships between the godmothers and the soldiers. I liked the historical chapters more than present day.