The castle gave me the Heebie jeebies. Dust everywhere lumpy mysterious mattress. I am not as brave as Merry and Noah. Overall a super cute read with a little twist of gothic mystery. Although I didn't like Angela and Leo in the end. I was hoping for some redemption but they are just kind of garbage people.

This was such an adorable book and I am already looking for other titles by the author.

I love the idea of a "flight plan" and Merry was definitely due. Her mishaps with various creatures were super fun to read, and the little bit of mystery surrounding Noah was great.

I think this'll be a great book to recommend for a summer vacation read.

9/10

We jump right into things with Merry standing up as Maid of Honor at her younger sister's wedding. To Merry's best friend Leo. Who Merry is in love with. Yep. She then gets wasted with the best man, who she despises, and thinks maybe they hooked up. But she can't remember.

Then mix in the mess that's going down at Merry's job It's all too much, so she quits her job.

Her quirky aunt/(fairy) godmother sends her off to France for three months to house sit her chateau. She imagines herself meeting a fabulous French man and having a wild fing.

Imagine her surprise when, shortly after arriving at the chateau, she discovers Noah, said possible hook up best man, walking out of the chateau asking why she's there and claiming he is staying there.

There's a catch. This chateau is not the fabulous image her godmother portrayed. In fact, it needs a total rehab. And . . . it only has one bed, which she and Noah must share.

She's there to find herself. He's there to find his father. They decide to try to live in harmony and get along and stay out of each other's way. But things keep pushing them together. Their banter was fabulous. And I won't give away the ending, but I'm guessing you see where this is headed.

It was a fun read and I will be looking into more by this author.

Thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for both an ALC and ARC in exchange for my honest review. I switched back and forth and found the audio to be amazing as well!

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆
Merry’s sister Angela is getting married and she’s thrilled for her, but not so much for herself. It’s not that Merry is still single but more that she’s spent the last four years in love with Leo, the man her sister is marrying. His best man Noah can see right through Merry though, and she hates it. But when Merry’s life goes from bad to worse, a chance to escape to the French countryside gets offered to her and she takes it with both hands. Just a pity her nemesis Noah seems to be staying at the chateau as well.

𝗠𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
This lovely story spends a lot of time musing on love, what it means and where it stacks up against pride. It considers love for your family, parents and siblings, friends and those you fall head over heels in love with. Love that spans decades, promising love on a bridge, in a turret. It’s also a sweet story about the importance of love being returned. It’s a cutie 🥰

Meredith DeLuca needs an escape plan. Her sister just married the man she loves aka her best friend. At their wedding, she sleeps with the best man who just so happens to be her nemesis. She quits her HR job and is now becoming a god mother to said sister and best friend. Yup, she needs an escape from reality. When her godmother offers her a French vacation she jumps on it. Little does she know, her enemy is also escaping to the same chateau in France.

Noah is guarded because he thinks she is in love with his best friend. Merry thinks he hates her. He thinks she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Both don’t feel worthy of love.

Merry has this sweet, innocent vibe about her and Noah comes off very mysterious. Once they find themselves stuck in another country together, the mystery and romance starts to unfold. Both are there for each other during their valleys and bring smiles to each others faces. The small bits of comedic relief are gold. Once the romance starts flowing, it can’t be shut off and it was very enjoyable to read!

I absolutely adore Sarah Ready! I’ve read quite a few of her books now, and she has become one of my favorite authors. And with that, this is probably one of my favorite of her books. It had all of the best tropes: enemy to lovers, forced proximity and then you throw in some mystery, twists, comedy, and unrequited love, and you have the perfect combination.

There was a scene with a lobster that had me laughing out loud. It also made me want to go to a French countryside and eat apple tarts. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and it’s definitely up there as a top favorite!

Thank you @netgalley for this ARC

I absolutely loved, LOVED French Holiday by Sarah Ready. I was hooked from the first page and physically could not put my phone down to stop. I normally watch a show while I eat no matter what, I read this while I had dinner. That’s saying something.

The chemistry, the romance not only between Merry and Noah but also with Pierre and Camille and Angela and Leo, the plot twists (the plot in general), the rats, cockroaches, and we can’t forget about the lobster.

Now I want to fly to France and live in a chateau.

If you like enemies to lover, one bed, forced proximity , romcoms and he falls first, hopefully you’ll enjoy this book as much as I did.

*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc in return for a review*

I started reading this book....and I could NOT handle how much of a doormat Merry was. Everyone kept steamrolling over her and she just kept letting it happen!! I am in my era of loving bad ass female main characters and this book just did not do it for me.

Merry DeLuca has had enough! After her sister marries Merry's best friend and the only man she's ever loved and quits her job, Merry jumps at a chance to live in her godmother's French chateau. But when she gets there the last person she expects to see, Noah - best friends best man, her time away ends up looking different than she had initially planned.

Thank you NetGalley and Swiss & Lewis Publishing for allowing me to be an early reader!

What a fun, laugh out loud, heartwarming read! Although this book started out a bit slow, it picks up pace and unravels so well! If you like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and a bit of a “mystery” in the plot, this is for you!

French Holiday by @sarahreadyauthor 🏰🥖

Pub date: April 26, 2023
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Merry has always lived under the shadow of her little sister. So when her sister marries her best friend and the man she loves, Merry needs to find a way out. She accepts her godmother’s offer to care for her château in France for the next 3 months. But Merry doesn't count on Noah, the despicable groomsman and best friend of the groom, also staying at the château. Merry will have to deal with Noah, in order to stay in France, break free and put herself in first place for the first time.

Can we take a minute to appreciate this cover. In my opinion the most beautiful cover I've ever seen.

This is the first time I've finished a book in one day, so that should say how good this one was. I loved the characters, the setting and the plot. If you think this is just an enemies to lovers you are wrong. You can also appreciate the family relationships of the characters, the internal struggles of both main characters and a plot twist you don't expect.

I had a great time reading this book, super light read that will fly by. I laughed out loud a few times… you know you’ll laugh when a 🐀 and a 🦞 are crucial parts of a book, right? 😅

Tropes:
Enemies to friends to lovers 💕
Forced proximity 👫
Slow burn 🔥
One bed 🛏️

Thank you @NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

After meeting Josh and Gemma, I was excited for another novel by Sarah Ready. I did find French Holiday to have a slow start, but the second half totally made up for that! Filled with wonderful characters, plot twists, and beautiful scenery, Sarah Ready has become one of my new favourite authors! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Omgg I LOVED this book! What a fun ride 😍

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️ (light)

Merry needs to get over her unrequited love for her best friend - especially since he just married her sister. After she’s offered her godmother’s chateau in France, she heads off to the perfect place to do so.
Little does she know, Noah, her best friend’s other best friend, rented that castle to work on his next documentary.
The biggest problem? They hate each other. AND there’s only one bed (of course).

Troubles in their past make it difficult for both of them to believe, and trust in love. But they slowly go from enemies, to friends, to more, as they open up and trust each other.

This book was sweet, and pretty funny. I enjoyed all the antics Merry got herself in to 🙃 there was also a little mystery to solve, that added to the story!

I read the ebook & listened to the audiobook, and loved both.

Read if you enjoy:
⭐️ Enemies to lovers
⭐️ Only one bed
⭐️ Forced proximity
⭐️ Holiday in France
⭐️ He falls first
⭐️ Slow burn
⭐️ Romcoms
⭐️ Single POV

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for an advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

(3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars)

What an adorable read!

If I had to summarise this book in one sentence, I would say this was the soft-focus version of Merry's life that she absolutely deserved. I liked the language of this book and how it was so descriptive of what Merry was feeling.

Ever since I was little I’ve considered myself the ugly duckling that never became the swan. Magic was something that happened to other people. I never even tried for what I wanted because I figured I’d fail.

This is basically what the book's sweet and optimistic Merry entailed. Noah was a version of Mr Darcy with a twist. Here he's a famous travel documentarian with a persona, especially for the camera and another off-camera. He resembles Mr Darcy because he's deeply misunderstood (from Merry's perspective definitely). Since the book is in first person's PoV, I found a lot of it as an ode to Noah. Maybe it was Merry's rose-coloured vision, or maybe how the plot unfolded, but one thing is for sure, I really liked the descriptiveness of it all.

A perfect read for people looking for a little sunshine in their lives.
Thank you Netgalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This book was really funny, I loved that. You should definitely give it a try if you like romantic comedies. This one is set in a castle in France! An unexpected love story, a mystery awaiting to be solved, a dark and sensuous location...

Even if the plot and the characters weren't as complex as I wanted them to be, the fact that I laughed a lot while reading this novel made it absolutely worth it. I didn't want to stop. I wanted to keep going, which may not seem like a huge thing but it is, cause I've had a reading slump for longer than I can remember.

Once you start "French Holiday" it's quite difficult not to find yourself wanting to be in the protagonist's shoes. Who doesn't want to go on vacation to a castle? Who doesn't want to have a romance with an attractive, intelligent, and yet a bit grumpy, taciturn and sarcastic boy? The secondary characters were also entertaining and added tons of drama to the plot. I didn't mention this before but, as you can imagine, there's DRAMA in this book.

I knew what I was going to find in this book after reading the first chapter and I was okay with that. I needed something refreshing, exhilarating and enjoyable. That's on the books that aren't perfect but still make your heart and mind happy.

The perfect romcoms for a cute quick read.

The actual story was a fast paced and exciting to read until about half way, then it slowed down. The characters were likeable and had great growth throughout the book.
Overall a good read.

FRENCH HOLIDAY is a delightful romp through the French countryside, and if you liked Gus from Beach Read, I think you'll like the love interest here.

The story starts off with Meredith (Merry) being distraught at her sister's wedding to her best friend. Who she's been in love with for years. Merry's godmother suggests she get out of town for a bit and offers her French castle to stay in while she kind of starts her life over anew. The problem is, the godmother also rented the castle out to Noah, a travel documentarian and best man at the wedding. The one that Merry hates.

There are some misunderstandings in the beginning, like Merry thinking she and Noah had slept together at the wedding, which wasn't true, and it's obvious that Noah is already in love with her, but the enemies-to-lovers bit here is believable, as is Merry's lovesickness over her sister stealing her unrequited crush.

There's a whole secondary mystery plotline that comes into play in the back half of the book, which I was less enthusiastic over, but for me, the jewel of the whole story was around Merry and Noah opening up to each other. They were so sweet!

Pick up if you like:

🏰 Enemies to lovers
🏰 Miscommunication
🏰 Unrequited love, but is it?
🏰 French cheeses and French flings
🏰 Dilapidated castles with only one bed
🏰 Lobster scene stealers

I loved this book! It has everything in it that a rom-com should with a little bit of mystery rolled in. Merry is heartbroken when her best friend marries her sister. When the rest of her life starts crumbling down, she decides to flee to France only to find her least favorite person, Noah Wright. I loved all of the characters, except for Merry’s sister and best friend. The French countryside and crumbling castle were a great background to the story. This is a fun, easy read to take to the pool with you. It’s also a fast read, I read this book in two days. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes rom-coms, enemies to lovers, or the forced to share the same bed trope.

This book was amazing! It had everything I look for in swoony-enemies-to-lovers romance. The story line was superb and drew me in from the very first page… I didn’t want to read the last chapter because I didn’t want it to end. But it was the perfect ending for this story.

Merry’s life is falling apart. Her job sucks and her best friend that she has been in love with for the past 4 years is marrying her sister. Needing an escape, her Aunt Jupiter sends her to her chateau in France. Three months on a vacation is exactly what Merry needs. Only, those plans are foiled when she arrives and Noah the best man from the wedding, who seems to hate her for no reason has rented that chateau to work on his latest project. Neither wanting to leave, they come up with a truce, co-habitat as friends for the three months.

I absolutely adored this story. Both MC’s have pasts that have shaped and molded who they are. The more time they spend together as friends, the more they start to like each other. The setting, the food, the art, the romance of it all was a superb setting and only enhanced the story along. I truly can’t say enough good things about this novel. I highly recommend – you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️. This was a cute and quick romcom. Was it one for my top favorites list? No. I’ll break it down into two sections: what I liked and what I didn’t like.

Liked:
*The beginning - until about 50%.
*The characters - Merry, Noah, Pierre, Camille. (Angela and Leo were just okay to me)
*The descriptions - so much detail that I could imagine being in France while reading it.
*The humor - a few favorite parts: When Merry compared the chateau to a beautifully wrapped Christmas present that you look at for weeks with excitement and then open it up and it’s a package of white cotton crew socks. 🤣 Also the dialogue between Noah and Merry often made me laugh. A couple favorite quotes. First when they were deciding who would get the only bed in the castle….Noah shakes his head. “I am not chivalrous . You sleep on the floor“. Also the first time Merry sees Pierre and thinks “holy smoking hotness”. The author really did a great job of making me laugh out loud at times.
*The last 5% or so, I was happy with how it ended.

Didn’t like:
*50%-about 95%. Thought the storyline started to drag.
*It also started to become quite silly (not in a good way). (Ex. The Lobster scene. It started off funny but then just went on for too long)
*The mystery of the great artist Arnout - kinda meh and felt like a filler just to make the book longer.
*The sex - cringy. Just weird and awkward. The flirting and anticipation leading up to the characters getting together was good…but once they were together, I just didn’t think it was written well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

To see other reviews I’ve left, check out my Goodreads and Instagram pages:
*Goodreads - Cherihy808
*Instagram - bookworm_traveler808

ok, DNF pq eu nao gostei da trope "o amor da minha vida casou com a minha irma" e ele pode ser trabalhado de outra maneira que não "vou continuar amando esse homem e nunca vou abrir meu coração para outro homem" e entao, não. nao vai rolar.

além disso que juro que se eu fosse o noah (interesse amoroso) e já sacasse que a guria ainda tem sentimentos por um cara casado, eu nao me envolveria nem ferrando com ela entao... zero simpatia para quem tem zero responsabilidade afetiva...

anyway, thank netgalley for the eARC :)