I really enjoyed this book! It was a great hate to love book. I loved the setting and the vibes I got while I was reading. It’s a great romcon to read this spring/summer. I also absolutely adore the cover! It’s what drew me into reading the book.
The forced proximity and the one bed trop were also well written.
So overall, it was a very enjoyable read!

I really enjoyed this story! It reminded me of You Deserve Eachother by Sarah Hogle except obviously takes place in France. Some of the details were a bit far-fetched, especially considering modern day technology and the ability to look anything up online. But it was enjoyable either way. Highly recommend as a fun beach read and for those who love rom-com types of books!

An enemies-to-lovers, only-one-bed rom-com that harks to Gothic romances like Jane Eyre, is set in the French countryside (in a castle, no less) AND has a third-act art mystery?! Say less. I’m there.

I came for the blurb that promised all the good silly romance antics I love in a quick romcom, but I stayed because NOAH 👏🏻 IS 👏🏻 A 👏🏻 DREAM 👏🏻. We love a brooding hero. I kept picturing a cross between Scott Foley and Josh Gates. Rwar 🐅

Here’s my one complaint, and I think it’s just that I don’t mesh well overall with this author’s writing style. She constantly adds in ridiculously unnecessary moments that aren’t needed for the plot, nor for humor. It’s cheapening. In this instance it’s a rat and then a lobster. In a previous book it was jello. It seems to be a crutch to add antics that make us laugh, but the awkwardness of falling in love is enough. Without those cringy moments the book would be a solid 4 stars for me. But the frequency of those types of forced moments really take away from the charm. 3.5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley, and the publisher, for the ARC book & audiobook and for the opportunity to share my unbiased opinion!

Within the first chapter I knew I was going to love this book. Oh my goodness! Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned crush is marrying my sister and I am stuck on the arm of a man I absolutely detest (but will maybe possibly fall in love with at the end) story? Please beware: there are spoilers ahead.

This book gave me butterflies. I mean, truly, what the hell? There was even a moment where I audibly squealed about 40 percent into this book because of a situation that happened. Noah and Merry are two incredibly sweet and fun characters and I already deeply miss them. Both characters had wonderful arcs and I enjoyed that there was chemistry between them from the very beginning. I also appreciated the humor of the story so that when the more serious topics arose their solutions were all the more bittersweet. One of these serious issues was the topic of Noah’s mother. It was a topic that might have caused a third act breakup in another type of romance but I LOVED that, instead, these two characters communicated. Healthy communication? Immediate extra star to the book.


All in all I could talk a lot about this book. I enjoyed even the silliest of romantic bits and the cliched nature of it was actually so endearing in this. I’m going to be honest, this one was up there with Emily Henry for me. I am excited to read more of her books and am already looking at digging into this authors backlog.

"The best kind of love is requited love!!!!!!"

Fun and charismatic story that gives you hallmark feels while daydreaming about the French countryside!

This story kinda has a little bit of everything!

🖤 Enemies to lovers
🖤 Forced proximity
🖤 One bed
🖤 Holiday adventure

It's was just really fun in a very surprising way. As I said, it read like hallmark movie. I could easily see it playing out in my head! A lot of over the top moments, but they were funny! But also some tender moments.

I just have to say, I don't think I've ever read a book where I really REALLY wanted it to be dual POV. I'm usually a one POV girl for preference, but I sooo badly wanted to know what Noah was thinking!! It was clearly obvious, but I still wanted to see everything from his eyes. But no foul to the book, because I think it made the book unique in this way!

Definitely deserves to be add to your library if you want to enjoy something light, funny and want to get swept away to the French Countryside. Yes, I'd like to live in this Chateau!

French Holiday
by Sarah Ready
5 stars

Merry has a secret crush on one of her best friends, Leo, but after Leo meets her sister Angela. Merry's unrequited love is no more, and she must learn to overcome it. After watching her sister and Leo get married, Merry has a drunken night with Noah, Leo's long-time best friend. After a few months, Merry still hasn't found happiness and can't get over it all; work is too much, and life is too much she needs to escape. Merry jumps at a chance to travel to France to stay at her godmother's Chateau. What Merry didn't plan on was Noah being there too. Can she handle being around Noah for three months?

This book made me so happy, and I couldn't stop smiling. I connected with Merry, her insecurities, and her wanting to find her forever love. Merry is just real. She can't read Noah's mind, and she tells him in better words than I might. She needs the confirmation and the words to make sure. Noah and Merry are too cute together, but it is a too-fast jump between all characters. I love Sarah Ready's books.

If you like forced proximity, shared bed, friends to lovers, and drama, try this book.

I enjoyed this book! It was a charming friends to lovers story. The author’s writing really made me feel like I was in the garden, in the castle and on the bridge. Noah and Merry made such a cute couple that you couldn’t help but root for them. I also surprisingly ended up liking Camille and Pierre. I also enjoyed the mystery surrounding Noah and his intentions for being in France. Overall this was a great read! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Omg I could not put this book down! The characters were so real and I was instantly invested. I love the enemies to lovers trope and this one did not disappoint! The scene with Louis had me laughing so hard!! The banter was great and the tension was amazing! I loved the twist it made me cry! The ending was so beautiful and everything just fell into place. This story was so fun to follow along with and had the perfect balance of everything! Noah and Merry were so perfect for each other!

Merry takes an opportunity to spend 3 months in France after her sister's wedding, in which her sister has married Merry's friend, and object of unrequited love, Leo. It turns out, the best man, Noah, is also staying at the same run-down chateau in France. This was an enjoyable forced proximity, enemies to lovers, romcom set in the beautiful French countryside. I was engaged during this read; the mystery/family history plot line of the story was interesting and added depth that may really appeal to readers, but wasn't the main event for me. I was mostly engaged with the chemistry between Merry and Noah.

Thank you to NetGalley for this: I ADORED it.
I'm just a big Sarah Ready fan. I think she does such a wonderful job of crafting relatable, genuine, spunky female leads. I think her B storyline's are always so well drawn up, so while the romance aspect is front and center, it isn't the only thing driving forward a believable story.
"Enemies to Lovers" is one of my favorite tropes and this absolutely did not disappoint and the romantic scenes were steamy but not cliche.
I think my favorite part of this story though was the sub-plot of unrequited love, the definition of 'love' and who can be the focus of unrequited love. I thought the duality between unrequited emotional love (and if its real or just put on due to situational availability) and unrequited familial love was just done so beautifully.
I can't wait for more of Ready's work.

This was a super cute romance set mostly in the French countryside between Merry (always puts others first before herself) and Noah (brooding travel filmmaker). If you need a feel-good story that you can read while on vacation or on your lunch break, this is it.

What it has:
- forced proximity
- enemies(ish)-to-lovers
- one bed (then two beds, then back to one bed)
- opposite of miscommunication
- some spice (🌶️.5 spice level)
- French stuff

Things I loved about the book:
- super easy to read (but not in a bad way - the writing was still great)
- the lack of miscommunication: I absolutely despise the use of miscommunication as a plot device and Ready did the complete opposite. Anytime there was a slight hint of confusion between the characters, it would be rectified and that was so satisfying
- the most adorable romance and very fun banter
- Merry's godmother (totally blanking on the name) - she was a delight!
- the character development, more specifically Noah's
- the small mystery of finding the french artist. I really enjoy a bit of mystery in a romance.

Things I didn't love about this book:
- the side characters of Leo and Angela. These two were awful and I hated them so much (hey, at least the author got a reaction out of me). I don't think we're meant to like either one of them but I kept wanting to shake the main female character because she was TOO NICE to both of them and it grated my nerves. I wish the book really only focused on Merry and Noah and left Leo and Angela mostly out of it.
- the conversations between Angela and Merry. They were so annoying and they weirdly got cut off when important information was about to be revealed.
- the quickness of loving someone. I get it, it's a modern romance and the heroine falls for the hero every time (mostly) but Merry went from head over heels in love with Leo to not being in love with him to loving Noah in a very short time frame and it really was not believable. It was cute nonetheless, though. Perhaps I'm too much of a realist.
- I guessed the ending.. it was not surprising.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Swift and Lewis Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

📚 forced proximity
📚 one bed
📚 enemies to lovers
📚 French castle

Spice 🌶️🌶️

|Synopsis|
Merry has decided to escape to a French castle in the hopes of forgetting the unrequited love she has for her best friend- who just married her sister. Unbeknownst to her, she will be sharing the space with the best man, whom she can’t stand.

"I’m in love with Noah. If he could read my heart, he would see his name written there”

|Thoughts|
Found this to be fast paced and intriguing. Enjoyed the additional mystery subplot and the tension between Noah & Merry.

The author does a great job at creating despicable characters. Her family are fairly self absorbed and fail to impart important information to her on a number of occasions. One of my only criticisms is that I felt it ended a bit too abruptly. But that’s also an indication that I was enjoying the story.

Worth a read if you’d like a light romance about strangers falling in love with some added hilarity thrown in.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchanged for my honest review.

Super cute enemies to lovers read, however, a little longer than it needed to be! Merry and Noah's relationship was adorable to follow but I honestly did NOT love some of the characters (Leo and Angela). Essentially a story around "lack of communication". I think if it just focused on Merry and Noah, I would rate it a 4/5.
I love the quirky parts of the story, the lobster LOL and the
"kitten". Overall a very easy and enjoyable read!

French Holiday by Sarah Ready tells the story of a young woman who engages her ‘flight plan’ to get over an unrequited love and instead finds herself while in the French countryside.

The story is adorable, heartwarming, and feel good. It has the addition of a light art mystery to the romance, creating an engaging plot. The cast of characters all added the story and there were no villains amongst them. The author also made the location a rich part of the novel. From the crumbing chateau to the picturesque city, I continuously found myself looking up the location that the story was set and made me want to book a trip to Annecy as soon as possible.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will be looking into what other novels the author has written. This novel is perfect for when you are looking for a light, fun read that will leave you happy and content.

Enemies to lovers are always a fun read. You know their going to end up together but the journey is always worth the read. The witty banter in this book, along with the added mystery and romance was a hit for me! I would recommend to my friends!

What do you do when the love of your life is marrying your sister? You take a French holiday for three months!

Meredith’s (Meri) life is falling apart. She has been in love with her best friend, Leo for years. Sadly, Leo is in love and marrying her sister. Her inability to profess her feelings to either her sister or Leo, leaves Meri to serve as the maid of honor alongside best man, Noah (her nemesis). The wedding proves to be the least of her worries. Her job in Human Resources requires her to layoff a significant number of her colleagues. Unable to continue working for a company she no longer respects, Meri resigns. With no love or job tying her down, Meri flees to France in hopes of starting over.

I am a fan of Sarah Ready. Having read two of her previous books (Josh and Gemma) I can safely say she is a go to author for me. Her writing is filled with tons of humor and heart. I was able to both read and listen to this book on audio and both versions had me laughing and tearing up!

This book features popular tropes such as:
Enemies-to-Lovers
Forced proximity
Roommates
Only one bed

*Unlike the other works I have read from Ready, this book is equal parts romance and mystery. It was fun to watch Meri fall in love and help Noah solve the mystery surrounding his family. The myster element was unexpected but a welcomed surprise!

Special thanks to Netgalley and Swift and Lewis Publishing LLC for allowing me to read and listen to this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Can someone please find me a chateau in a small town in France where I can live for three months with my "enemy", fall in love and live happily ever after?

"If you could read my heart, you will see the place I have given you there."

I loved this book. Very rarely do I read books which have me up at night trying to finish and get to the next chapter. I usually am able to control my urge to stay up all night to finish a book. It was funny, it made me cry a little, and it was full of heart and emotions and the little mystery which emerged was unexpected but definitely appreciated and kept the book from getting dull or boring. The star of the show was Louis the Lobster; I was laughing out loud. I normally prefer books with dual POV because I want to know what the love interest in thinking and feeling but with this book, I didn't get bored by being inside Merry's head. The story wasn't just her journey, it was Noah's journey as well and that was written beautifully.

I recommend this book to everyone who's a romcom lover and a mystery lover.

A fun loving forced proximity/enemies to lovers romance.
What would you do if your sister marries the love of your life ?? And you're the maid of honour at the wedding, and the best man hates you ?
If my aunt owned a castle in France I would definitely be going there to escape...
I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you for this Sarah, I really enjoyed the growing relationship between Noah and Merry, the banter was cute. This romantic comedy is good for the soul.
And thank you for making me want to attack someone with a cucumber.

This book reminded me of The Spanish Love Deception because forced proximity, enemies to friends, friendship to lovers. I loved everything about this book and easy to read in one sitting, you just get so wrapped in the book and wanting to finish to find out if everything works out or not. I laughed, I cried, and I finished the book, worth the read!!

I wanted to like this, and the premise for the book sounded interesting. Three months in a French chateau? Oh god, PLEASE. That sounds right up my alley.

At first, I started with the audiobook, which was a mistake, seeing as I'm really not an audiobook person. That was a mistake (sue me for trying a new experience, okay?!). The beginning of the book totally hooked me and I was digging the initial premise...but the narrator's voice kind of grated on my nerves. It's like she sounded, I don't know...smug? But I think that comes a bit more from the fact that I'm unaccustomed to listening to books instead of narrating them in my own head.

So after a few hours of that, I switched to the ebook, thinking I would enjoy that better. Well...no. Somehow, the book lost my interest after Merry arrived in France, which is obviously the opposite of what was supposed to happen. The storyline with Noah was bugging me somewhat and things were feeling cliched, so I went ahead and looked at GR reviews to see what happens in the rest of the book. Seeing how the rest of the book plays out confirmed my decision that I did not care to continue. I have no doubt that lots of romcom fans will love this book, and I can somewhat see the appeal! But it was not for me.