Member Review

I admit the enemies-to-lovers trope is in a dead heat with the romance-in-a-foreign-country trope when it comes to my favorite conceits in romance books, so French Holiday was already starting out with several advantages in its corner. Some of the humor was a bit off-putting at the beginning because it wasn’t my style, but I eventually settled into enjoying Merry’s narration, and I did laugh out loud at several points. A few times I was outright in stitches cracking up, such as the fantastic—and utterly hilarious—cooking scene with the lobster. The book is worth reading for the lobster all itself.
I’m not a huge fan of speaking to the reader or the kinds of asides where a narrator is chiding themselves, and this book does make use of those, but the overall story was charming enough and many parts were so funny that I could overlook that device and still enjoy the narrative. The house was a character all itself, which I appreciated, and Merry’s aunt was a delightful character who was richly drawn despite having few appearances. The self journey of Merry as she attempts to come to terms with her unrequited love for her best friend was believable and relatable—particularly how she comes to recognize that she was more in love with an idea than a person. I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys the travel-romance, finding-yourself-far-away, or enemies-to-lovers tropes, and it’s a fast, very fun read.