Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC of ‘Once Upon a Villa’ by Andrew Kaplan.

The memoir was different than other memoirs I have read! The main focus was on his family and him living aboard and how they navigated their life there. Throughout the memoir I appreciated the honesty the author incorporated about obstacles they faced living aboard and the ups they had there.

Enjoyable read as I got a chance to view life abroad through the eyes of another. I got to take my virtual vacation while I was actually on vacation myself.

“Once Upon a Villa” by Andrew Kaplan captures the time (year?) that his family (wife, child, and himself) spent living in the French Riviera during the 1980s. While reading this book, Mr. Kaplan was also writing his third novel - so discussions about characters and plot were dropped in, too. I found this memoir, especially toward the beginning, to be rather good - it mentioned struggles about moving to a foreign country, meeting new people, finding ones way around a new area - including adjusting to the European way of shopping (this was pre-Tesco-like stores), and - of course - speaking a foreign language. As the book went on, however, I found myself losing interest in the name dropping and their very rich friends. Granted, the French Riviera is where the rich and well-known go - so I’m not faulting Mr. Kaplan for including the names and their friends’ situations. I would’ve liked an update (or maybe post-script?) about how Mr. Kaplan’s life was going - even if it was a few months after their time in France/Monaco - did they return to California, how’d the book deal go, were they still in touch with their friends? I know this book was different (memoir) from what he usually writes (thriller), so I applaud him for writing a different style - I just wish the last few chapters had held my interest as much as the beginning did.

Not usually the kind of book I read, but wanted to try something different.
A fun, interesting read nonetheless!

Gave this book a 4 - star because it’s not my cup of tea but it could be someone’s cup of tea…

Good message gleaned, money doesn’t buy happiness.