This story is every bit as lovely as lavender and sage. I’m pretty sure it cast a spell on me, because I listened to the audiobook with rapt attention, finishing in a day because I couldn’t put it down. Witnessing Tempèsta coming into her own, experiencing life in a small French town, learning more of her family history, was just wonderfully enchanting.

Caroline Hewitt did a fantastic job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Aimie K. Runyan, HarperCollins Focus, Harper Muse, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

I loved this book. Each and every moment of it. Wonderful story with truly fabulous narration. Tempesta lost her mother at 13 and her life as she knew it was over. She loved her mother with every fiber of her being and once she was gone her life changed dramatically. Henceforth, she lived a life of at best being ignored and left out and at worst and what became the norm emotionally abused, alienated from family life, not invited to visit on school holidays and was verbally abused by her horrific snotty, stuck up, despicable grandmother and her father and brother followed along and not only allowed it to continue, but jumped right on the bandwagon. Sure, she was fed and housed, but the abuse and neglect happened. She was in their words, never good enough and didn’t deserve anything from them. She didn’t even have a bed to sleep in the are times he went home from college. When she would see her grandmother, father and brother living great lives on social media she finally realized she was done, not was them and not her and left to live her own life in the way she wanted. When her father passed away everything, and I mean everything went to her brother, but for the few boxes of her mothers possessions in the basement and some money that her mother had left of her own that she willed to her. She missed her mother so went to France to see where she was from and maybe, just maybe learn about her. It was once she she finally found about her heritage, who she was, who she wanted to be and the life she wanted to live that not only did she find her happy, but she brought it to everyone around her as well. A truly wonderful listen.

Slow paced, and very cozy, this book feels like a hot cup of herbal tea on a Sunday morning in early spring, when the sun is warm but the air is still cool. Not every story needs romance, but since this book is tagged as such, I would have loved to have seen more chemistry and banter between Tempesta and her love interest. Overall a lovely, quiet read that reminded me of Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service.

This is one of those audiobooks that is perfect to listen to if you need a calming and positive narrative that’s just the right mix of plot and description, but mostly you’re there for the vibe. It’s slowly paced, and the descriptions are beautiful. I literally had to go out and buy bread, herbs, and oil one day because of the way it was described in one of the chapters. The main character is a woman named Tempesta who leaves her New York life to live in provincial France and find her heritage and herself. There is also a fun element of magical realism woven into her family history, and a sweet romance that blossoms slowly. The narrator did a great job going between French and English accents, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the book. My only complaint was that it seemed rush at the end, like some details were just summed up or skipped over, which felt like a big change from the other 90% of the book. Overall it was still a beautiful listen, and an easy 4 star audiobook. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse Audiobooks for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Magical! I didn’t want The Memory of Lavender and Sage to end. The charming cover draws you in to a beautiful story of family, friends and community. Aimie K Runyan does an amazing job of transporting us to the charming French village of Saint Colombe. Excellently narrated by Caroline Hewitt. She captures the French voice perfectly.

Thank you Harper Collins Focus and Net Galley for this advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

A lovely combination of women’s fiction and magical realism, I think my favorite part of this novel is its strong sense of place. I felt like I was in France smelling lavender and basil and eating wonderful food. The final version will have an enhancement pdf available with recipes, a welcome addition to the mouth-watering descriptions. I enjoy home renovation, so restoring the old home was also appealing. This also spurred me to read about the Occitan language. I appreciated the narrator’s fluency with French and Occitan as well as the way she voiced the different characters. The narration added to the warmth of this story. This is a warm, feel good read. Recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an audio review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was not what I expected at all. The setting was beautiful and charming. The kind of place I hope to visit some day. I did find that this book kind of dragged for me. It was beautifully written. It felt like it drifted a lot of the time. When I was relaxed, it was a good read.

Tempesta is grieving. He father has just passed on and she was excluded from the will. Her brother got it all. She's not surprised because she had always felt like the blacksheep of the family. However, her mother had left her money in her will. She decided to move to a small town in Provence. And, there, she finds herself.

Many thanks to HarperCollins Focus and Net Galley for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this lovely story of family, food and love. The characters are well done and I was transported to Provence. There was a bit of magical realism that felt just right in the story. I was reminded of the book Chocolat, which is a favorite of mine. The narrator did a great job with the accents and language, I’m glad I listened to this one.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Book Review🌿
The Memory of Lavender and Sage
By: Amie K. Runyan
Publication date: 3-5-24
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝗔 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆, 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱, & 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.💜

Synopsis:
Food critic Tempèsta Luddington lost her beloved mother at the age of thirteen and always felt like the odd one in her family with the treatment she received from her father and grandmother. When her father passes fifteen years later, Tempèsta is left a small inheritance from her mother.

With a little push, she decides to visit a small town in France where her mother grew up and decides to place her roots in the community when she purchases a rundown manor with her inheritance. Her greeting and welcome are not at all what she anticipated, with the mayor of the town’s dislike for her. But she doesn’t let it scare her off as she begins to connect with the community, discover her abilities and strengths with food and herbs, and unravel questions and answers about her mother’s past including the magical gifts she inherited from the generations of women before her.

Thoughts:
This was such a beautiful and charming story! The author’s writing makes you feel as if you are completely immersed in the story with the descriptions of France, the food, and the small community. I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook read by Caroline Hewitt who did a fantastic job and made you feel as if you were in France yourself. I liked the characters and watching Tempèsta progression as she learns more about her mother, her family, and herself.

I don’t usually read books like this with magical realism elements (this is my first!). I wasn’t sure if I would like it or if it would take away from the story, but I didn’t mind it at all. This book is also marketed as romance but I wouldn’t consider it that, it’s a small subplot which I think fits the story as a whole really well.

I highly recommend this book & will be checking out more of Amie K. Runyan’s work in the future!

Thank you so much Netgalley and HarperCollins Focus for sending me an advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.


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his book is one that makes the reader think about the meaning and importance of family as well as the idea that life is something more than how much money we make or how many hours we work. The narrator, Tempesta, suddenly loses her father after having lost her mother when she was a teenager. Her grandmother is cold to her and makes Tempesta feel as if she doesn't belong in her family. Tempesta works as a food critic in the United States but decides to go to her mother's village in France and buys a small house there with the small inheritance from her mother (her brother got the lion's share, from the father), sight unseen. Although she is not initially welcomed by everyone there (some call her a witch), she comes to make a life there, coming to understand that a life is more than going to work each day and making money. She gets out of the rat race and discovers that the community is all around her and she finds her own true talents, in spite of the pressure placed upon her by her brother who wants her to come home to help him run the family business, that is literally making him ill.
There are wonderful characters in this book, beautiful descriptions and important and meaning messages for the reader (without being didactic). I definitely look forward to reading future books by Ms. Runyan.
The narrator, Caroline Leavitt, was absolutely wonderful. She had a difficult task, properly pronouncing all of the French words and phrases. She really brought the protagonist to life, right from the beginning, making us feel her frustration with her family after her father's death. Given that this book focuses almost exclusively on this protagonist, it is absolutely crucial to have a narrator who "feels" like the character and Ms. Leavitt did.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse/Harper Collins Focus for providing me with the opportunity to read this wonderful book.