This was a great book to read, especially since I am very interested in what life aboard would be like. I loved the environment development of this book and how well the characters were written and placed within the story. This was a great read!

Marty and Eileen are living my dream! For someone who regularly researches cottages for sale in France, this book was a perfect fit. I enjoyed reading about their experience fixing up a 400-year-old cottage and their honestly about the difficulty that brings with it. Very enjoyable book!

A fun book about an American couple, Eileen and Marty, who decide to purchase a country home (that needs some love), and embark on the mission to become French. It is full of fun adventures, stories, and even recipes (mainly from their daughter Sara who is apparently an amazing chef - I have not yet tried and of the recipes but they look delicious). Honestly this book grew on me. It is not my usual style of book, and it took a while for me to get into it, but I found I slowly started to feel like these were people I know. There is definitely some comedy, sticky situations, and ups and downs. And reading about the French country, the food, and is simply magical. If you are a lover of France or French cuisine this is a book for you.

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.

In these very difficult days, it is good to focus on simple, good things. This book (author "Marty" but otherwise anonymous) is written with a light and generous touch. Marty and Eileen buy a summer house in France to force themselves to learn a new language and enjoy a new culture as a respite from most of the year spent working in Silicon Valley. They are middle-aged-plus and appreciative of the beauty around them, the cultural events such as the Tour de France that passes near to their property, their neighbors of various nationalities, and the unique way the French have long had with food. The small mishaps and disappointments are taken with good grace by the couple and even the larger challenges such as an exploding boiler and collapsing garden wall are likewise considered alongside the daily blessings for which Marty and Eileen have so much gratitude.

This is a charming memoir of moving overseas. It even contains a glossary of French words for those who want to learn more of the language as well as the culture shock involved in following one's dream. As someone who's often dreamed of packing up and moving to a new country (now more than ever) it was a nice reminder of how difficult that transition can be in practical terms.

A memoir of an American family who bought an estate in the French countryside.

I really enjoyed the chapters of this book, reading them one a night before bed. Each chapter fully contains an episode of the family's life (sometimes idyllic, sometimes funny, always fun) as they buy and restore an old home, meet friends, and navigate life as expats.

The descriptions of the food, culture, and settings are beautiful.

I highly recommend for anyone who wants to virtually tour France and get lost in its beautiful country.

I received a RC as a reviewer for NetGalley.

This was a very charming story about an American couple who decided to purchase an old farmhouse in France as their second home! This book was filled with beautiful life moments, both the ups and the downs of having moved into a foreign country. One of the most obvious struggles being the language barrier.

There are some French words and phrases peppered throughout the story, but as someone who knows basically no French, this was never an issue as everything was linked to a translation in the back of the e-book. As I have not seen a physical edition, I can only infer that the translations would still be located in the back.

They also included several recipes in the book like a Tomato Peach Salad that I am dying to make! There was a note at the end of the recipe portion stating you could find additional recipes at their website, but it has either since changed or they longer operate the website as I could not find it.

My final thoughts: Overall, the author did an amazing job at portraying their journey in a fun, easy going manner. This is a wonderful and easy summer read that many will enjoy, especially if they are fans of Under the Tuscan Sun (one of my personal favorite movies!).

My Overall Rating: 4/5

Disclosure: I received a complimentary eARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this opportunity!

I am currently obsessively watching every French Netflix series I can lay my remote control, this has obsession has grown in to trying to learn French and wistfully looking at French property that I cant afford.

Beginning French is written by an American couple who decided to take the plunge and buy a French property despite not being Fluent in French or the French way of life.

Their story is lovely, it shows all the ups and downs that come with owning a property in another country, especially another country where they language is not your native one. It is interspersed with delightful descriptions of the landscape as well as their adorable sounding house.

I also appreciated the French lessons throughout, I learning French with Duolingo at the present and I was so pleased to realise I had learnt more than I previously thought.

A lovely read.

Eileen and Marty are Americans who dreamed of living in France. They bought a 400 year old farmhouse with a charming layout; they purchased it online. I am personally not that brave.

There is much style in their new home and as they begin renovating to their taste it becomes the home they always wished for. Oh, it’s full of issues here and there such as a bursting water heater that destroys all their furniture and carpets, electricty issues where it just goes out completely if more than two applicances are plugged in, and of course a small language problem.

I’ll hand it to them, they did learn enough French to get by in restaurants and shoppping, talking to neighbors and such. I always felt if we became ex-pats we would absolutely need to learn the language of the county.

There is French conversation sprinkled throughout the book and an interactive glossary embedded in the book. If your Kindle isn’t on airplane mode you can click on the French word and see the translations.

The book has many recipes, courtesy of Sara their chef daughter.

Goat Cheese souffle
Mussels with Almonds
Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese, wrapped in Pancetta
Tomato Peach Salad
Duck Burgers and Onion Jam

At the end of the recipe page it states you may go to BeginningFrench.com for more recipes and photos. When I tried that you will find that website doesn’t exist and the URL is for sale. I guess they abandoned it.

Also, it seemed enough time was spent explaining how Marty “unwittingly” flirted with the carpet installer, Jaqueline, and how Eileen actually left him for weeks for me think, this was a major event in their lives there. By the way, Jaqueline is described as looking like Marion Cotillard’s younger sexier sister. I had wondered if Marty and Eileen still lived between Califormia and France and had to look online. I guess they do.

Food inspiration for me wasn’t anything mentioned in the book, although I was tempted by the roasted figs. Instead I went with a French chef and recipe from Jacques Pépin. Here is Fettuccine with Summer Vegetables. I’ll be posting the recipe at Squirrel Head Manor tomorrow or Wednesday.

Much thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this complimentary copy of Beginning French, a travel memoir . This was originally published in 2016.

Beginning French is a lovely glimpse into the lives of American expats living in Southwestern France. While ripe with charming descriptions of the quintessential quaintness of the country, it also offers glimpses into the challenging (and often humorous!) blunders that come with living in a foreign land. The authors' descriptions put me right into the setting - the closest I could come to traveling to France during the COVID-19 quarantine. Sarah's recipes were also a lovely touch and not at all out of reach for an American cook. I can't wait to try them!

A fun little memoir of a family's journey in a farmhouse in the French countryside. The family didn't uproot to France completely, but was going back and forth, and I enjoyed reading about their experiences in fixing the crumbling farmhouse. The recipes from their daughter Sara made my mouth water and their motto of "have a set back, have a drink" sounds like a good way to deal with change. I would recommend it to those that have enjoyed A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun.

🍷🍲🍴Lots of food, glorious food, as they live the dream of a rural French idyll🌄

Don't sit down to read this book when you are even a bit hungry! This couple's adventures in rural Aquitaine are heavily peppered with descriptions of colorful markets and scrumptious meals with French flair😋.
I guess it could not be otherwise when their chef daughter Sara joins their summer holidays and cooks up a storm, salivating over the array of fresh local ingredients, and their remedy for each setback is raising a glass! The book includes numerous recipes at chapter's end for the reader ready to try to duplicate their tasty meals.

I found this a nice, brief glimpse into the pleasures (and headaches) of owning a rustic vacation property in a less well-known part of rural France. Their move-in ready property is a constant source of surprise glitches. The big surprise for me was how well the couple weathers each problem that crops up. The language barrier haunts the husband, but somehow they manage.

I can read French so I did not need to use the interactive dictionary built into the e-version of the book. But, for those who haven't bothered to learn French, it's no problem. As French words crop up, you just click on the underlined word and are immediately transported to the dictionary translation.

For me, the story was heavy on food and lengthy menu descriptions. Not at the level of a Peter Mayle memoir at his best, but a relaxing account of great food, good friends and the pros and cons of living the good life in a fixer-upper with a view.

Thanks to the author/publishers and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

While an enjoyable read, I was struck by how much the author was trying to emulate Peter Mayle in his Year in Provence. Or, was he using Under the Tuscan Sun as the guide.

I think two things rang false for me - one was the "we're just Average Americans who can take off a few months each year to live in our 400 year old home in France". Um... that's not exactly average.

And the "other woman" rang false for me. Was there a need for conflict between the husband and wife? Was the house not enough of a conflict for the story?

I enjoyed the recipes .. enjoyed the stories of the towns and the attempt for the family to integrate themselves. However, I'd probably read Provence again instead of this one.

Sorry!

I'd like to thank Netgalley for the preview edition in exchange for my honest review.

You know you are reading/have read a good book when you realize you only have a page or two left and are so very disappointed to have suddenly reached the end. This was one of those books for me - there must be more to the story! I love travel books where the travelers decide to put down roots, to spend a good bit of time and effort to get to know the community and the individuals there. This is such a book and I was sad to look up tonight and realize I was at 97%. One change that could be added would be a short chapter about the writers and their life at home, away from France. I loved the recipes given every so often for the great meals (though most weren't something a vegetarian or vegan could eat). The sections involving food shopping were funny (so easy to see this in my kind) and the house problem sections were understandable and realistic but not overdone nor dry. These people seemed like a couple that would be fun to know, or at least visit with over a meal.

I loved this little book. I pretty much read it in one day. What a heartwarming story with lots of life lessons. My husband is from Cassis, and reading about the French mannerisms- I can truly say that the author captured them quite accurately! I would highly recommend this novel. There wasn't anything that stuck out to me that I did not like.

This approach is refreshing and very honest. You really connect to the characters of Marty and Eileen. This is a quick and delitglightful read.

This was pretty interesting. I enjoyed reading about their experience in France and how they coped with living there

I fantasize about packing up everything and moving to a rustic farmhouse in the french countryside. This book was a delightful peek into the more realistic side of that fantasy. I think I'll stick with vicarious advrntures and House Hunters International for now.

I really enjoy reading books about people packing up and moving to other countries and making a go of it and this book was no exception. This American couple bought an old farmhouse in France but only lived there in the summer as they had a thriving business in California and were not ready to retire. The farmhouse they bought was fully renovated but as we all know even renovated there are always problems with something that is 400 years old no matter how charming and that includes the barn which was not renovated. However, this American couple found a lot to love about the slower pace of life in France that included the food, the people and the markets and I loved reading about it. There is also the usual and expected humor that comes from the language barrier and the misunderstandings that arise due to the differences in customs. Added bonuses in this book are the French to English dictionary to, book club questions if you want use this title in your book club, recipes for the dishes talked about in the book plus a web site with downloadable and printable recipes and more. I enjoyed this book and I was given the opportunity to read this book through Netgalley.

Having devoured many Expats in the South of France travel narratives in my younger years, thanks to a love of Peter Mayle, I suspect I’m an easy sell when it comes to the topic.

Beginning French this predictably charmed me and was a fun, funny escapist read that brought some sunshine to the dreary winter months.

The slapstick-y, Money Pit-esque disasters that befall Eileen and Marty’s renovations combined with the wink-nudge humor about what it means to be French makes for entertaining, delightful content.

While Les Américains can’t match Mayle’s storytelling ability and evocative atmosphere and sense of place, they’ve done an admirably better job of it than most of the Mayle copycats, and I would happily read more about their adventures in the future.