Review - The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted

I finished this book almost as soon as I wrote about the first paragraph a few Tuesdays ago. Since I'm obsessed with all things French, any book set in France already has a strong chance of winning my heart, and The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher did steal me away from Ohio for awhile as I whizzed through the pages. My favorite part of the book was the description of the main character, Heidi, and her husband Henry. Henry had died in a car accident a few years earlier, but she still mourned his loss and missed him at every turn. The descriptions of their relationship were funny and inspiring.
I would have liked to see more of France, but the story was strong enough that it could have been set at a beach house in Maine or a desert house in New Mexico. Of course, I might not have read it then because of my France obsession.
The book does a nice job of showing Heidi slowly peel back layers and begin to heal herself and her 7-year-old son. A 16-year-old niece with her own problems adds to the angst. And, of course, the house in Provence has some magical qualities. Having traveled in Provence, I would think most any place there would.
One thing bothered me, and I feel really picky (my brother would say I'm like Jerry Seinfeld in letting one thing get in the way of my enjoyment). When Heidi is in Provence she wakes up and decides to call her mother back in the States. She says since it is 9 a.m. in Provence, it will be 3 p.m. at home. Really though, it would be 3 a.m. at home. So that bugged me. I felt like it was a little thing easy to fix by getting on a plane, flying to France and spending a few weeks there eating crusty bread and flaky pastries, thick, dark chocolates and luscious red wines. I would have been willing to make that sacrifice for my own book. Then I could have looked at the clock on my phone and written the times down correctly in the book.
Other than that faux pas, the book was lovely and made me sigh in disappointment that it was over when I came to the end and had to leave Provence for Ohio again.

First Paragraph -- The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This week, I've dived into a book set in the same place as my new novel: Provence, France.
Anyone who reads my blog knows about my French obsession. I think I've read every fiction and memoir set in France and I'm always hungry for more, which is how I picked up The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher. The author also writes as Juliana Baggott and has a website here. Here are the first few short paragraphs in Part One:

Ever since Henry's death, I'd been losing things.
I lost keys, sunglasses, checkbooks. I lost a spatula and found it in the freezer, along with a bag of grated cheese.
I lost a note to Abbot's third-grade teacher explaining how I'd lost his homework.
I lost the caps to toothpaste and jelly jars. I put these things away open-mouthed, lidless, airing. I lost hairbrushes and shoes -- not just one of a pair, but both.

I've already finished Part One and am starting Part Two. I keep stealing moments to read this book, and not just because of my obsession with France. She hasn't even gotten to France in Part One. I'll share with you my favorite part so far. She touches on incidents that help explain her relationship with her husband Henry who died two years before in a car accident. They had one of those sweet, we-are-one relationships, or at least that's the way Heidi, the main character, remembers it. Here's my favorite scene so far:

One night, lying in bed together, about a month before Henry died, my calf seized. I shot up in bed and cried out, "Leg cramp!"
Henry was almost asleep. The room was lit only by the hall light. He said, "Your leg or mine?"
I was flexing my foot, rubbing the knot violently. "What do you mean, your leg or mine? How would I know if you had a leg cramp?"
Henry was quiet for a moment, and then said, "You're right. My leg feels fine."
The truth was that Henry and I had grown so close that sometimes it was hard to know where one of us began and the other ended. We'd been together for so long that most of our memories were the same film, just different camera angles, and from years of playing the memories, even the camera angles were mostly blurred to one by this point.

I told Grace about this scene this morning and we both ended up laughing. I'm not sure if I'd want a relationship like that. Earl and I are both definitely separate people, but that is easy for me to say since I still have him. Who knows what I would think if he one day disappeared.
I'm definitely going to keep reading this book. What do you think? Did it hook you?