Another Review for Falling for Provence

My virtual book tour continues on FranceBookTours. Click on the link to see the stops for this week.

This time, it's the blog "Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers." Here's the link.
You can register to win a free copy of the book at each stop on the tour, and can even get extra chances if you tweet about it.
I'm not sure if the blogger really liked it. I'd love your feedback on the review. An interpretation, if you will.
Here's an excerpt from the review:

The story takes us along for the ride as Fia gets her feet back under her, trying to create a new life for herself and her family, while coming to grips with everything that happened not so long ago.  The monkey wrench of love being thrown in sends her a bit off course, but sometimes exploring those deviations from our chosen path can have AMAZING outcomes.  This time...umm, well, I can't REALLY tell you because it'll ruin the surprise, but let's just say that she DOES get closer to someone, while also cutting ties with several other someone's, and the ending sort of leaves you scrambling for solid ground. -- "Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers"

Hmmm. Well, any press is good press. I hope she did enjoy it, and I hope you'll give it a shot too.

Here's another review from Amazon and the reviewer had a more definitive opinion on the novel.

"Kincer has written a marvelous escape to Provence in this book that will male you forget “the time of Covid” as you get caught up in the simple life that’s healing her soul. Kincer has developed a type of hybrid heist ala Dan Brown (Robert Langdon cryptographic series)and Ritter Ames (Bodies of Art series) that will sweep you into a world you can only imagine while you stay firmly in your ordinary life." -- Amazon review

Here's a photo from a recent trip to Provence to keep you coming back.

Mont Sainte Victoire on a clear day in Aix en Provence

Blog Tour

My blog tour for Falling for Provence begins today. 

My first review for this book tour filled me with glee as the blogger gave me 4 1/2 stars for Falling for Privence and said I was fast becoming one of her “must read” authors. 

France Book Tours never disappoints. If you love reading fiction and nonfiction set in France, you should take a look

Today the tour begins with a guest post by me about our decision to move to France. 

You can find the whole story, along with a book giveaway at Locks, Hooks and Books.

Hope you enjoy it! 

Review of Paris Ever After

Author KSR Burns lured in readers with her novel The Paris Effect and the story continues in this sequel Paris Ever After, which hits the markets on May 1.
The book covers are magical and the story inside the sequel lives up to the magnetism of the cover.
The main character, Amy, left her husband in Arizona months before after he learned she had jetted off to Paris, a surprise trip, totally unlike her. But after her best friend died, she needed something to jump start her life. She thought she'd be home before her husband returned from his business trip but he discovered her secret trip. When he refused to talk with her about reconciling, she returned to Paris where she attempts to start a new life.
Amy is a bit naive and trusts people she truly shouldn't. It puts me on edge throughout the novel. She ends up living with a woman who had previously drugged her to keep her in Paris. She starts working with a guy who put her in danger climbing through the sewers of Paris. She takes risk that are not normal for a cautious woman like herself.
On her 30th birthday, her new Parisian life is set shaking when she spies her estranged husband checking into a Paris hotel, and her landlord's missing daughter shows up, taking over the room that Amy had lived in. Whatever she thought was settled, suddenly is not.
She has to figure out what her husband wants in Paris and where she will live if she chooses to stay.
Throughout the novel, the vivid background of Paris is a character of its own, along with the luscious meals that Amy shares with friends and frenemies.
This is a fast read that immerses the reader in the midst of French life, rooting for Amy to make good choices, whether that means staying in Paris or returning to her husband.

FranceBookTours -- One Sip at a Time

If you know me at all, you would suspect that I would dive right into One Sip at a Time by Keith Van Sickle. This book is full of the author's observations of life as he and his wife move to Provence. They had already lived along the border of Switzerland and France, so they were not strangers to living abroad.
Each story is a short snippet, like a blog post, and they are all joined together to create a small memoir, which is nice if you only have short bursts of time to read.
The author covers the major stumbling blocks that ex-pats face and does it in an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek manner. He addresses situations like driving in France, learning the language and making friends. In the section titled "The French Citizenship Test," I wondered if the author and his wife were actually becoming French citizens, but instead, he talked about the challenge of eating a croissant without leaving messy crumbs. Yes, I can see that would be a challenge, and perhaps the ultimate test to become a French citizen. 
One chapter I found interesting was about the presidential election in France. When we visited France in May, they had just elected Macron. Van Sickle writes about the election of Hollande, so a few years before. Like us, he was impressed by the shortness of the election.
If you're curious about life in France and interested in a light-hearted look at it, One Sip at a Time can take you there.
Make sure you scroll down and enter to win a copy of the book.

Keith Van Sickle

on Tour November 6-17 with

One Sip at a Time: Learning to Live in Provence

(travel memoir) Release date: January 28, 2017 at Dresher Publishing ISBN: 978-0998312002 192 pages Author’s page | Goodreads  

SYNOPSIS

Can a two-career couple really pick up stakes and move to Provence? Keith and Val had a dream – to live in Provence, the land of brilliant sunlight, charming hilltop villages and the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean. But there were two problems: they weren’t French speakers and they had full-time jobs. So they came up with a plan… Follow their adventures (and misadventures) as they quit their jobs, become consultants and split their time between two countries. Laugh along as they build a life in Provence, slowly mastering a new language and making friends with the locals over long meals and just a bit too much wine. If you’ve ever dreamed of changing gears and learning what joie de vivre is really all about, you won’t want to miss this delightful book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keith Van Sickle is a technology industry veteran and lifelong traveler who got his first taste of overseas life while studying in England during college. But it was the expat assignment to Switzerland that made him really fall in love with Europe. After returning to California, he and his wife Val dreamed of living abroad again but were unable to find another expat gig. So they decided to invent their own. Now they split their time between Silicon Valley and St-Rémy-de-Provence, delving ever deeper into what makes France so endlessly fascinating. Find the author on Facebook and Twitter Visit his website Subscribe to his mailing list and get information about new releases. Buy the book on Amazon.com

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GIVEAWAY

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Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Global giveaway open to all 5 winners

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FranceBookTours -- The Frenchman

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Make sure you scroll to the bottom where you can enter to win a copy of this book.

Today I'm reviewing The Frenchman by Lise McClendon. Apparently this is one of a series of books about five sisters, called Bennett Sisters Mystery. I haven't read any of the others, but this one stands alone without too much requirement for backstory.
This novel did a good job pulling me into the life of Merle Bennett as she left her job as a lawyer and traveled with her teenage son to France where she owns a house inherited from her late husband. She also has a romance with a Frenchman, Pascal, apparently from a previous novel.


I enjoyed the writing and the story as Merle tried to create a home in the Dordogne region of France, dealing with vandalism and attempting to connect with standoffish neighbors.  When Merle's son goes back to the U.S. to begin college and Pascal disappears while investigating an undercover wine sting, she is left alone to figure out how to live in a new culture.
Throughout the first half, there wasn't really a mystery, which is fine by me, but it did lack in tension to make me wonder what would happen or what was at stake.
But the tension picked up in the second half and had me turning pages (metaphorically since I read it on Kindle).
I'll have to admit that the book has a more down-to-earth view of France and living life in France as an American transplant than many fictional books set there. It put a little damper on my dreams, but even in the midst of crisis, there was good food and wine.
This book was a pleasant escape with some mystery thrown in to the second half. Definitely worth a read.

Lise McClendon on Tour September 8-21 with

The Frenchman

(mystery) Release date: September 8, 2017 at Thalia Press 278 pages

Author’s website | Goodreads

   

SYNOPSIS

In this 5th installment of the Bennett Sisters Mysteries (beginning with Blackbird Fly), attorney Merle Bennett goes to France for an extended stay to drink in the essence of ‘la France Profonde’ and write her own novel. But the countryside is not as tranquil as she hoped. A missing Frenchman, a sinister one, an elderly one, a thieving one, and a vandalizing one: all conspire to turn Merle’s sojourn of reflection into a nightmare of worry. Where is Pascal, her French boyfriend? Who is the man with the terrible scar? Why is someone spray-painting her little stone house in the Dordogne? And will her novel about the French Revolution – snippets of which are included – give her a soupçon of delight or a frisson of danger?

Works fine as a stand-alone

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lise McClendon is the author of fifteen novels of mystery, suspense, and general mayhem plus short stories. Her bestselling Bennett Sisters mystery series began with ‘Blackbird Fly.’ She also writes thrillers as Rory Tate, the latest of which is ‘PLAN X.’ Her short story is included in this fall’s noir anthology, ‘The Obama Inheritance.’ She lives in Montana.

Visit her website

Subscribe to her mailing list

Follow her on Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Buy the book: on Amazon

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GIVEAWAY

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Global giveaway open to all 7 winners

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FranceBookTours -- The Secret of the Abbey

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The Secret of the Abbey by Kathleen C. Perrin is a blend of historical fiction and fantasy that really immerses the reader in France, specifically in Mont St. Michel, that historic icon in northwestern France.
This is book 3 in The Watchmen Saga, and I hadn't read the previous two books, but plenty of details were included to help me catch up in this latest novel.
Although the book is told from various viewpoints, the main character is Katelyn, an 18-year-old American, who has been chosen by the Archangel Michael to be one of the Watchmen to protect an ancient secret hidden in Mont St. Michel.
And since Katelyn is chosen by the Archangel, things suddenly go her way. A writing project for school is made into a novel with a $25,000 advance. A French stranger dies and leaves her an exclusive inn on Mont St. Michel. Ahh, what a lovely fantasy. I can definitely get swept up in that.
But Katelyn's main conflict isn't in the present day, but with her fellow Watchman Nicolas. The two of them jump centuries, Nicolas from the 1400s and Katelyn from today to help save Mont St. Michel from the Catholic/Huguenot battles in the 16th century.
Sometimes the history is a bit dense, but overall I really enjoyed the suspense and the immersion into historical life. If I had the chance, I would definitely fit my key into the stone in Mont St. Michel and be transported back into time, just to see how it changes through the ages. The author did a wonderful job of capturing details so the reader can experience France throughout the centuries. It made me want to take another trip to Mont St. Michel -- and maybe I will in 2018.

Here's a picture of Mont St. Michel that my daughter took when she visited

Scroll down and enter to win a copy of this novel. If you can't visit Mont St. Michel this fall, or even next year, this book can take you there throughout the centuries that it has existed.

Kathleen C. Perrin

on tour August 14-25, 2017  

The Secret of the Abbey

(historical fiction) Release date: June 3, 2017 Self-published at Langon House 565 pages ISBN: 978-0692877975 Website | Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

After unwillingly leaving a comatose Nicolas behind on Mont Saint Michel in 1429, Katelyn Michaels is distraught to be back in the United States in modern times. When a series of remarkable events facilitates her taking up residence on the Mount and reveals why Katelyn was called as a Watchman, her fondest hope is to be reunited with Nicolas, regardless of the circumstances. However, when Nicolas unexpectedly arrives with a new mission for her, Katelyn is devastated to learn that his head injury has deprived him of any memories of their relationship. Nonetheless, she is determined to once again save the Mount—this time in sixteenth-century France amidst violent religious turmoil—and rekindle Nicolas’s feelings for her. The couple’s love and loyalty is tested as she and Nicolas attempt to unmask the true source of the threat¬—their adversary Abdon—sort out their conflicting emotions, and deal with the consequences of an astounding age-old secret.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Kathleen C. Perrin holds bachelor’s degrees in French and Humanities from Brigham Young University and is a certified French translator. Besides being the author of The Watchmen Saga, she has published several non-fiction articles, academic papers, and a religious history about Tahiti. Kathleen has lived in Utah, New York City, France, and French Polynesia. She and her French husband have spent years investigating the mysteries and beauties of his native country —where they have a cottage—and have taken tourist groups to France. The Perrins have three children and currently reside in Utah.

Visit her website. See here gorgeous pictures related to the book Follow her on Facebook, Twitter

Sign up to receive her Newsletter.

Buy the book on Amazon

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GIVEAWAY

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Global giveaway open to all 8 winners

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Dreaming of France -- Uncorked

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
In the midst of my moving preparation, I found the time to read a relatively short memoir about a Canadian man who moved to Saint Paul de Vence to work in IT. The book is called Uncorked: My Year in Provence Studying Pétanque , Discovering Chagall, Drinking Pastis, and Mangling French.  He tells the story of how he fell in love with game of  pétanque and convinced a local man to teach him to play in the dark of night. Eventually, the man embraced him as a partner, and he became one of the locals playing pétanque by the cafe and ignoring tourists.

This was an entertaining book because it addressed a topic that is oftentimes touched upon in books but rarely focused on. Of course, the game wasn't the entire point. The game helped him integrate into the village. And since we are planning to move to France, we always wonder how we'll worm our way into local life. Earl pictures himself sitting on a bench watching pétanque and eventually being allowed to play with the other old men in the village. I think I'd better get him a coach.
Here's the beginning of Chapter 1:

The French word bisou  is used to describe the charming manner in which the French greet one another with a ceremonial kiss on both cheeks. This act should not be mistaken for a sign of real affection or even friendship but rather as a refreshingly warm way of saying hello or goodbye.
As tourists in France, we foreigners have all been witness to these tiny gifts, but rarely do we gain admittance into the tightknit club of the 60 million or so people who exchange them.... Receiving and delivering countless bisous during my year in the magical Cote d'Azur village of Saint-Paul de Vence made me feel a sense of "limited belonging," but when my neighbor, friend, and, most importantly, pétanque coach, Hubert bid me farewell by initiating a bisou, after my last match and last pastis as a local, it gave me pause to reflect on how close I had become to this part of the world, its people, its culture, and the game I fell in love with the minute I first laid eyes on it: pétanque!

 I loaned the book to Earl on Kindle so he can read it too. Hope it doesn't make him fear playing pétanque in France. It's mean to encourage him.
How about you? Have you ever played pétanque or boules as it is called in other parts of France? What about receiving or giving a bisou? Have you experienced that? 
I'd love it if you shared your experience. 
Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave your link below and visit each other's blogs to share your love for France.

FranceBookTours -- The Madeleine Project - Uncovering a Parisian Life

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Today I'm reviewing The Madeleine Project by Clara Beaudoux, which explores the life of Madeleine through the belongings she left behind in her Paris storage unit. The author moves into the apartment and when she finds that the cellar is padlocked and full of belongings, she contacts the previous owner's godson. He has no interest in the items, so the author saws through the padlock and begins itemizing on Twitter the boxes and suitcases full of memories. 

I'm at an interesting point to read this book, since I myself am going through a "cellar" full of things, letters and awards and treasures, to decide what to keep and what to discard. I wonder what a stranger would piece together about my life if she happened upon the things I've deemed worthy of keeping. 

Since the book is mostly a series of tweets, it's a very quick read, with time to pause and peruse the pictures a little closer. 

Here's an early page as the author begins to explore who Madeleine might have been.

As a person who loves France and who loves a good historical mystery, I enjoyed peeking into the life of this French woman who would have turned 100 in 2015 if she had lived that long. Madeleine never married but she traveled and had a fiance who died in 1943, according to the author's findings. 

I might have found all of this paraphernalia left behind just mildly interesting, if not for the author's own notes in the middle of the book. In the midst of documenting Madeleine's life from 70 years before, the terrorist attacks in Paris occurred, killing 130 people. The author decided to continue documenting Madeleine's life to share the beauty that she found. I think what she actually shared was the connection between all people, no matter the hurdles. When you imagine Madeleine living in Paris throughout World War II and then you picture the author living in Madeleine's apartment through another series of attacks, you can see the strand, like metal, that connects them and all of us. The author turned toward Madeleine's treasures, the mundane things in life that make it wonderful and also give us the stamina to continue in the face of evil -- one sweetly-worded letter or a hard-earned diploma or a family picture. 

This book, translated from French, is more of a graphic novel than a traditional novel, but it still runs the gamut of emotion. 

The book will not be released until September, so put it on your list for some fall reading. 

Or scroll to the bottom and enter to win a copy.

Clara Beaudoux

on Tour July 12-18 with

The Madeleine Project

(biography/history) Release date: September 12, 2017 at New Vessel Press ISBN: 978-1939931498 288 pages Website Goodreads    

SYNOPSIS

A young woman moves into a Paris apartment and discovers a storage room filled with the belongings of the previous owner, a certain Madeleine who died in her late nineties, and whose treasured possessions nobody seems to want. In an audacious act of journalism driven by personal curiosity and humane tenderness, Clara Beaudoux embarks on The Madeleine Project, documenting what she finds on Twitter with text and photographs, introducing the world to an unsung 20th century figure. Along the way, she uncovers a Parisian life indelibly marked by European history. This is a graphic novel for the Twitter age, a true story that encapsulates one woman’s attempt to live a life of love and meaning together with a contemporary quest to prevent that existence from slipping into oblivion. Through it all, The Madeleine Project movingly chronicles, and allows us to reconstruct, intimate memories of a bygone era.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Clara Beaudoux is a Paris-based journalist for the France Info news network. The Madeleine Project has been wildly popular in France. You can follow her on Twitter at @Clarabdx In French: on Facebook, The Madeleine Project page, and the author’s main website

Follow New Vessel Press on Twitter | on Facebook

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Buy the book: on Indiebound | on Amazon

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You can enter the global giveaway here or on any other book blogs participating in this tour. Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook, they are listed in the entry form below.

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form] Global giveaway open to all 5 winners

Online Book Tour & Free on Kindle

So in between traveling and teaching and keeping strong relationships with my family, I haven't been very good at promoting my books.
That's why I ventured into another online book promotion tour for Paris Runaway.

I've already received two new reviews of Paris Runaway, and I always love hearing what readers enjoy in my novels. It isn't so great when they don't like things, but I guess that's part of the learning process too.
Denise gave Paris Runaway a 5-star review on Goodreads. She said, "This highly entertaining novel is the perfect summer read." And it's officially summer here once Memorial Day arrives. And, maybe she knows this from her own life experience: "If you have ever fallen in love with a Frenchman, you will recognize how special it can be, as epitomized in Auguste."

Amy at Locks, Hooks, and Books blog also reviewed Paris Runaway and gave it 5 stars. She wrote, "It has a perfect combination I love in a story, some laughs, mystery, suspense, adventure, action, and romance. I highly recommend it!"

You can visit the tour at the link to see other upcoming stops.
And you can enter to win Kindle or paperback copies. If you don't want to take a chance on not winning, Paris Runaway is free on Kindle Sunday, May 28, through Tuesday, May 30.
So please, visit Amazon and download it. Let your friends know and have them download it. You never know when you're going to need a trip to Paris through the eyes of Sadie.

Book Review -- The Enemies of Versailles

I read the first two books by Sally Christie in the Mistresses of Versailles series and enjoyed them, but my favorite might be this final book The Enemies of Versailles. The books stand alone, but it's intriguing to read them in order to see how King Louis XV evolved from a religious, devoted husband to a man who resisted the efforts of his family to force him back to the church as his guilt ate away at him.

But the books are not told through the viewpoint of the king, instead, for this final book, we see the world of Versailles through one of his daughters, Adelaide, and his last mistress Jeanne du Barry. Perhaps there were never two women more different. Adelaide was born as a princess of France. She avoided marrying so she could stay in the luxury of Versailles, and although she tried to do good works, she always followed etiquette and thought the poor should stay in their place. She never had any sympathy for the plight of those outside the chateau.
Jeanne, however, was born into a poor family and went to school at a convent. Her beauty propelled her into the wealth of Versailles and the arms of the King, but she always had a kind heart, even for those who hated her.

This book is full of rich details that help the readers feel as if they are at Versailles, sharing the gossip and the intrigue, but also the emotions of the historical characters. Good historical fiction is a great way to get a grasp on the times the characters lived through, and this one does that. It has stuck with me through the end when (spoiler alert/not really) the French Revolution sees the next king Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette beheaded.
The actions of the king and all of the people in Versailles feel so real as I finished the book last week and saw the health care plan and the budget put out by  the Congress and President of the United States. It makes me realize that the people in power, again, have no idea what middle class and working people are going through.
This book is a fast read and whimsical escape into the past, at least until the end when the reality of repeating history might jar the reader.
I highly recommend it.
If you live in the U.S. or Canada, you can win a copy of The Enemies of Versailles by leaving a comment on my blog and letting me know you'd like a copy.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Connect with Sally

Website | Goodreads

Book Review -- Abby's Journey

In the novel Abby's Journey by Steena Holmes, the author tells the story of Abby, a 20-year-old girl who has battled illness all of her life, suddenly healthy for a year.

Her grandmother swoops in with a surprise trip to Europe, especially the Christmas markets in Germany that her mother always dreamed of visiting. Her father, who raised her alone after Abby's mother died in childbirth, resists allowing her to go, fearing for her health and for what his life might be without her at home. This story changes perspective so the story is told through Abby's eyes, through the grandmother, Millie's, viewpoint, and through the father's voice.
What I liked about this book: This was a sweet book with some lovely descriptions. Anyone who enjoys travel will be carried away to Europe in the author's descriptive passages, like this one about the Christmas market in Salzburg from the grandmother's viewpoint:

Author Steena Holmes

Abby grabbed her hand to pull her close, and together they walked arm in arm, down the street. The roads were cobbled, and streetlights in the shape of stars were strung along the lanes, casting a soft glow onto the shops and people as they walked. 

The music, the setting, the large Christmas trees, the illuminated castle up on the hill -- it was all perfect. Everything she'd thought a Christmas market would be and should be. 

 The characters were well developed with many side twists so that Abby's Journey was not the only complication going on. The support of family and of a charming Canadian village added to the overall positive feel of the book.

What could have improved: The tension and drama in the book could have been intensified so that the reader got caught up more, wondering what would occur. I also had a hard time with the basic premise, which was carried out in the first book Saving Abby. In that book, Abby's mother became pregnant with her and realized she had a brain tumor. She refused treatment so that Abby could be born, thus leading to her own death and Abby growing up ill and without a mother. If it were my daughter, no chance that I would let her wait for treatment if she was pregnant. The life we have is more precious than the potential life, in my opinion, plus the sacrifices that the father had to make in order to raise his baby alone. So those controversies played in my mind while I read this novel.

This is definitely a novel that I enjoyed reading, in spite of, or maybe because of, some of the controversies that went with it.

The publisher has offered one free copy of this book to someone in the United States or Canada, so let me know if you're interested and I'll enter you in the giveaway. Make sure I can get in touch with you to get your address if you win.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Connect with Steena

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Selected Feature Review -- Paris Runaway

Yesterday, Kirkus Reviews Magazine notified me that a review for Paris Runaway had been "selected as a feature review."

That  means that way back on page 132, they include their thoughts about Paris Runaway -- which were good overall.
But in addition to the entire review, they included a quote from the review at the top of the page.

I love that they experienced Paris with Sadie and that my use of concrete language stood out.

The placement of the review might be only for the dedicated who thumb through the pages to the end, but I'm grateful to be included.
Here's the link for anyone who wants to visit. It's at the bottom of page 132, but here's how the review looks.

 It starts at the bottom of the page then jumps to the top of the next column

Thanks to Kirkus Review and to everyone who supports my writing. I'm grateful and hope you'll visit the page, as well as consider reading Paris Runaway.
Here's the link on Amazon for paperback or Kindle version. And if you have Amazon Prime with the books, you can probably read it free.

Tuesday Intros -- Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes

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.

I took a photo of the book cover
because the cover on Amazon is
very different, but this one has a shiny
cover on it, which doesn't photograph well.

I picked up this book because I heard the author on the radio. I don't think she was even talking about her fiction, but I'm starting the novel Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes by Jules Moulin.

In the end it was Harry's fault.
Harry Goodman  had promised to help Professor Hughes around the house that Friday. He'd also promised the Friday before and the Friday before that, too.
But it was New England and baseball season and 2004. The Sox were moving toward a ninety-eight, sixty-four record that spring and five months later, that October, they'd sweep the Cardinals to win their first Series in eighty-six years. 

I'm curious about what was Harry's fault, but I'm put off by all the numbers in the baseball paragraph. Hope I like it.

Review of Finding Fontainebleau

As someone who loves France and all things French, I'm already sold on a book when it gives me a snapshot of French life.
And this book, Finding Fontainebleau by Thad Carhart, is unique because it is a memoir about a time when many Americans might not recognize France, that time in the early 50s, after World War II as France recovered from the war.
Carhart's family went to France, after his father was assigned to work as a military officer there. So the American family with five children rented a large manor house, and his father worked in an office in Chateau Fontainebleau.
Part of the book is the author's remembrances of growing up in France. Having worked on a memoir myself, I question how much a 4-year-old boy could actually remember, but I'm sure he spent time interviewing older family members, and some of the stories have probably become family lore.
I love the peek into French schools at the time, as he wrote about the students who poured black ink into each student's inkwell every day, and then the 5-year-old children had to meticulously copy out letters across the page. I can't even imagine.
Carhart also returned to France as an adult with his own children, so he jumps to different time periods. As an adult, he digs into the Chateau Fontainebleau, which played such a pivotal role in his childhood, and he is fortunate enough to be taken in by the architect in charge of renovating the chateau so he can gather backstage information about each section.
Those sections are then interwoven with French history about the construction and use of the chateau and the French culture at the time.
I enjoyed reading Finding Fontainebleau and felt like I gained many insights into French history, although the story didn't sweep me away or give me an urgency to finish. It was more like a leisurely boat ride as I enjoyed the sights.

Sharing a Review of Paris Runaway

Just in time for Bastille Day, or as the French call it Fête Nationale, Laurel-Rain Snow at Serendipty posted a review of Paris Runaway.

I love being online friends with voracious readers who so succinctly sum up the plot of a novel and are able to share what they liked -- or didn't like -- about my novels.

Luckily, Laurel-Rain enjoyed it.

Paris Runaway, an intensely engaging novel, kept me rapidly turning pages, losing sleep, and eagerly trying to figure out what would happen in the end. Would Sadie and Auguste find the kids and extricate them from disaster? What would happen with the developing connection between them afterwards? I definitely wanted to know, so I very happily kept reading…and now I’m awarding 5 stars to this novel.

 Thanks, Laurel-Rain!
Take a look at her blogs Serendipty and Snow Sparks and you can discover more great books, along with some Laurel-Rain has written as well. Laurel-Rain is also considered a top reviewer on Amazon, so it's always great to have her input.

And, for those who are growing weary of seeing the book cover of Paris Runaway, here's another picture of Paris -- not from Bastille Day, because I haven't been in France on Bastille Day for 30 years, but maybe next year.

Dreaming of France -- Book Set in Paris

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

One of the reasons I started writing books set in France was because I couldn't find many books that I enjoyed. If Nicolas Barreau had been writing, I might have skipped it all together. Last week, I picked up his novel Paris is Always a Good Idea, and I read most of it that afternoon. I finished it the next

morning before I went on a run.
Many times, I hesitate to read novels written by French authors. They rarely have happy endings and frequently they are about metaphysical ideas that go over my head, or maybe they're simply lost in translation.
This book felt magical right from the beginning, in the same way that Chocolat felt otherworldly.  It focuses on Rosalie Laurent, who runs a postcard store in St. Germain, Paris. In her early 30s, she's an artist and sells her wishing cards as well as launching one from the Eiffel Tower each year on her birthday. She has a struggling business, a nice enough boyfriend who doesn't share her interests and a meddling mother who hoped for more. Her luck changes when a publisher asks her to illustrate a children's book by a famous children's author. American Robert Sherman enters the picture when he is passing her shop and he sees her book in the store window, a story that he has known since he was five years old. He accuses the children's author of plagiarism and the love/hate relationship begins.  Robert has a law degree, but is considering an offer to teach literature at the Sorbonne in Paris. His girlfriend Rachel is furious that he isn't more ambitious.
Both Robert and Rosalie have settled for a mediocre life until they find each other and a few other surprises.
What did I dislike about the book, the title, which is a quote credited to Audrey Hepburn. I wonder if it was called something else in French.
Maybe this book just called out to something in my life right now, but I was transported to Paris and entertained on the entire journey.

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

Tuesday Intros -- I Promise You This

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.

I'm reading a book set in France for FranceBookTours. I'll be reviewing I Promise You This by Patricia Sands on May 20, and  there will be a book giveaway, so I hope you'll come back for that.
Here's the intro:

Rain pelted down.
The limo crawled along in a clog of traffic. For the most part, the rhythmic slap of the windshield wipers was all that broke the silence.
Philippe knew that Kat was struggling to keep her composure. He kept the conversation light and brief as they looked out from the backseat. "Now you see why I never take a taxi into Paris from the airport. At least with a hired car and driver, I don't have to watch the meter skyrocket if we get caught like this."
Kat nodded expressionless, staring straight ahead. She thought it fitting that the weather was as gloomy and dark as the feelings she was fighting.
When the familiar landmarks of the Left Bank came into view, her mood began to lift. She leaned her head back against the seat. Her hand nestled in Philippe's. 

I had to keep the intro going until we got to a definitely French part -- the Left Bank.
I look forward to seeing what everyone else is reading.

Tuesday Intros -- The Chocolate Temptation

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.
Reading one of Laura Florand's chocolate books is a bit like eating a box of chocolates. It's probably not the best thing for me, but it feels so good at the time. And they're usually set in France, so that's a bonus. French chocolates.
 I'm starting The Chocolate Temptation by Laura Florand. Sarah is an American intern in a Paris pastry kitchen and she hates then loves Patrick, one of the chefs.

She hated him. Tossing around dessert elements as if they were juggling balls he had picked up to idle away the time and, first try, had dozens flying around his body in multiple figure eights. Patrick Chevalier. Sarah hated him with every minute painstaking movement with which she made sure a nut crumb lay exactly the way Chef Leroi wanted it on a fnancier. She hated him with every flex of tendons and muscles in her aching hands in the evening, all alone in her tiny Paris apartment at the approach to Montmartre, knowing someoe else was probably letting him work the tension out of his own hands any way he wanted.

Unfortunately, the last book I read by Florand spent too much time in the characters' heads. I hope this one gets me out of their heads and into Paris.

Dreaming of France -- Backstabbing in Beaujolais

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

I'm reading another book set in France, Backstabbing in Beaujolais by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noel Balen. This time the review will be for FranceBookTours and I'll be doing a complete review in early November. I just received the book so I haven't started reading it yet. 
The only thing that comes to mind when I hear Beaujolais is the wine that comes out in the fall. I've been told, this is the only "new" wine that the French drink. 
Here's the description of the novel from Amazon: 

A business magnate calls on wine expert Benjamin Cooker to kickstart his new wine business in Beaujolais, sparking bitter rivalries. Can the Winemaker Detective and his assistant keep calculating real estate agents, taciturn winegrowers, dubious wine merchants and suspicious deaths from delaying delivery of the world-famous Beaujolais Nouveau? Another adventure in this cozy mystery series set in France. A wine novel and a mystery.

Wine and murder.  Maybe I'll drink some wine while I read and I hope the characters suck me in.   

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. I'm hopeful that more people will begin to join us now that summer is ending. I appreciate your participation and hope that you'll share your love for France with the rest of us.

Book Review -- The Trouble With Words.

It's hard to imagine that a romantic comedy can feature a young widow who has a date with her husband's grave every week, and a young man who has just found out his mother is dying, but somehow, Suzie Tullett pulls it off in The Trouble with Words, her most recent novel published by Safkhet Publishing.
The main character, Annabel, decides she wants to have a baby since she and her husband didn't get around to it before he was killed by a hit and run driver. So Annabel goes out on the town to find the perfect sperm donor, and she meets Ben. Ben agrees to deliver the goods just before he makes a promise to his mom that he will settle down before she dies, with  no idea that day might be coming sooner than he knows.
The turkey baster efforts bring Annabel and Ben closer together, but no closer to their goals.
The two main characters both tell the story from their viewpoints, and they're surrounded by a cast of well-meaning family and friends who only help botch up their impending relationship.

Here's an excerpt from Annabel's Sunday morning visit to her husband's grave:

 Opening out the deckchair, she plonked herself down in it. “So how’s your week been?” she asked. She paused, not that she really expected a reply, but it was nice to know he was listening if nothing else. “Mine’s not been too bad,” she continued. “The shop’s still doing okay. Oh, and your mum called round the other day.” Remembering the visit all too well, Annabel tried not to scowl. “She said to say hello.”
She reached down and dipped her hand into her bag again, this time pulling out a flask of coffee. “Caffeine, just what I need after the hassle of getting here,” she said. “As usual the traffic was horrendous.” Pouring herself a drink, she knew her ramblings were an attempt at stalling the inevitable; that she was worried about Tom’s reaction once she’d told him what she was up to. While her plans for the future might be a positive move on her part, she certainly wasn’t daft enough to think everyone would understand. If anything most people wouldn’t, especially if his mother’s reaction had been anything to go by.

This novel was a sweet escape with likable characters and plenty of laughter. Give it a try.

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trouble-Words-Suzie-Tullett-ebook/dp/B0153VEIFI/ 
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Words-Suzie-Tullett-ebook/dp/B0153VEIFI/ 
Amazon EU: http://www.amazon.de/Trouble-Words-Suzie-Tullett-ebook/dp/B0153VEIFI/

More about the author:
Website: http://suzietullett.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/suzietullett
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suzie-Tullett-Author/221204154583599?fref=ts 

Safkhet Publishing: http://safkhetpublishing.com/