‘She had me at Bonjour! Warm, funny, deliciously French…this lovely story filled my heart with sunshine’ Jane Linfoot Imagine yourself in beautiful France with the sun warm on your face and a glass of wine in your hand…Jojo’s French Escape is the perfect summer read! Trapped in paradise… For twelve months JoJo Grant has been hiding from a secret too shameful to share. And whilst her … to share. And whilst her sanctuary might be the beautiful French countryside, JoJo has a horrible feeling that her peace is about to be shattered…because bursting into her life is the hottest celebrity chef around – Callum O’Connor.
Callum knows all about JoJo’s past, her time as a reality star, the scandal that has dogged her, but he isn’t sure why she’s still hiding? After spending time with Jojo, it’s obvious to him that she has nothing to be ashamed of – she just needs to be a little braver…
But as much as JoJo likes Callum, he thrives on the glare of the outside world. Can JoJo let go of her past…with Callum by her side?
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I want to visit Provence!
JoJo’s French Escape is a charming, romantic book just in time for summer reading!
JoJo has spent the last year hiding out in France. She could be in worse places than in the French countryside. Her job as working in a bed and breakfast has been a place of safety and solitude. She never dreamed she would be where she is now. She has been burned badly by social media and her ex-boyfriend.
She had a wonderful cafe back in England when she was approached to star in a reality show. She was just expecting it to help her business, not ruin her life. Her ex, Aiden, who is a reality star, filmed a sex video of the two of them, and then he proceeded to completely annihilate her life by cheating with her best friend. This poor woman was humiliated just by him, but she was also a victim of bullying on social media blaming her. So, she had no choice but to leave her home, business, family, and friends. She now has some peace with her friend, Poppy, but she may now be in danger of losing her privacy yet again when she discovers guests in the B & B recognize her. Now, a celebrity chef, Callum, is coming to town to help Poppy and her fiance, Leo, get their new barn restaurant started.
JoJo isn’t sure about Cal. He represents everything she is trying to get away from. He isn’t so sure about her. He doesn’t really want to be around her because he thinks she represents everything he doesn’t like…being a person seeking fame. Boy, these two have it completely wrong. Thankfully, they begin to see past their preconceptions about one another, and a sweet love story begins.
While this is a romance, it is also a book perfect for this day and age of social media. It touches on the dark side of reality television and social media platforms. It is mind-boggling that people will insult and hurt others behind a keyboard and do things they would never do in person.
This is a wonderful book about starting over, second chances, and love. If you enjoy a lovely setting, heart-warming romance, and fans of some great canines, then you should definitely give this book a try.
Favorite Quotes:
The only love Aiden knows involves the use of a mirror or a TV camera.
“You know if anyone ever gives you any grief we’ll set the dogs on them, celebrity chef or not.” I look down at the two tiny chihuahuas, one miniature Yorkie and the blind ex-hunting dog who happens to be a total softy. My mouth quirks involuntarily into a smile at the idea of them defending me, though I’m sure they’d all give it a good go. The chihuahuas in particular are utterly fearless.
Who was it said that a life without passion is a slow way to freeze to death?
She blinks, her false eyelashes make her look like she’s being attacked by spiders.
I really am trying to wish them well but mostly I’m just wishing them well away from me.
My Review:
Holy smokes, this was not what I was expecting but an engaging and relatable tale nonetheless. The premise had a British reality TV star escaping unwanted notoriety to the south of France after she was “officially disgraced” when her then-boyfriend, a publicity, and fame-obsessed reprobate and scum bucket, leaked a sex tape she was unaware he had created. Oh, and he was also cheating on her with her best friend, ouch. It was no wonder she wanted nothing to do with social media or men in general, much less a well-known TV chef who happened to have escaped to the same French locale. Yet their chemistry overcame their misgivings and – gasp – their connections were so erotic I was gasping like a fish out of water.
The writing was easy to follow and predominately the inner musings and observations of JoJo as she navigated her transition from disgraced to empowered with the support of her new friends and heartthrob. I was quite taken with the cleverly chosen quotes used to start each chapter and also the timely and insightful inclusion of The Power of Now, which I confess requiring Googling to accurately recall.
This is a story –Joanne, (nickname: JoJo, who owned a small restaurant and became a reality TV star, until she’s shamed by two scandals: 1) finding out her best friend is sleeping with her boyfriend; 2) finding out her boyfriend recorded one of their lovemaking sessions and put it up on the internet for all to see. She’s ashamed and scandalized, and public opinion is against her (double standards for men versus women), so she escapes from England to a small town in France, where she’s hiding out as a manager/cook for a bed and breakfast hotel. Afraid and fearful, she’s hidden herself from the world, instead surrounding herself by her friend Poppy, Poppy’s fiance Leo and a menagerie of Poppy’s dogs.
Then Poppy and Leo decide to turn the barn on the property into a restaurant, and they bring in one of Leo’s friends to help with the project –a celebrity TV chef named Cal. This is the last person JoJo wants in her life–a celebrity. She thinks he’s probably like her old boyfriend–a good looking man who would seek fame at all costs, regardless of who he hurts in the process. She avoids Cal, especially when she overhears a conversation that he and Leo have, in which Cal says that JoJo is the type of person he is trying to avoid.
So, the relationship between JoJo and Cal starts out frigid, but as time goes by and they began sharing the same house (he’s staying the in the hotel JoJo manages), they get to know each other better and an attraction forms. Cal helps JoJo overcome some of her shame and start to feel better about herself.
But of course, the road to true love is never that easy, is it? I won’t go into some of the hurdles they overcome, because I don’t want to spoil the story, but I will say that well, maybe there’s a happy ending. (smile)
I thought the story was a lighthearted read that took me away to sunny Languedoc, France for a while. The author did a nice job describing sunflower fields, quaint old villages and old charming characteristics of small-town France. I enjoyed reading the book until I got about halfway through it. Then, I grew a bit tired of JoJo’s introspection. She seemed to be running the same script over and over in her head, without resolving the issues that were troubling her. I know that’s what people often do, but reading it for many pages gets tiring. I kept thinking “listen to the people around you, who care about you, and move on. Ignore those who are only trying to hurt you for their own benefit.” At times, I wished I could shake her and say “why waste your time and energy? You’re only ruining your life while that awful ex-boyfriend and disloyal best friend go on living theirs to the fullest, while you hide away.” Anyway, maybe that’s just me, because I really don’t like to wallow, but want to do things to overcome the problems. So that was frustrating to me.
The other issue I had was with the ending. It seemed to end abruptly. Cal and JoJo expressed their feelings to each other, but the author let it drop after that. As a reader, I was left wondering if they would really have the “happily ever after,” or would they just be together until the barn restaurant was a success and then Cal moves on? JoJo keeps asking herself that after she and Cal begin a relationship so I expected the author to give us an answer, but it never really happens.
Despite these two downfalls, it is a good book and I will recommend it to others. It appears that this is third in the author’s series of books in Southern France. Two of them features a character I really enjoyed in this book–Poppy–so I’ll be checking them out.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter for providing me an ARC copy of this book in return for an unbiased opinion.
Good setting and plot, interminable navel-gazing!
I was really looking forward to a feel-good romance with a beautiful backdrop. The plot itself and the key discussion of social media shaming and trolling were good, relevant, rife with possibility. The languid, sunny setting in Languedoc, its gorgeous medieval sites, its markets and delectable dishes: yes, that was all I had expected and hoped for. The pets were darling, especially the way their individual personalities came forth.
But the story’s execution caused me problems. Here are my major bugaboos:
– Once intimacy starts, the steamy sessions are too frequent and way too extended. For me, at least on this subject, less is more and the romance does not have to be saturated with non-stop steam!
– Way too much repetitive introspection on the part of Jo. My impression: two-thirds of the story (possibly more!) is her waffling and inwardly gazing and worrying. Neither uplifting nor interesting to me after I’d read her same concerns DOZENS of times!
– The big confrontation climax was almost a non-event; I frankly only stuck with the story so long because I was waiting for Jo’s big moment. Jo came out to the good but, for me, it was barely worth the wait.
And, sorry, but I was not that stuck on Jo’s new romantic interest. At times he comes across as a smug know-it-all.
Thanks to publisher Harper Collins UK/ One More Chapter and NetGalley for an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.