When Nina receives divorce papers on her 40th birthday she knows it is time for a change. She has been quite conservative, staying in a job she didn't love for 15 years, in a marriage where she wasn't happy. It's time to do something new.
When she thinks back, the moment where she was happiest was when she met a handsome French boy named Pierre while she was on a school exchange programme when she was 15 years old. What if he was really The One. I mean, Pierre and Nina had intended to elope and live happily ever after but it didn't end up happening...obviously.
With the divorce going through and her house for sale, Nina knows that her immediate fate is to move into her parents house. And so, in a moment of madness, Nina finds a house exchange with a man named Jean-Luc. She will travel to his house on the French Riviera and he will come to England to live in the house that she is about to sell.
Once she arrives at Jean-Luc's house she meets his siblings, Sabine and Antoine, and soon they too are helping her in her attempts to track Pierre down. It doesn't actually take long but the question whether Pierre remembers Nina with as much fondness as she does him.
I always really enjoy Gillian Harvey's books and this was no exception. When this book was announced I felt quite surprised. We had already had a new book this year (the excellent Bordeaux Book Club) so this was a bonus!
What do I love about her books? I love the taste of France that she brings to life in each and every story. While each book is about expats living in France, it is always a different aspect of life. In this case, Nina is just planning to be in France for a month rather than moving there. I would be very happy to find myself living in France for a month, although I would be with my husband and not looking for a long lost love.
I did like this book, although Nina does make some strange choices! I really liked the friendships that Nina built with Sabine and Antoine, as well as the friends from home. There was a lovely little side story as well.
Once again, Gillian Harvey brings us a very readable about life in France. I just read on her socials that she has moved back to the UK after 10 years in France. I will be interested to see if there comes a point where she starts writing about life in the UK or if her love for France will sustain her through a few more books yet.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour below to see what others thought.
I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog.
About the Book
The Riviera House Swap
Would you swap
houses with a stranger?
Nina has always played it safe. But
when her divorce papers come through on her fortieth birthday she decides
enough is enough.
She’s always chosen the
sensible route, staying in her stable job and marrying her rather boring ex. In
fact – she realises – she’s chosen security over excitement for years. Ever
since she refused to elope with her first love: beautiful, poetic, thoughtful Pierre, the man she met aged 17, on her
French exchange. The only man who ever made her heart race.
Maybe it’s time to take
a few risks?
Impulsively she goes
online and finds another kind of French exchange… a house-swap. She can’t
imagine what French businessman Jean-Luc
wants with her terraced home in rural England, but she can’t wait to stay in
his beautiful, spacious, bougainvillea-strewn villa on the French riviera.
She’s not just there for
the house though. She’s decided to find the love she missed all those years
ago. But will Pierre still be the man of her dreams after all this time?
As two lives collide, will love
bloom on the French riviera?
Purchase
Link - https://mybook.to/therivierahousesocial
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About the author
Gillian Harvey is a freelance journalist and the
author of two well-reviewed women’s fiction novels published by Orion. She has
lived in Limousin, France for the past twelve years, from where she derives the
inspiration and settings for her books such as A Year at the French Farmhouse and A Month in Provence.
Social Media Links –
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gharveyauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GillPlusFive
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gillplusfive/
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/GillianHarveyNews
Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gillian-harvey
This sounds like fun. I had a friend whose parents in midwest America used to trade *his* New York apartment for a house somewhere exotic and drag him along on the vacation. He always had fun when they got there but was not as adventurous as his parents!
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like a fun way to travel!
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