The French for Christmas by Fiona Valpy

Evie used to LOVE Christmas, but this year she can’t wait for the tinsel and presents to be a distant memory. When her best friends offer the use of their cottage in the beautiful French countryside, Evie jumps at the chance. With her soon-to-be-ex-husband, celebrity chef Will Brooke, plastered over the news with his latest ‘love interest’, leaving the country seems like the perfect plan. Armed with her French grandmother’s tattered notebook of recipes, Evie is determined to ignore Christmas altogether and bake herself back to happiness. And when Evie meets her next-door neighbour – the très gorgeous doctor Didier she finds a very willing taste-tester. But is it possible that he could be interested in more than just her Tarte Tatin? With snow falling, a special Réveillon dinner and a little Christmas magic in the air, could Didier even be the one to thaw Evie’s heart? Or will a visit from the ghost of Christmas past change everything?


It's that time of year again when all the beautiful festive covers start gracing our shelves and so it was time for me to read my first festive read of the year so I opted for The French for Christmas by Fiona Valpy.

After a very trying time Evie can not bare to be around friends and family this Christmas she just wants solitude so she escapes to her friends vacant place in France.

Whilst Evie finds her joy on cooking again she finds a willing taste tester in her neighbour next door who is also trying to escape Christmas can these two help each other to get the festive spirit back?

This was a relatively quick read which I managed to read in one sitting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The storyline wasn't what I was expecting at all but I was so glad that there was a festive feel to the book as quite often you pick up a festive looking read only to have one little chapter about Christmas but this wasn't the case with this book. Our main character Evie was a little treasure who has had a heartbreaking time recently and I found myself routing for her hoping for a happy ending for her. 

I wouldn't be surprised if we were to see a follow up to this book and I for one would be in line waiting to get my hands on a copy as I loved the two main characters in this book and their background as well as their projects that they are now working on as well as an update on the surprise at the end. This was a great read with a lovely festive touch.

Festive Cover

Festive Content

Overall Review Rating

Kindle                       Paperback

The French for Always by Fiona Valpy

Five weddings. The perfect venue. One little hitch… Leaving the grey skies of home behind to transform a crumbling French Château into a boutique wedding venue is a huge leap of faith for Sara. She and fiancé Gavin sink their life savings into the beautiful Château Bellevue – set under blue skies and surrounded by vineyards in the heart of Bordeaux. After months of hard work, the dream starts to become a reality – until Gavin walks out halfway through their first season. Overnight, Sara is left very much alone with the prospect of losing everything. With her own heart breaking, Sara has five weddings before the end of the season to turn the business around and rescue her dreams. With the help of the locals and a little French courage, can she save Château Bellevue before the summer is over?

I have just finished reading The French for Always by Fiona Valpy. I loved the fresh Summery look to the cover of this book and then to top it off it is about weddings which with my wedding now just a few weeks away I can not get enough of these types of books!

Sara and her fiance Gavin have made a big commitment and given everything up to move to France and restore a French Chateau with the aim to run it as a wedding venue. After months of hard work the wedding bookings are rolling in and now that they are at the end of the wedding season they have 5 weddings remaining things are looking good until Sara discovers a big hitch which could shatter everything.

This was a great light read with a picturesque setting. The author has a wonderful descriptive writing style which really helps to transport us into the story being able to visualise the Chateau and its surroundings. I loved the variations between each of the 5 weddings, they all brought their own little something to the storyline as well as a new challenge for Sara although it seemed like nothing was too much trouble to her.

I read this book in one sitting. It is a light breezy read with a big helping of romance, yes it was predictable and I think this would be the only thing that the author could have improved on in this book just to give us an odd little twist, just something that we couldn't see coming but other than that I would say that this is a prefect little read that would be a great one to accompany you on your holiday this year. I will certainly be picking up another book by this author.

Thank you to Kim at Bookouture for providing me with a review copy.



Kindle                Paperback