It’s such a pleasure today to be joining the blog tour for A French Country Escape by Jennifer Bohnet, and sharing my review: published by Boldwood Books on 16th September, it’s now available as an ebook (free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. My thanks, as ever, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).
I’ve been reading Jennie’s lovely books for rather a long time now – the first one I reviewed was The Little Kiosk by the Sea (still one of my favourites!) way back in 2015 (you’ll find my review here), and, although I’ve had to miss a few along the way, her writing have always brought me so much pleasure. And if you enjoy the French holiday settings, feeling the sunshine, and getting to know her wonderfully drawn characters of all ages, she might just be an author whose books you’d enjoy too – pop her name into the search bar (on the right hand side if you’re on your computer screen) and you’ll find all my many reviews, along with several features and guest posts. Earlier this year, I very much enjoyed A French Adventure – the beautifully drawn Riviera setting, a lovely story of fresh starts and second chances, beautifully written, with a strong cast of very real characters and the perfect ending (you’ll find my review of that one here). And this time, we’re off to Brittany, a destination I always rather like visiting – and I was looking forward to spending some time at the Château du Cheval…
A fresh start in the beautiful Brittany countryside is what dreams are made of…
Buying and relocating to the Château du Cheval in rural France has fulfilled one of Peter and Ingrid Chevalier’s lifelong ambitions. Despite never being able to trace a missing link in Peter’s French ancestry he feels he has finally come home. Now they must renovate the Château to its former glory and make it pay for itself…
With money getting tight, they take the decision to sell a couple of cottages on the estate. Can the Château begin to pay for itself and be sustainable for the future?
Divorced Sasha Heath and her brother Freddie decide to sensibly invest their mother’s inheritance into property and buy the two rundown cottages on the Château’s estate. Putting the past behind them, a new life in France beckons, but will it live up to their dreams?
As they relax and settle into their new idyllic lifestyle, their new lives throw up several surprises, and all they can do is cross their fingers and hope everything will turn out well in the end.
An uplifting tale of new adventures and second chances. Perfect for the fans of Jill Mansell and Fern Britton.
This was a rather lovely and gently told story of fresh starts and second chances, fresh opportunities and new relationships, centred on the estate of a château in beautiful and vividly drawn rural Brittany.
When bought by Peter and Ingrid, the Château du Cheval itself was in need of fairly extensive renovation – a work still in progress, as they hope to make it available to the community for events, as well as hosting guests and events of their own so that it begins to generate much needed income. Shortage of money drives their decision to sell two cottages on the estate – the perfect choice for brother and sister Freddie and Sasha, wanting fresh starts of their own, using the funds available from a recent inheritance from their mother. The cottages need some work too – but Freddie has the skills, which also come in useful in doing work for Peter and within the neighbouring community. Sasha has recently been neglecting her art, but she hopes to start selling it online again as her own main source of income – but with a wedding reception planned in the château’s unfinished orangery she acquires a major project too, an tromp l’oeil art work on one of its walls.
While the relationship between them all is steadily and beautifully developed, there’s a wider focus too on the relationships with their Breton neighbours. There are friendships – there are ways of getting past the language barrier, and Sasha’s certainly glad of some help with training the two puppies she can’t resist bringing home, and in finding bargains in the local sales of bric-a-brac and furniture. There are the beginnings of some romance too – although Freddie’s perhaps gets off to a slightly shaky start. And a few family complications for Peter and Ingrid – some welcome and opening up new opportunities, some distinctly unexpected and with a touch of mystery attached. And through it all, there’s a lot depending on the success of that first wedding reception.
If you’re looking for a fast paced story, this just might not be the book for you – but I really liked its tangled threads and cast of engaging and likeable characters. And there’s a real depth of detail in the ongoing work to update the chateau – including the links to its equestrian past – and following the siblings’ steps both with their own renovation work and becoming comfortably part of their new community, which I very much enjoyed.
This really is escapist reading at its best, nicely uplifting, and with some lovely storytelling – I have no idea whether the author plans to return to the château in a further book, but, if she does, I’d be more than happy to visit again and find out how everyone is getting on in their new lives in this gorgeous location.
About the author
Jennifer Bohnet is the bestselling author of 20 previous women’s fiction titles, including Villa of Sun and Secrets and A Riviera Retreat. She is originally from the West Country but now lives in the wilds of rural Brittany, France.
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