Monday 15 February 2016

Book Review - You Had Me At Bonjour by Jennifer Bohnet - Rachel Reads Randomly Book #14

Amazon UK
Title: You Had Me At Bonjour
Author: Jennifer Bohnet
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Purchased
Publisher: Carina
Publication Date: 25th August 2014
Rating: 5 Stars


New year, Nouveau Jessica!

If you’d asked Jessica a year ago, she would have told you that her life was pretty near perfect. But one year – and one very messy divorce – later, she’s not so sure. Which is how she found herself boarding a plane to the south of France, determined to put her past behind her… preferably via some deliciously chilled rosé.

Meeting a new man was never part of the plan. Yet when she meets Nino, her new neighbour’s impossibly sexy nephew, steering clear of romance seems easier said than done. Suddenly, Jessica finds herself right back where she started: with her heart on the line. But now she’s made a new start, perhaps it’s time for Jessica to throw caution to the wind, take a few risks… and learn to regrette rien!

The gorgeous cover was one of the things that first attracted me to this book, and from the title I was expecting something French. And once you start it you get a wonderfully fast paced story, about a Jessica who has moved to the south of France for a year. 

Jessica had the previous year suffered from a messy divorce, and then lost her job. So decides that she is going to have a gap year, "a la Shirley Valentine" to find herself, and decide what she wants out of the rest of her life.

The story is told predominately in diary form, with lots of short but informative entries about how Jessica is adapting to life in the south of France, the friends she makes and the news back home. 

Although this is a relatively short novella, it really does give you a great idea about how a year in the south of France would play out, even featuring the Cannes Film Festival, Monaco Grand Prix, a luxury yacht, some gorgeous men, and all sorts of other events. 

I found You Had Me At Bonjour was a fast paced, easy to read story, that whisked me away, from my gloomy winter's afternoon to the hot and sunny French Riviera. I would have loved to have joined Jessica on her Shirley Valentine year, and loved this book. 


Thank you to everyone that voted last week for a French based book. It was a tie with The French For Always by Fiona Valpy, but instead of breaking the tie myself, I asked a fellow book blogger who unfortunately has been in hospital but that loves this feature, to have the deciding vote. So thank you Alison, you picked very well, and I really hope you are recovering. 

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