Book Review - The Chateau of Happily-Ever-Afters by Jaimie Admans - Chances Fortnight

Although I was taking a chance on a new author, I was delighted to see that big chances were a central theme for this book. 

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Title: The Chateau of Happily-Ever-Afters

Author: Jaimie Admans

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ Digital 

Publication Date: 7th June 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

Where dreams come true…?
Wendy Clayton stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago. Instead, she has a ‘nice’ life. Nice job. Nice flat. Absolutely no men. Until her life is turned upside-down when her elderly neighbour, Eulalie, passes away and leaves her the Château of Happily Ever Afters!

But there’s a catch: she must share the sprawling French castle with Eulalie’s long-lost nephew, Julian. And no matter how gorgeous he is, or how easily she finds herself falling head over heels, Wendy needs to find a way to get rid of him…

Because surely happily ever afters don’t happen in real life?

Enchanting story that features a huge French Chateau that depending on what you believe may or may not have magical walls and a treasure hidden inside.  It also features two people who inherit the Chateau, both suspicious of each other, and both want to get rid of the other, with amusing consequences. 

 Wendy rarely takes chances on anything, she hates change, holidays,  she is happy to work a job that is so loosely related to what she wants to do, and has a flat. She is very content with her life, so when she is told she stands to inherit a Chateau in Normandy that her next door neighbour owned, she is scared. She also didn't realise it was a real place, and thought the stories, Eulalie (her neighbour) had told her about a big house and a Duke, and parties were all fiction, when it could turn out to be the truth. 

Julian is a male model and Eulalie's great nephew although they never met. He is the loophole in the inheritance laws and now owns half the chateau too They take an instant dislike to each other, both suspicious,  and both intrigued by a riddle Eulalie laid out in the will too. 

I was laughing almost as soon as they both arrived separately in France, their approaches are marked contrast. One clearly having travelled before and knowing what to expect, the other managing to get stuck in a wall cavity on day 1!  And the catalogue of slight disasters doesn't stop there, watch out for an entertaining scene with a snake, the pair sharing a bed together, and not in the way or reasoning you may be thinking. 

They make a new friend quite early on who helps Wendy especially start to feel settled at the chateau, and I also loved seeing how Julian started to change too.  There are a lot of mentions of delicious french baking, and I loved the descriptions of the nearest village, and the twice weekly market held there. 

This really gives a great look into life in rural Normandy life, and the possibilities of living in a big chateau and self sustainability. 

The Chateau of Happily-Ever-Afters is the first book I have read by Jaimie Admans and it was charming and such a pleasurable read. I found myself whizzing through the pages, as the story overtook me, and I just had to see how things would turn out.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and HQ Digital for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.