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The Year of What If by Phaedra Patrick #Review

  I am delighted to join in the celebrations for the latest novel by Phaedra Patrick , The Year of What If. You can read my review of The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper   here and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy  here Can the future be rewritten? On the verge of her second marriage, Carla Carter knows she’s finally found the one. She and her fiancé, Tom, met through Logical Love, a dating agency she founded for the pragmatically minded, and she’s confident that, together, they will dispel an old family curse claiming Carter women are unlucky in love. But Carla’s highly superstitious family insists she visit a fortune teller before her big day, and the tarot cards reveal that a different man holds the key to Carla’s happiness – someone she met while travelling during a gap year, twenty-one years ago. This startling information spurs Carla to trace and revisit the ex-boyfriends she met during that time before she walks down the aisle. From Barcelona to Am...

The Bordeaux Book Club by Gillian Harvey #Review #PublicationDay

 

Happy Publication Day to Gillian Harvey and Boldwood Books for her latest novel, The Bordeaux Book Club!

 

Love books? The Bordeaux Book Club is seeking new members!

When Leah and her husband moved to France, it was with the dream of becoming self-sufficient. But in truth, it’s not the ‘good life’ she’d imagined, as three hours of digging barely yields a single straggly carrot. Worse, her teenage daughter is acting up, and her husband seems to find every strange excuse under the hot French sun to disappear.

So when her friend entreats her to join the new bookclub she’s forming, Leah decides it’s something she will do for herself. The chance to make new friends, to drink a few glasses of wine, and to escape into stories that take her miles away from the life she’d thought would be her own happy-ever-after.

But the book club is a strange group of misfits. There’s prickly Grace, who lives alone and seems to know everybody and like no-one. Buttoned-up Monica, who says her husband is away and appears to be parenting her baby all alone. Handsome builder George, who has barely read a book before. And Alfie – who is a full two decades younger than everyone else, and is hiding a devastating secret…

As the stories they read begin to bring the new friends closer together, Leah is about to discover that happy-ever-afters don’t always look how you expect them to…

A gorgeously escapist read from the bestselling author of A Year at the French Farmhouse, perfect for fans of Veronica Henry, Jo Thomas and Fiona Valpy.

My Thoughts

If you enjoy books ( and I'm guessing you do) then you will love The Bordeaux Book Club. Its members are drawn together in search of companionship and belonging and you soon realise that they all have their own back stories and reasons for joining. Leah is looking for a connexion with her new life in France. You sense a streak of loneliness as her daughter  has disappeared into teenage behaviour and her husband seems to be keeping his distance, Their dream new life is looking decidely shaky. 

    I enjoyed finding out about each of the characters and seeing what the latest read they chose was going to be. Each book seemed to have echoes of their lives. This is one of those lovely summer reads. Set in Bordeaux, it has a holiday feel. Although most of the focus is on Leah, the club members are just as interesting and you are rooting for them all to find friendship and a sense of belonging.

In short: finding friendship

About the Author

Internationally best-selling author of contemporary, emotionally compelling and humorous commercial fiction.

 

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Book links

Thanks to Gilliam Harvey, Boldwood Books and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the event.

 
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