Perfect holiday book. I loved it. Strong female friendships are the best stories to read. The book was engaging and a great story. The scenery and descriptions perfect. I loved becky once she hit France. Becky before France was self centred and up her self. I did like the shared friendship of her and amber too. This was a great story. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

****Publishing July 12, 2025****

After a huge meltdown at work, Becky has been ordered by her doctor to take a month off for severe burnout. Becky reluctantly listens and takes the time off. Becky heads to France to take care of a café she has inherited from her Great-Aunt Maud. The only problem is she can’t sell until the squatter agrees to leave. What will Becky find? Will she get what she wants in the end? Can Becky figure out her life?

I loved this book from the start! Gillian Harvey’s writing just draws you in! I loved how this story kept you turning the pages to find out Becky’s fate! The setting of France and Jerry Maguire references made for a fun and entertaining read! A great book to put in your pool or beach bag!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was an enjoyable escapist read which was engaging and multi layered. The setting and characters were engaging and it would make a great beach read! Would recommend.

Becky has been signed of work with burnout after throwing a laptop at a colleague. She decides to go to France where her estranged aunt Maud has left her a cafe. She wants to sell but discovers there's a sitting tenant Pascal that she cant get to move.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

Becky, 30, is a high-flying career woman in London, pushed torwards greatness and success by her over-ambitious mother. After an unfortunate angry incident involving a laptop being used as a missile, she is signed off work for a month with burnout, which she finds preposterous.

In one of those fortunate coincidences only happening in books or films, she has just inherited Café La Petite Pause in the Loire village of Vaudrelle from her great-aunt Maud who she barely remembers. Apparently she can't sell the café and throw out sitting tenant Pascal before having worked there for a month so it's lucky she has that month, eh? It's a rather ridiculous stipulation but Becky throws herself into the task, refurbishing the café and getting to know Pascal. Unfortunately, apart from the mayor, we don't meet any locals, and a bit more description of the Loire setting wouldn't have gone amiss.

This is an undemanding but quite engaging escapist summer read for lovers of France, with a very predictable twist regarding Maud. I liked how it celebrates female friendship and having "a person", a concept I first came across in Grey's Anatomy in the Meredith / Christina years.

Best friend Amber is a huge part of the story, they are flatmates too and have regular 90s Rom-Com movie nights. Becky isn't a good friend at first though, making everything about herself. In fact, she is not very likeable at the start. Love interest Pascal is barely sketched out, but he helps her see how self- entered she is, and when Amber goes through a health scare, she is there.

Becky's mother is more difficult to like, she is manipulative and pushy and responsible for taking Becky away from Maud when she was younger. In the end, she can't stop Becky's journey of self-discovery towards a better Work-Life balance, even though her future is s bit up in the air in the end, which is apparently a good thing.
This is an enjoyable and uplifting beach read if you like new beginnings in foreign climes.

This was such a delightful story, I felt as if I was in the village cafe in France with all the characters.

Becky is forced to take leave for medical reasons and gets to experience a completely different way of life, when she visits the cafe her great aunt left her. From corporate London to relaxed lifestyle in rural France- which would you choose?

Pull up a sun lounger and immerse yourself into this fantastic read. A great holiday read.