Novelas Romanticas Gratis

  To purchase from Amazon click here Ooh, I couldn't wait to dive into the sequel to The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux  (click on the title to see my review from 2020).  I would definitely recommend reading the first novel before grabbing this in order to just dive right into the world of Sophie and the magical Chateau de Champvert.  Sophie has inherited the chateau from her grandmother, a celebrated chef who turned the chateau into a renowned place to stay and dine. Now Sophie is the Grand Chef and life looks to be pretty wonderful for her: she's rich, talented, beautiful, and happily engaged to her childhood sweetheart Remi.  Sophie is unsettled, though. Having all of this handed to her has left her feeling overwhelmed and not worthy. She's also still determined to get her Michelin star. After all, she was blamed for her previous restaurant's loss of a Michelin star. That blame was misplaced, but it still cost her her reputation and ca...

  I picked this up at B&N on a whim and added it to my TBR stack and forgot about it (as I usually do!) until I was compiling my list for September reads and decided to add it in as a switch from my   otherwise heavy on the magic and literary theme choices. I'm glad I did, because this was perfectly enjoyable. Yes, it's on the eve of World War 2 (1937); the Nazis are rising and unease is building, but I don't think I've ever read a novel that includes the Hindenburg in it!  This is a novel about two sisters: Clara and Madeleine Sommers. They are from a wealthy East Coast family. Their grandmother, Violet, has terminal cancer and has requested the two women travel to Europe to deliver letters to three people that meant something to Violet. All expenses paid, and they get to travel on the Queen Mary, the Orient Express, and return home on the Hindenburg-the latest in fast, luxurious travel between Europe and the U.S.  The sisters don't...

  Click here to purchase from Amazon After reading We Begin at the End   I had to reach for something a little lighter to bring me out of my reading funk (funk as in dwelling on a haunting read). I also had my second vaccine shot, and was feeling a bit ick on Saturday. Maggie Finds Her Muse was the perfect antidote for both.  Maggie is a successful romance novelist who is having trouble finishing her third in a trilogy novel and her deadline is looming. She just can't seem to find the inspiration to get writing. When her agent Lee suggest she come to Paris with Lee and his partner, she jumps at the chance. Maggie's broken up with her live in boyfriend--after he confesses her career is just not important to him, but he's willing to continue living in her cool condo and have her pay all the bills. A successful man, he's quite simply a jerk when it comes to his relationship with Maggie.  Maggie's on the cusp of breakout success, if she can finish this novel. A...

  I eagerly awaited the publication date of this novel and quickly bought my own copy so I could enjoy it at my own pace and not worry about returning it to the library. It's a good thing I did, because it took me almost three weeks in February before I finally started reading it. I picked it up and started reading it last weekend after deciding the two books I was already reading just didn't fit my weekend reading vibe.  This is my second World War 2 novel this month, which is definitely a record for me. Any novel that has a bookstore or a library in it is one I have to read, so I couldn't wait another month to dig into the story of Odile Souchet in Paris during World War 2, and young Lily living in Montana in 1985. How do the two of them have anything in common? Well, Odile lives right next door to Lily and her family in the small town of Froid. Odile is reserved, always dressed to the nines, and is still, after forty years, described as "the war bride". Her hus...

I recently read advanced review copies of two novels that helped me kick my book blockage. Neither is out just yet, so you'll have to make sure you add them to your TBR list for later.  The Cookbook Club by Beth Harbison is about three women who come together through a cookbook club. Margo has just been dumped by her husband--he's moving to San Francisco without her. She's really annoyed because she's been unhappy for a long time, but felt like she couldn't rock the boat and leave the marriage. And then her husband dumps her! Aja is in a relationship with an older, wealthy businessman who doesn't treat her very well. And, she's got a secret she won't be able to hid much longer. Finally, there's Trista, who left her lawyer job and bought a bar. She's got a lot of work to do to make the bar a success and may be in over her head.  A trio of unlikely friends, yet their monthly cookbook club has all three women indulging in their love of food and dev...

I'm a sucker for novels about bookshops. Add in Paris and a few love stories, and this was the book to read leading up to Valentine's Day.  The Little Bookshop on the Seine  was a fun read--the perfect kind to take you away from the cold nights and gloomy days of a Midwest winter. Sarah Smith is a young bookshop owner in the charming town of Ashford. She's absolutely in love with books and reading, and spends all of her days and nights wrapped in her bookish life.  And that's the problem. Business has been slow, and she's a bit worried. She's been corresponding with Sophie, a bookshop  owner in Paris. They've got a firm friendship, and one day Sophie calls Sarah with a proposition: they swap shops for six months. Sophie wants to escape a heartbreak, and Sarah needs some adventure.  Lickety-split, Sarah is arriving in Paris, and steps into the bookshop with all sorts of rose-colored ideas of what life will be like managing the bookshop for the next six ...

I finally finished Time's Convert yesterday afternoon, after two weeks of reading a little bit, setting it down, then coming back to it. I wanted to take my time, and enjoy it, since I've been waiting some time to get back to the world of Diana and Matthew de Clermont.   So I'll just blurt it all out: I enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away by it.  There. I said it.  Settling into this novel felt a bit like revisiting old friends, and I was pretty happy to be back with Diana and Matthew, and Ysabeau, and the whole world of the de Clermont vampire family. It was pretty great to see how Diana and Matthew are fairing as parents to Becca and Philip, their adorable twins--who are a mix of witch and vampire. Where their talents will lie, no one knows. And the rarity of these two little people (witches and vampires have never been able to have offspring, and normally avoid each other) means that there will come a day of reckoning for their parents and for both of them. That is ...

I saw this little paperback at B&N a month or so ago and thought it looked like a fun little book to read. And it was! It took me longer to read it, even thought it's just over 200 pages. I finally picked it back up a few days ago and spent some time finishing it. Silly as it may sound, I think I needed to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate the message. Camille is 38, a married woman with a young son, living and working in Paris. She's unhappy with her career, her relationships with her husband and son are strained, and she's at the end of her rope. A broken down car during a rainstorm changes her life in ways she just could never imagine.  Camille takes shelter in a nearby home, and while waiting for help, begins talking to Claude, who tells her he's a routinologist and if she agrees to follow his instructions, he can help her change her life for the better. With nothing to lose, Camille agrees, and begins her journey to happiness by following Claude's...

This novel came into my reading life in a roundabout way.  I had purchased The Confectioner's Tale  by the same author, and started reading it.  Not quite 100 pages in, I got restless (my usual MO). I looked to see if she had written anything else, and Where the Wild Cherries Grow  popped up, and not only that, my library had it available.  Bingo! And thus began my summer reading with a lovely novel and a new author.  Sometimes an unexpected book comes along that is a delightful surprise. That's how I feel about this novel, and author Laura Madeleine. It was a refreshing read full of crisp smells, the tang of the ocean, the heat of the sun, and oh! the food!   Where the Wild Cherries Grow  is the story of a young woman who runs away from home to the South of France, and 50 years later, the young legal clerk who is assigned the task of finding out what happened to her. It's 1919, Emeline Vane has suffered too much loss in her short life: two o...

In my ongoing quest to listen to audio books on my commute, I happened on this memoir and decided it had been long enough since I had immersed myself in a foodie book. And I had never heard of Eric Ripert.   I had no idea he's a famous chef in New York City.  He has a show on the Cooking Channel (which I would probably watch if I got the Cooking Channel!), and grew up in France.  I read a few reviews of this memoir before I had finished it and the big complaint was where in Eric's life he decided to stop his story. I decided, after listening to this audio, that it stops at a very natural place, and just hearing about his early years was such an interesting journey that I didn't need to know more.  We know how it ends, so this was all about how it began.   Eric was born in France to a vibrant mother and a loving father.  The first few years of his life were very happy; his parents adored him and their life was full of fun, good times, and delicious food...

I was thrilled to be able to read this sequel to Happy People Read and Drink Coffee (click on the link to read my review from 2016) , because quite frankly the tale of Diane and Edward was so powerful I couldn't wait to find out what happens next.  If you haven't read Happy People , I'm going to probably spoil a few things for you, so beware. Translated from French, this sequel picks up a year after Diane returns to Paris from Ireland.  Her bookstore is doing well after Diane renews her commitment to making it a success.  Her life has a routine; her grief has subsided.  Her feelings for Edward, however, are still pretty strong, and her time in Ireland and the people she met remain on her mind.  Felix, her best friend, is still a delightful character who can be counted on to keep things light.   Diane has been going out on dates, and they're all pretty horrible.  Listening to the tales my dating friends tell me, it's amusing to read about similar exper...

My first read of 2017 was about Paris and kale.  Yes, you read it correctly.  Sounds a bit strange, but actually it was an interesting read about moving to a completely brand new environment and having a bit of a rough time adjusting.  Paris may appear to be a dream, but it can often times prove to be a difficult place to make a new home.  Kristen Beddard was living in New York City, happily single, when she met Philip at work.  They dated, fell in love, and got married with the realization that Philip's job was sending him to Paris for long periods of time and the best plan was to move to Paris and live there for the next five years.  Kristen had been to Paris years earlier, and loved it.  She was excited to go, and read heaps of blogs about Americans living in Paris.  She thought she was prepared, and was headed to a lovely life, complete with ballet flats, red lipstick and, hopefully, a job teaching in English. She was, sadly, wrong on all coun...

I discovered Anita Hughes' novels last year, and I've enjoyed the few that I've read.  I've still got at least two more sitting on my bookshelves.  But I spied this somewhere on the web, and decided it was a perfect read for Christmas.   I'll say right off the bat that I was not enchanted with this novel.  I had to keep reminding myself to suspend my sense of reality and just go with the flow.  Seriously, there's no way this could ever really happen to anyone! Isabel Lawson calls off her wedding three days before the big event.  She realizes her perfect fiance just wasn't a perfect fit.  They both decide it would be a great idea for her to fly to Paris and stay in the ritzy hotel suite they had reserved for their Christmas honeymoon in Paris.  Isabel is a beautiful analyst who works for JP Morgan, and loves numbers.  This is her second broken engagement, and she's a bit puzzled as to why she can't fall in love with the right man.   ...

 Can't get enough of Jojo Moyes?   Paris for One  is a delightful tidbit that's sure to please while you wait for another full length novel from Jojo.   I'm a fan of Jojo Moyes; I've read just about all of her novels.  What I like most is her ability to write a completely different novel each time--contemporary, historical, gut wrenching boo-hoo love stories, and complex relationships that can make a happy ending seem like a monumental task--but worth the effort.   This collection of short stories starts off with the story Paris for One , and it's the longest of the stories.  Nell is a meek young lady who decides to treat herself and her loser boyfriend Pete to a weekend in Paris.  It's her first trip out of England, and she's a bit nervous.  Pete texts her that he just can't join her, so she decides to board the train to Paris and go on without him, hoping he'll join her the next day.  Yes, you can guess what happens next.  Ne...