Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Del moved to the south of France three years ago and hasn’t looked back. She’s found new friends, new purpose, and new love with gorgeous Fabien.
But just as harvest on her little lavender farm is due to begin, Del gets some shocking news. With no time to dwell as she welcomes a new crew of lavender pickers, she unexpectedly waves goodbye to Fabien for the summer.
Usually cooking – the thing she loves best – would help soothe her troubles, but Del doesn’t remember how . . . And then chef Zacharie comes to town, dropping another bombshell!
Over one summer in Provence that’s full of surprises, friends old and new rally round. Can they complete the harvest and pull the community back together? And if Fabien returns, will Del finally get her happy-ever-after?
Many thanks to Random House UK, Transworld publishers via NetGally for my copy of Love in Provence to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
What a treat it was to discover Love in Provence was a follow up to Escape to the French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas. It was an utter delight from start to finish to once again catch up with Del who resides in her farmhouse, Le Petit de la Mer, in the French countryside surrounded by lavender fields. I adored the first book and the plot, setting and characters came back to me quickly. New readers needn’t have read the first book as this can easily be read as a standalone and you’ll quickly get sucked into the story. Three years have passed since the last book and a lot of has happened. There is a lovely, relaxed feel to the story and there is enough backstory/recap provided so that you won’t feel as if you have missed out if you are new to these characters.
Del is happy living at the farmhouse and working at Henry’s Bistro in which she is now a partner. She is in a relationship with Fabien who runs the local brocante which is like an antiques business and he clears out houses and sells on the items for sale. Things are going well for Del but as the mistral wind blows through the village and the window of the bistro is shattered when a tree falls, Del feels changes are a foot and they mightn’t all be good or wanted. Del has learned and will come to comprehend even more throughout the course of the book that life is to be grabbed by both hands and the most must be made of every opportunity. Rhi, her best friend, arrives back to the village from her travels with unsettling and upsetting news which as well as the mistral is the catalyst for much change. Is Del ready to cope with everything that is about to be thrown in her path? Just when she thought things were settled in her new life in France. A life she had once never dreamed possible.
Rhi is distraught and brings the devastating news that her partner Henri, the stalwart of the village and owner of the bistro, has passed away. He was the heart of everything and now the soul has been ripped from the bistro and village not to mention Del has lost a dear friend who was a support and guide for her. They do say trouble comes in threes and with the bistro out of action until repairs can be made to the window and with Henri so abruptly taken from them Del is disgusted by the arrival of Henri’s son Zachaire who intends on turning the bistro into a fancy upmarket restaurant. So very different from what has been at the heart of the village for years. Everything she has worked for will be gone as he has scant regard for what Del and Henri achieved there.
I felt so sorry for Del in that things had been running smoothly for her and her love of cooking and food was being called into question. Ever since she had discovered a lavender cookbook on Fabien’s brocante her life had been turned around and now her security was being taken away from her. Her professional life is not off to a good start in this book and the personal side takes a nosedive too when Fabien is given the opportunity to go on the road with the band, he once played with. This will take him away from the village and as they have both already been so busy the opportunities to spend time with each other seeming to be growing slimmer and slimmer.
It soon became clear that Del had an awful lot of balls to juggle and even more so when the lavender harvest is ready and despite the fact she has seasonal workers coming she feels she can’t do it without Fabien by her side. She is scared that with Fabien gone they will drift apart. That perhaps they haven’t worked hard enough on their relationship. Throughout the book she is anxious and filled with doubt and when her love and inspiration for cooking abandons her and threatens to make the workers leave she is in a very desperate situation. Can she make the harvest a success? Can she prevent Zachaire from turning the bistro into something totally unrecognisable from its previous incarnation with all its associated history? Will her relationship withstand distance and rumours?
Lavender and cooking play a huge role in this story and once again Jo Thomas will have your mouth watering at all the fabulous descriptions of French home cooked food. Food becomes a source of healing for Del as she attempts to get over the loss of Henri and power on with the harvest. But she can’t do it alone and the varied cast of characters that come to help each have their own little story too tell. There are too many to individually mention here but suffice to say the author worked her magic and made it feel as if each character had their own story and personal journey to share. There was a reason they were all gathered together to work the lavender season at the farmhouse and they arrived at just the point when Del needed guidance and support. There are many ups and downs for Del and it's as if she is navigating a stormy sea and riding the crests of waves. One minute she is up and positive and the next something occurred which brought her right back down again struggling to grasp for air.
Without Fabien by her side she feels adrift, but I loved how old familiar faces made reappearances as well as the new workers at the farmhouse and together they spurred Del on when she had reached her lowest point. The ideas that unfolded in order to try and get the bistro up and running again were fabulous and I could envision it all happening so clearly in my mind thanks to the wonderfully descriptive writing from the author. There was a real sense of community spirit, friendship, helping others and being united as one for a common cause and it did so very naturally. That’s how the pace, the plot and character development felt overall. Just so very natural , engaging and enjoyable and that’s what made the pages fly by and had me feeling as if I had been whisked away to France when in reality I was sitting on the couch as another grey and dreary day lingered outside. I loved the ending. It was pure perfection and these words were so apt for the themes explored in the book and readers will take great comfort from them.’Don’t wait for things to get better - to be less complicated. Learn to be happy right now.’
Love in Provence is pure escapism and the most perfectly holiday read. Jo Thomas never disappoints and her twice yearly publications are always something I look forward to immensely. This is a wonderful, feel good story that has an air of magic about it where the characters are likeable and relatable and you’ll be rooting for them the whole way in the hopes of them achieving a happy ending. Some authors write a sequel to a story where it is not needed at all but here this was such a fabulous story so well told. Del and her friends and family certainly deserved a return visit. I wonder will Jo revisit old characters in her next summer book? But in the meantime Jo ‘s Christmas book, Christmas in the Swiss Alps, will be with us later this year and I know it’s way too early to be thinking about Christmas books but I have to do say I do love a Christmas themed story from this author and I already have it on my wishlist. In the meantime you won’t go far wrong with this treat of a read so do yourself a favour and grab a copy as soon as you possibly can.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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