A French Affair

by Katie Fforde

[Leah]

I love Katie Fforde. Her books are always massively enjoyable and I always know what I’m going to get with a Katie Fforde novel. I missed out on reading her book that was released last year, Recipe For Love, it just seemed to pass me by, which is a terrible thing. So when I read Katie’s Christmas short story Staying Away At Christmas, it really got me in the mood to read a new Katie Fforde novel. I was chuffed to see her new novel A French Affair up on NetGalley and I quickly requested it and I was really pleased to be accepted. I’ve actually already pre-ordered myself the hardback to go into my collection, but I dived into the e-galley immediately and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I must admit, A French Affair wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I misread the synopsis and thought it was about a French House in France. Not a French House in England. My own fault, as I’ve really gotten into books set in France so I just saw the word France and got a bit excited. However that is not what the novel is about, it is indeed about a French House in England. Though, there is a trip to France, so yay! After Gina and Sally Makepiece’s Aunt Rainey dies, they’re summoned to the French House, an antiques centre, and find out from the owner, Matthew Ballinger, that they have inherited their Aunt’s antiques spot. As Gina’s background is in PR, she can see the center desperately needs bringing into the 21st century and sets about making the relevant changes, much to Matthew’s chagrin; he likes things as they are, thank you very much. Gina soons develop a passion for antiques, and Matthew is more than happy to help her in her quest, but what neither of them is expect is for them to fall in love. With each other.

When you get a Katie Fforde novel you know exactly what you’re going to get. It’s brilliant. It’ll be a bit posh (Katie uses words you’d never normally see in a Chick Lit novel, and I love that, I find it quaint), the hero will be maddening in all senses of the world, and the heroine will be really lovely. And, of course, you’ll get your happy ending. That’s everything I expect from a Katie Fforde novel and it was everything I got. It did take me a bit to get into it, perhaps due to the stop-start nature I had of reading the novel due to being busy at work, but once I got to sit down and really read masses of it at a time, I found myself very absorbed. I didn’t think antiques would really be my thing, they don’t interest me much at all, but Fforde put a lot of effort into it and I did find myself enjoying it very much. I can’t say it’s something I’ll be getting into, but it’s a lot more of an interesting subject than I gave it credit for!

I thoroughly enjoyed A French Affair (I keep going to call it The French House, which it really should have been called). I found Gina and Matthew to be great characters, but it was the minor characters who I really enjoyed – Nicholas, Sally, even Oscar the dog, all helped to make it such an enjoyable read. It just had everything I wanted in a book and made me remember why Katie Fforde is easily one of my favourite authors around. She never, ever disappoints and she knows how to write a gripping story. As the novel wore on I found myself more and more involved and more bothered by what would happen to the French House. I thought it was a very satisfying read, and Katie’s fans will adore it.