I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Maggie Finds Her Muse by Dee Ernst Published by St. Martin's Griffin on April 20, 2021
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance, Womens Fiction
Pages: 304
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
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My Rating:
Synopsis:
A sparkling romantic comedy starring a bestselling author who goes to Paris to overcome writer’s block and rediscovers family, independence, and love along the way.
All Maggie Bliss needs to do is write. Forty-eight years old and newly single (again!), she ventures to Paris in a last-ditch effort to finish her manuscript. With a marvelous apartment at her fingertips and an elegant housekeeper to meet her every need, a finished book—and her dream of finally taking her career over the top—is surely within her grasp. After all, how could she find anything except inspiration in Paris, with its sophistication, food, and romance in the air?
But the clock is running out, and between her charming ex-husband arriving in France for vacation and a handsome Frenchman appearing one morning in her bathtub, Maggie’s previously undisturbed peace goes by the wayside. Charming and heartfelt, Dee Ernst’s Maggie Finds Her Muse is a delightful and feel-good novel about finding love, confidence, and inspiration in all the best places.
My Review:
So this was a romance, but almost not a romance in a way. Almost a bit more women’s fiction. But in the end it turned out to be a romance for sure and I enjoyed it! Now that I am older myself, 48 years old at the moment, I guess I have to start looking at romances with older characters, right? While it is harder for me to connect with characters who are mothers or have been married, because I have had neither of those things, there were still a lot of things about Maggie that I did connect with. One, her feelings about her body/self, etc. Another was her writing. While I am not a published author other than one novella I self-published last year, there were things about her writing methods and reasons that just really resonated with me. One thing that I really liked was how she tried to never use the one thing a lot of romances seem to have “The Great Misunderstanding”. I always hate how those can be used when it is such an easy misunderstanding to overcome but an author turns it into a big crazy drama. But the way this whole thing comes in toward the end of the story is perfect. Very tongue in cheek in a way, but I loved it!
Not only was the story good in that sense, it had a lot of great characters as well. And the setting, wow! I can honestly say, that I haven’t actually ever been someone who thought they MUST go to Paris some day. There are lots of places I want to visit, but Paris was never high on the top of my list. But now, oh my gosh, the food they talked about? Well suffice it to say that I am going to have to find a French restaurant or bakery nearby and try a couple things, specifically the tartiflette and the kouign-amann. They sounded delicious!
In the end I really really liked so much about this story, and I can see myself reading more by this author in the future!
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I love it when a book is so compelling that you need to rush out to a bakery!! I love books set in Paris and the food aspect sounds amazing. I will have to make sure that this one is on my list as well. 🙂
Food in books always makes me want to try new things! Thanks for stopping by!
I have been to Paris but I was way too young to appreciate it (I was in high school). I think I’d like to go now but I’ve heard horror stories about how women are treated by men so maybe not, lol.
Yeah, I’m sure it is a lot different to go as an adult compared to being a teen, and maybe with a high school group? That’s how my sister went. Thanks for visiting!