Book review The Takedown by Evie Hunter

The Takedown by Evie Hunter

The Takedown by Evie Hunter

A woman scorned...

On board the superyacht Perseus, moored in the glamorous harbour in Antibes, Freya Addison is settling into her new role as hostess.

The other crew members all like Freya, she is calm and diligent and a hard worker, but what they don’t know is that Freya has a secret and an ulterior motive for being on board.

Revenge will be hers.

Because Freya isn’t here to travel the world in style. She has her sights set on one thing only, bringing down the owner of the yacht - the rich and arrogant Julian Falcon.

A man who ripped the heart out of Freya’s family.

And a man she will make pay…

The Takedown by Evie Hunter

My Review

Having visited Antibes and gawped with wonder at the size of the superyachts in the harbour, I couldn’t wait to step on board, even if this book is not my usual go-to read. 

It soon became clear that it is a book about risks, revenge and achieving goals. There is little place for emotions and the excesses and greed were a world away from anything I am used to, but I was easily absorbed within the pages. 

 

The Takedown by Evie Hunter

Freya risks everything putting herself in such a prominent position on Julian Falcon’s superyacht, integrating into the small team of dedicated staff, ready to drop anything for him. Hiding her motive for revenge, while living in close proximity to everyone else, was never going to be easy.

Julian didn’t get to where he was without taking risks along the way, but what he considered his strength, his ability to use those around him for his own advantage, made him enemies. As the interesting back stories of the guests and staff onboard were slowly revealed, so were other risk-takers and game players. These constantly changed my ideas of where the book was going and how successful I thought Freya was likely to be. One by one, she makes discoveries that she has to judge, will they help her in her goal, or will they become a threat? 

Julian was a nasty piece of work and seeing him sweat when his plan began to unravel was as enjoyable for me as it was for Freya, but his power and influence over others was not to be underestimated. 

Revenge, in this case, is best served with a chilled glass of Champagne and a view of the sparkling Mediterranean. 

 

Purchase links

French Village Diaries is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk at no extra cost to you.

Amazon UK link 

Purchase Link 

Evie Hunter

 

About the author

Evie Hunter is a British author and a bit of a nomad, who's spent the last twenty years roaming the world and finding inspiration from the places she's visited. An animal lover and recently widowed, she's now settled back in the UK with her rescued Spanish Podenco, Markos. Keep up to date with all her releases by joining her mailing list 

The Takedown by Evie Hunter

Social media

Facebook 

Twitter 

Newsletter Sign Up 

Bookbub profile

French-themed reading bingo

This year I’ve set myself a reading challenge bingo, with twenty-five different types of French themed books to tick off. This book nicely ticks off “A thriller set in France”.

 

French Village Diaries reading bingo 2024

  

Book review of The Villa by Clare Boyd

The Villa by Clare Boyd

The Villa by Clare Boyd 

 

One perfect family. Two weeks in the sun. A secret that will tear them apart.

Nora just wanted some time with her daughters, away from everything, in the stunning stone villa under the heat of the French sun. Lazy days by the pool, freckles appearing on tanned cheeks, laughter over cocktails on the terrace. She’s so proud of her girls. They might have their differences, but they’ve grown into confident, independent young women, with their own way of seeing things.

But when Nora gathers everyone around the table on that first night, she realises it’s time to tell them. And as she tops up her wine, her hand shakes. She knows nothing could have prepared them for what she’s about to say. But what she doesn’t know, is that hers is not the only secret…

A heartbreaking and totally addictive page-turner about motherhood at its best, and its worst, and the lies we tell to protect the ones we love. Anyone who adores Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult and Kerry Fisher will stay up all night reading.

 

The Villa blog tour

My review

Wow, this book packs a punch of emotions that left my head reeling.

 

When Nora treats her daughters and grandchildren to a summer holiday to remember – a fortnight in a luxury villa in the south of France, none of them realise her reasons for doing so, or how her secret is going to change them and their relationships forever. This is a difficult book to review because I really don’t want to give anything away – it is one of those reads where it’s best you fall headfirst into the shocks and emotions as the story unfolds.

 

This extended family with their complex relationships gives us lots of lovely characters to get to know, all very different and all with their own issues and secrets. While Libby is dreamy, her older sister Emma is organised and controlling, and their partners Conner and Patrick are also equally different. The drama that is about to unfold will test both their relationships and sisterly bond, and not everything will survive. Nora thinks she is in control of the situation, but as always in life, we can never fully imagine how those around us are going to react, no matter how prepared we are in our heads. 

 

I would describe them as a perfectly flawed family, and it was the intrigue around how and when things would come to a head that kept me turning the pages. Unusually, despite their secrets, lies and differences, I warmed to them all, flaws and all and found myself worrying about them, even those whose actions were meant to shock. 

 

This book does deal with some sensitive emotional issues where decisions that are made, are those that some people won’t agree with. I surprised myself by not being as shocked as I imagined, probably because of the skilful way that Clare Boyd introduces the topics and lets them play out in the book. I found this gave me more of an understanding of their point of view, rather than just an initial shock reaction.

 

It might not be an uplifting summer holiday read, but it was one that I enjoyed and gave me lots to think about. If there was one thing that stuck in my mind at the end it was bravery, and although I can’t say too much more, I think all three of the women proved their bravery at some point during the book.

With the UK kindle version currently only 99p, if you are looking for something different this summer, The Villa is ready and waiting for you.

 

The Villa by Clare Boyd

Purchase Links 

 

 

Amazon 

Apple 

Kobo 

Google 

Clare Boyd

 

Author Bio

 

Clare lives with her husband and their two daughters in Surrey, where her little green shed at the bottom of the garden provides a haven for her writing life. Before becoming a writer, she enjoyed a career in television, as a researcher in documentaries and then as a script editor in drama at the BBC and Channel Four, where her love of storytelling took hold.

 

Social Media Links

 

Facebook 

Twitter  

Instagram  

 

Book review of Body on the Rocks by Rachel Green

Body on the Rocks by Rachel Green

Body on the Rocks by Rachel Green

 

Mourning the death of her police inspector husband, Margot Renard moves to a small seaside town in the south of France. But when the body of a small boy washes up on a beach, Margot is drawn into a dangerous world of drug smugglers and people trafficking, and forced to cross paths with two feuding gangsters.

Body on the Rocks Rachel Green

 

My review

 

Having made the decision to move from Paris and begin her life again on the Mediterranean coast, recently widowed Margot is struggling to find her feet. She has a routine of swimming in the sea every morning, something that gives her purpose and a structured start to her day, but for the rest of the day, she is lost. The morning she witnesses the finding of a child’s body, an unknown migrant boy, something within her fires into life.

 

From the beginning of the book, I found Margot an easy character to engage with. I could sense her pain and grief from the trauma of losing her husband Hugo, but there was a spark of something that gave me hope she would find the strength to push through. With her determination to see justice done and her stubbornness to not let obstacles get in her way, nor take no for an answer, Margot finds herself in some precarious situations, where the risk of danger to herself and others is quite high.

 

In places this is an emotional read with some touching, sad moments, but overall, I felt a sense of optimism where good can triumph over evil. Margot’s need to fight gave her a reason not to focus on her grief and opened up some new possibilities for her future too.

 

This book was quite different from my usual reads, and as I can be a bit of a wimp, I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed the danger, especially as Margot walks into situations I would do my best to avoid at all costs.

 

If you are looking for something a bit gritty with plenty of action to get stuck into, add this book to your summer reading list.

 

Body on the Rocks is released today in ebook format and is currently only 99p on kindle UK.

 

Purchase Link   

Amazon UK  

Amazon US   

 

Author Bio 

 

Rachel Green is the pen name of a writer from the UK. Rachel has twice been longlisted for both the Bath Novel Award and the BPA First Novel Award, as well as being on the shortlist for the Capital Crime New Voices Award. Rachel lives in a tiny village in England, but travels frequently to the south of France where the stories from the Madame Renard Investigates series are set.

Body on the Rocks blog tour

 

Social Media Links for Rachel Green

 

Facebook 

Twitter 

Reviews of books set in France or on a French theme

 

Celebrating my Brompton bikeversary

Riding my Brompton is the best

Today I am celebrating the second anniversary of wheeling #KTTinyTourer out of the cycle shop in London and looking back on two years of fun, fitness and freedom on my brompton.

 

In our time together Katie the Tiny Tourer and I have cycled almost eight thousand five hundred kilometres, in three different countries, (the UK, France and Spain) and turned heads wherever we’ve been. I’ve earned a lot of respect from the cycling community as an almost fifty-year-old woman, on a Brompton, climbing mountains alongside younger men on high end road bikes, and the incredulous looks on some of their faces will stay with me forever.

 

Having a bike that is comfortable and fun to ride has given me the confidence to go further and push myself to achieve more, as well as the ability to enjoy long days in the saddle.

 

Climbing mountains on my Brompton

Some of our rides have been in full lycra with clipped in cycle shoes, some in dresses and normal shoes, with a picnic in my pannier. We’ve followed off-road cycle paths, quiet back roads, pilgrimage routes, mountain passes and conquered Tour de France epic climbs, including Mont Ventoux, the Col d’Aubisque and the Col du Tourmalet.

Boulangerie stop on my Brompton

 

We’ve enjoyed the flexibility of the folding frame and being able to put the bikes in the car for airport runs, so we can set off for morning coffee or a sunset apéro somewhere special before heading home. 

 

Cycling the lavender fields of Provence

The bikes have been there for the recycling and the shopping as well as days out, holidays and our legitimate daily exercise during confinement. They have taken us to the Atlantic coast, the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees. We have followed rivers and waterways, including the Thames, the Lot, the Garonne, the gorges de la Nesque and the canal lateral that runs between Bordeaux and Toulouse.

 

We have taken part in organised events including London Brompton Club social rides, and closed road sportives like Ride London and the col climbing Pyrénées Cycl'n'Trip.

 

For the last two years I have set myself cycling challenges on my Brompton, smashing my first target of 2019 kms last year so upping it to 2019 miles (3230 kms) and smashing that too. This year I set myself a series of challenges, and despite a difficult year with over one hundred days living in lockdown, I’ve achieved almost all of them. 

 

5 consecutive days on the bike, cycling a minimum of 50kms each day. Yes, in August.

 

5 trips to the supermarket using the bike instead of the car. Oh yes.

 

5 mountain cols or passes climbed by bike. Last count was thirteen.

 

5 days cycling 100kms in a day, as opposed to once a year for my birthday. Yes.

The seventeen departments I've cycled in this year

 

The only one I’ve not quite managed is to cycle in twenty different French departments (counties) this year, but we did manage to tick off seventeen and have cycled over five thousand kilometres in 2020. I’m definitely fitter than I’ve ever been and six kilos lighter than two years ago, in that bike shop, in London.

 

The uncertainties of living with Covid-19, possible travel restrictions or future lockdowns, aren’t making it easy for me to visualise being able to do a dream cycle tour across France next year, but I can’t let 2021, the year I turn fifty, go by without some form of challenge (or celebration on two wheels). Maybe it will have to be another series of challenges, but that raises my game from those I set this year. When I’ve decided what they will be, I’ll let you know. If you have any ideas, I’d be happy to hear them.

 

  

Lou Messugo on the Côte d'Azur

 Lou Messugo, Côte d'Azur 

The Côte d’Azur

 

Two weeks ago, we arrived at Lou Messugo in Roquefort-les-Pins on the Côte d’Azur. Following three months where life had stood still and plans were impossible to make, winning a three-night stay at Phoebe and Jeff’s gîte, Lou Messugo, gave us the opportunity to escape, spread our wings and enjoy being tourists in France once again. I didn’t realise how much we needed this, until we got there.

 

Montpellier, much quieter on the Sunday morning

We had, obviously, packed the Bromptons into the car, along with our Covid-19 security pack, or lots of bags containing all our bedding, towels, tea-towels, dish cloths etc that we would need for our week away. I am never one to leave home without an emergency food parcel, but this time I had added lots of extras including pasta and tins of fish, beans and vegetables. This proved to be a good idea from the off, as our first overnight stop in Montpellier, where the streets were full of people and every bar and restaurant terrace packed out in the Saturday evening sunshine, meant we quickly retreated back to our accommodation to make an easy pasta dinner in isolation. 

 

Lou Messugo 

We arrived at Lou Messugo on the Sunday afternoon, parked up, unloaded the bags and didn’t touch the car again until it was time to reluctantly leave on the Wednesday morning. Meeting Phoebe for the first time, despite being social media friends for many years, was lovely, but restrained, due to the current pandemic precautions. I’m sure if we’d met a year ago there would have been cheek kisses and enthusiastic embraces all round, instead of the no-touch, sensible distanced greeting we had on their driveway. It was almost surreal to see for myself the reality of Lou Messugo having read and liked Phoebe’s blog posts and photos for so many years. It more than met my expectations as I’d certainly not appreciated quite how stunning the garden was and the house really is as vibrant and colourful as it looks in the photos. The accommodation is superb, and Phoebe and Jeff have thought of everything, including making sensible changes in light of the current virus situation. I can’t recommend it enough. It is clean, comfortable, quiet and with easy access to everywhere you would want to visit for a coast and mountain holiday on the Côte d’Azur.

 

Tourrettes-sur-Loup

The first afternoon we set off on the bikes for a 28km loop that Phoebe had shared on her blog (see here) promising us a taste of the cycling in the area. As we followed the Gorges du Loup, with big smiles on our faces, we couldn’t resist adding on a trip to Tourrettes-sur-Loup, meaning we clocked up an impressive 46km before we’d unpacked the suitcases. 

Col de l'Ecre Alt 1120m

This set the pace for the following few days and whether for the daily croissant run to the local boulangerie, conquering a mountain col above the hilltop village of Gourdon, or day trips down to Nice and Antibes, we did it all by bike, cycling 207km in two and half days. It was fun, exciting, challenging and always accompanied by stunning views.

 

Baie des Anges, Côte d'Azur

The cycling here is full-on for the senses. The colours, from the vibrant wildflowers that caught my eye as I cycled up gorges and hillsides to the terracotta and pastels of the houses and shutters, to the blue of the Mediterranean in the Baie des Anges. The scents, of gorse when in the hills, jasmine when cycling down winding residential streets and the flowering tilleul (linden) trees that line the roads, all enhanced by the warm Mediterranean sunshine. The sights, perched hilltop villages, craggy rocks and mountains, butterflies on wildflowers, spires of dark green Cyprus trees, narrow streets, tall houses with balconies, flowering window boxes and contrasting shutters. We didn’t rush anywhere, as we constantly stopped to check out a view, take a photo or just pinch ourselves that we were there experiencing it all and making memories.

 

Shutters and colours of Nice old town

We revisited some old favourites from our Mini Cooper road trips in 2008 and 2010, like the hilltop village of Gourdon and the old town in Nice, but we also discovered Tourrettes-sur-Loup and Antibes that have become new favourites. I was able to begin ticking off some of my 2020 cycling challenges, climbing my first mountain pass, Col de l’Ecre at 1120m, and cycling my first 100km in a day, on the same day as it happened. It was a perfect break in an ideal location, but three days was nowhere near enough to see and do everything this area has to offer. It was difficult to leave, but our legs were nicely warmed up for bigger challenges that were waiting for us on the next part of our holiday.

 

Thank you, Phoebe, for allowing us to be the first guests in post lockdown.

If you want to check out the accommodation at Lou Messugo you can visit Phoebe’s website and book direct by clicking here.

Book review for What Happens at the Beach by T A Williams

What Happens at the Beach by T A Williams

My review today is for new release novel What Happens at the Beach by TA Williams, published by Carina on 11th July. This is the fifth novel from this author, but the first I've read, where have I been!

Natalie arrives in south west France, where the Mediterranean meets the Pyrenees, to spend some time with her Gran, Colette, in the house overlooking the bay that holds fond childhood memories for her. She has recently graduated with a PhD in French Medieval history and even more recently split up with her fiancé David, due to unreconcilable differences between his family and her. Money is tight, but she soon finds she has good friends around her and the quality time spent with her 90 year old Gran gives her laughter, advice and love.

Men are off the radar for Natalie, as spending time with her Gran and concentrating on finding a career are more important, but there is no harm in looking at what Port Renard has to offer. Philippe, with his yacht and generous tips (when he dines at the beach restaurant she helps out in), Rémy, the sexy sword fisherman and athletic Mark, her Gran's neighbour and owner of Barney, a black Labrador who stole Natalie's heart with his gentle eyes and waggy tail. She is certainly not lacking in distractions to keep her mind off her ex David.

While searching the Internet for the university lecturer job of her dreams, she takes on the role of knowledgeable expert to a local author interested in and researching her specialised subject, the Cathars. Together they tour the region and visit the famous and hidden sights, taking us along for the ride and adding historic interest to the novel, something I particularly enjoyed. This being a novel set in France, fine dining and Champagne also feature.

Natalie is at a pivotal point in her life, but time spent at her favourite beach in France helps to heal and soothe her emotions. If she is lucky, it might just hold the key to her future happiness too.

I really enjoyed this quick and easy read and would recommend it as a perfect holiday accompaniment.

Book review of Hotel Paradise by Carol Drinkwater

Hotel Paradise is a new Kindle single (ebook short story) by Carol Drinkwater, whose descriptions of life in Provence never fail to transport me there.

Beginning and concluding in the present day, most of the story in Hotel Paradise occurs twelve years earlier when a young couple, who met by chance in Paris, make their way south to an island off the Cannes coast following an unknown path of adventure.

Genevieve and Paul find themselves in a long forgotten, dusty hotel that might just be ready to awaken to their touches. There is passion, a sense of adventure, hurt, grief and many other emotions, and the spell of the place fills their heads with dreams and ideas for the future. Then a newcomer arrives on the island, but will this upset the balance and with it their dreams?

Throughout the book there is no doubt about the location, Carol’s beloved Mediterranean coast. She describes the food, the markets, the flora, the wildlife, the coastline, the weather, the sounds and the scents. I feel I know the shores of this island despite never having visited it. I think it’s familiarity comes from the pages of one of the Olive Farm books and Carol’s descriptions make me feel I am returning to somewhere special. It has made me want to delve back into her earlier books (again).

This is a neat, perfect example of a short story. A quick morning read on a beach or by the fire – actually, it doesn’t matter where you are, just sit back and let Carol take you to the Mediterranean.

Hotel Paradise is available only as an ebook from Amazon. I can also recommend Carol’s other Kindle single The Girl in Room Fourteen (Kindle Single) , you can read my review here.