Book Review: JoJo’s French Escape by Lorraine Wilson

JoJo’s French Escape

Blurb

‘She had me at Bonjour! Warm, funny, deliciously French…this lovely story filled my heart with sunshine’ Jane Linfoot

Imagine yourself in beautiful France with the sun warm on your face and a glass of wine in your hand…Jojo’s French Escape is the perfect summer read!

Trapped in paradise…

For twelve months JoJo Grant has been hiding from a secret too shameful to share.  And whilst her sanctuary might be the beautiful French countryside, JoJo has a horrible feeling that her peace is about to be shattered…because bursting into her life is the hottest celebrity chef around – Callum O’Connor.

Callum knows all about JoJo’s past, her time as a reality star, the scandal that has dogged her, but he isn’t sure why she’s still hiding?  After spending time with Jojo, it’s obvious to him that she has nothing to be ashamed of – she just needs to be a little braver…
But as much as JoJo likes Callum, he thrives on the glare of the outside world.  Can JoJo let go of her past…with Callum by her side?

 

 

This book had so much promise: a great setting, well-rounded characters and good writing. I absolutely adored this book for about 50% and then it was like I had started reading a completely different book altogether.

Lately I’ve been reading quite a few contemporary romances and this sounded like one that stood out from the crowd. It’s a book that handles sensitive topics including revenge porn, social media shaming and trolling. These are all such relevant topics in today’s society and were handled well. It has a gorgeous setting in France in a beautiful house with numerous canine companions. I thought this was going to be a winner.

It was going brilliantly until around halfway through. Then I had some issues. The last thing that Jo wants is to be in the spotlight and seen romantically with another celebrity. However, as soon as they start to get to know each other it’s like they’ve skipped the romance story and gone straight into far too detailed erotica. It was like the plot disappeared and all that was thrown into the story was incessant steamy sessions. Not what I was expecting at all.

I didn’t particularly like the protagonist either. She seemed to be stuck in a constant loop of going through the same introspective thoughts and worrying about the same things… It didn’t make the last half of the story anywhere near enjoyable. Jo was all too happy to forget all of her concerns about her previous partner and the fact that revenge porn is actually a crime wasn’t even taken into consideration and her ex seemed to get off scot free.

I had high hopes for this one but didn’t quite get what I expected. I would have loved to have seen the romance blossom and seen more of a slow burn with them cooking together and exploring the gorgeous area of France they were staying in.

My favourite parts of the story were the support system Jo has in place in France. She has great friends and canine companions with brilliant personalities. The journey of self-discovery for Jo was key to the story and worked well. The ending with Jo’s ex gave her the story the finale it deserved.

Overall, it’s a book with great promise and topics, but it wasn’t quite the escapism I imagined.

Purchase Links

UK – https://amzn.to/3gigosf

US – https://www.amazon.com/Jojos-French-Escape-perfect-escapism-ebook/dp/B07V9SK8BS

Author Bio –

Lorraine Wilson writes flirty, feel-good fiction for One More Chapter – a HarperCollins imprint – and is unashamedly fond of happy endings. She loves hearing from readers and feels incredibly grateful to be doing the job she always dreamt of.

She splits her time between the South of France and Cambridgeshire and is usually either writing or reading while being sat on, walked over or barked at by one of her growing band of rescue dogs.

 

Social Media Links –

Amazon author page: http://bit.ly/lorrainewilsonamazon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LorraineWilsonWriter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Romanceminx