Blog Tour, Book Review – The French Cookery School by Caroline James

Hello lovely readers, hope you are doing well as you can and finding joy, solace in books as the temperature is raising high and high outside. Today’s review is of Caroline James’s latest fun yet wonderful story.

Book

Title – The French Cookery School Au

Author Caroline James

Published 25 April 2024

Publisher – One More Chapter for Harper Collins UK

Set in – France.

Story

Mix together a group of mature students:
A culinary Sloane, a take-away cook and a food journalist.
Add in:A handsome host
Season with:A celebrity chef
Bring to the boil:At a luxurious cookery school in France!

Waltho Williams has no idea what he’s letting himself in for when he opens the doors of La Maison du Paradis, his beautiful French home. But with dwindling funds, a cookery school seems like the ideal business plan. Running away from an impending divorce, super-snob Caroline Carrington hopes a luxurious cookery holiday will put her back on her feet. Blackpool fish and chip café owner Fran Cartwright thinks she’swon the lottery when her husband Sid books her on a week working alongside a celebrity chef.Meanwhile, feeling she is fading at fifty, journalist Sally Parker-Brown hopes her press week covering the cookery course will enable her to boost her career.

But will the eclectic group be a recipe for success, or will the mismatched relationships sink like a souffle?Whip out an apron, grab a wooden spoon and take a culinary trip to La Maison du Paradis, then sit back and enjoy The French Cookery School!

Purchase Link

My thoughts

The French Cookery School is Caroline James‘s latest. The story is set across a week in a newly opened chateau in the French Countryside. The characters we follow are all in their 50s and 60s and are at the week long cooking course for various reasons.

The Chateau owner is opening it’s doors for the first time for the cookery course guests. We meet some really diverse and quirky characters some are fun and some are nursing broken hearts and an uncertain future. There is Fran, who is there on her husband’s insistence to help them go from a chippy to a fine dine restaurant. There’s Caroline who’s there on an  impulse to get way while her divorce is being sorted. We have Ahmed there to learn some culinary skills to impress his partner, while Brigitte is there to get a respite from grief after her husband’s passing away. We have twin sisters who are retired nurses, a pair of local expats all there for new experiences.

You will see a range of emotions and behavioral aspects from these characters, from a simple funny one to tragic, frustrated, naughty, hidden depths , you can imagine the rest.

I enjoyed how these characters meet and within a week they go from strangers annoyed with each other to forming lifelong relationships.

The food mentioned – eaten and cooked is spectacular alongside the picnics and local sight seeing trips.

It was quite stoic how they were all, some more some less, dealing with their emotional messes and grief without ever asking or crying out for help. That’s why it was equally heartwarming to see how they gradually help each other.

The Chateau sounded beautiful, caming and perfect for a vacation. I envied the bliss the characters must have felt being in such a lush, nature filled location.

If you are in the mood to see some regular folk live well and not loose out on the wonders of meeting new people with a side a good food, pick up a copy of The French Cookery School to enjoy a delicious time with it.

Author

Caroline James always wanted to write, but instead of taking a literary route, followed a career in the hospitality industry, which included owning a pub and a beautiful country house hotel. She was also a media agent representing celebrity chefs. When she finally glued her rear to a chair and began to write, the words flowed, and several novels later, she has gained many bestseller badges for herbooks.The French Cookery School is Caroline’s tenth novel. Previously,The Cruise, described as:‘Girl power for the over sixties!’was an Amazon Top Ten Best Seller. Caroline’s hilarious novels Include The Spa Break and The Best Boomerville Hotel, depicted as ‘Britain’s answer to the Best Marigold Hotel’.
She likes to write in Venus, her holiday home on wheels and in her spare time, walks with Fred, her Westie, or swims in a local lake. Caroline is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association, the SOA, ARRA and the Society of Women’s Writers & Journalists. She is also a speaker with many amusing talks heard by a variety of audiences, including cruise ship guests.

Books by Caroline James:

The French Cookery School
The CruiseThe Spa Break
Hattie Goes to Hollywood
Boomerville at Ballymegille
The Best Boomerville Hotel
Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me
Coffee Tea the Chef & Me
Coffee Tea the Caribbean & Me
Jungle Rock

Contact:

Website -www.carolinejamesauthor.co.uk
Twitter:@CarolineJames12
Facebook:Caroline James Author
Insta:Caroline James Author

Reviewed by Bee