French Holiday, by Sarah Ready, is a romantic comedy set in the idyllic French countryside. Merry is heartbroken that her best friend and crush is marrying her selfish sister. When she finds out that they are pregnant, she takes an opportunity to flee to France for three months. There she finds Noah Wright, the best man at her sister’s wedding and her least favorite person. Noah is a travel documentarian staying in the same castle for his research on his latest documentary. Merry and Noah are forced to spend the next three months together in a crumbling French castle.

I loved this book! It has everything in it that a rom-com should, with a little bit of mystery rolled in. The enemies-to-lovers trope is well paced throughout the book. Their romance grows at a reasonable pace, it never seems to be rushed or unrealistic. They have fun witty banter with each other throughout the book. While they dislike each other in the beginning, it never borders on disrespectful or bullying. They just argue with each other with some sexual tension mixed in. Ready does a great job of moving Merry and Noah from enemies, to friends, to lovers. The romance is fun and light-hearted, but there are some heart warming moments woven in.

The French countryside and crumbling castle were a great background to the story. Ready is able to deftly use and create her setting to the benefit of the story. The countryside is used to create romance, and it often drives the mystery of the book. The crumbling castle becomes its own character throughout the book. The castle creates chaos, hilarity, and romance. It creates the forced proximity that brings the main characters together. The use of setting in this book was very well done.

Ready created an interesting cast of secondary characters. The secondary characters often lift a helping hand in creating the comedy in this book. All of the secondary characters are funny, they have their own personalities, and I enjoyed every one of them. However, there are some times where they take more attention then they need to. There is a section of this book, where two secondary characters are getting engaged, that could have been significantly cut down. While the scene was cute and heart-warming, it lasted so long that it started to become absurd. Sometimes the secondary characters detracted more from the book than they added.

This is a fun, easy read to take to the pool or the beach with you. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes rom-coms, enemies to lovers, or forced proximity. This book was heart-warming, charming, and funny. It is a great read for the summer months.