Top Ten Tuesday: Arches and Windows

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Cozy/Atmospheric Reads

I am going a bit rogue this week and I am choosing covers which features archways or windows. It's an idea that has been calling to me for a couple of months now, and today is the day that I make it happen! These are all books that I have read this year!

The Lost Garden by Angela Petch - This is the book that made me think about doing this as a topic. (my review)

Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop by Jessica Redland - This arch kind of reminded me of the arch window on Play School, which is the window I hoped they would choose every time. Australians will get this, or at least Australians of a certain age! (my review)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett - This is the first book in the Emily Wilde series. It probably almost doesn't count but the frame forms an arch like shape. At least that's my story and I am sticking to it. (my review)

The Magic of Provence by Alison Roberts - love the view extending out through the arch here. (my review)

The Santorini Writing Retreat by Eva Glyn - It looks like this might be a picture from a balcony but the flowers form an arch to look out across that iconic Santorini view. (my review)

The House at River's Edge by Rachel Burton - The windows are flung wide open on this cover (my review)

A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot - Love the colours on this cover! (my review)

Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn - How nice would it be to sit outside on a beautiful warm Riviera evening and look at this view. (My review)

Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki - I am really looking forward to reading the follow up to the book soon! (My review)

The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick - I do love it when you see an series of arches covered in flowers like this! (My review)

Sunday Salon: Spell the Month in Books - July

Reviews From the Stacks

For 2025 I have decided to have a go at Spell the Month in Books which is hosted at Reviews From the Stacks. The link party opens on the first Saturday of the month, but I won't be posting until after that as I already have other things scheduled every Saturday and for the first two Sundays of the month. I will be sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz.

The idea is that you use the title of books to spell the month name. The theme  for July is set in a fantasy world or fictional place! Given that I am participating in Paris in July, all of these books have a French connection. Now I am not suggesting that France is fictional, but I am always dreaming of visiting it so that makes it my fantasy right?

We won't talk about the fact that I had to cheat a little bit for the J and the Y. Shhhh!

A Wish Upon Jasmine by Laura Florand - A few years ago now I had a massive reading slump that lasted a good couple of years. I think one year I only read about 10 books. Laura Florand was one of the few authors I was still reading. I really enjoyed all of her books which combined France and chocolate and perfume! This book is the second book in the La Vie en Roses series. I wish she was still writing now. 

Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn - I read this book earlier this year. It was the first I had read by this author who is a wine expert and appears on British TV. (my review)

Lunch in Paris: A Delicious Love Story, with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard - It's hard to believe I read this book 14 years ago now, but it's true. I originally posted about this book and linked it up to Paris in July back in 2011. This is the story of a woman whom move to France for love, the fabulous food she ate and the challenges that she faced. I still love this cover. (my review)

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes - This is a dual timeline where the historical time frame is WWI France (my review)

August's theme is Written by your favorite author(s). Finding two U books is going to be very challenging I think!

Will you be joining us?

Blog Tour: Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn

 

You all know that I am a sucker for a few things when it comes to books right?

France - check

Dual timeline - check

WWII setting - .......wait, what!

Whilst this book is predominantly in the city of Cannes, famous for the film festival and a jet set lifestyle, it also tells the story of two young women who are living in Paris in the early 1960s, and is not, I repeat not, a WWII story!

When TV producer Maggie is asked to go to Cannes to pick up some items from a woman who was friends with her grandmother Elizabeth she is both grateful and surprised. She is grateful because it gives her a chance to get away from her not so great life for just a couple of days, and surprised because she never knew that her grandmother lived in Paris back in the early 1960s.

Maggie knows that the reason her mother is asking her is two-fold. Firstly, her father's dementia is getting increasingly worse and so her mother feels like she needs to always be at home, and secondly to help Maggie get out of her own head following her recent divorce, but she goes along with it anyway. 

The plan is that Maggie will go for a couple of days, pick up the box of photos and a camera, and then come back home again. Then Maggie meets Allegra, her grandmother's friend, and Maggie is intrigued. Allegra is an elegant American woman who has retired to Cannes after working as an art dealer for many years and she has many stories about art, jazz and life in Paris, even touching on some less glamorous aspects of life in the city. Soon Maggie is staying longer, getting to know the people who live in the area and getting to know who her grandmother was as a young woman.

While I enjoyed the two stories of love lost and found,  and how they came together in the end, the real strength for me was in the details. I loved the way that the author showed Allegra learning about art and jazz. And the food! Helen McGinn is wine expert who appears on a British cooking show called Saturday Kitchen, and you can tell. Part of the story revolves around a vineyard. At one point, she writes about a harvest feast, and it was evocative! 

I hadn't read this author before. After reading this book, I will definitely be looking out for more from her!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

About the book

Under a Riviera Moon

When a heartsick Maggie is sent on an errand by her mother to Cannes, she is keen to get it over with as quickly as possible.

She has been tasked with collecting a treasured box of photos from her late grandmother Elizabeth’s best friend, the impossibly glamorous Allegra Morgon who is desperate to tell Maggie all about the year she and Elizabeth spent in Paris. The sixties were in full swing, the air hummed with jazz, artists and students made the streets their own, and the City of Love was weaving its magic. And against this backdrop, two people were beginning a love story that would last a lifetime - but be over too soon.

As Maggie hears more about Allegra’s life, first in Paris, then New York, and finally on the Riviera, she is captivated and inspired. Was life always leading Maggie to this moment, this beautiful place so she could finally learn to stop living in the past? Because if she can, then another love story for the ages might just be within her reach…

Helen McGinn’s deliciously escapist, unashamedly romantic story is perfect for fans of Carol Kirkwood, Karen Swan and Erica James.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/UnderRivieraMoon

About the Author 

Helen McGinn is a wine writer, international wine judge and author of the award-winning Knackered Mother’s Wine Guide. She spent almost a decade sourcing wines around the world as a supermarket buyer and appears regularly on BBC1's Saturday Kitchen and ITV's This Morning as their wine expert. She writes about drinks for Waitrose Food Magazine among others and awards include Fortnum & Mason’s Online Drink Writer of the Year. Her bestselling debut novel This Changes Everything was published in February 2021 and her second fiction book In Just One Day later that same year. This Is Us, her third novel, was released in September 2022 and her fourth, The Island of Dreams, in February 2024.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @knackeredmotherswineclub

Twitter: @knackeredmutha

Instagram: @knackeredmother



Newsletter Sign Up:

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Top Ten Tuesday: What I Read on Holidays

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is My Unpopular Bookish Opinions (You can share opinions surrounding being a reader, a book reviewer, etc. OR you could share your opinions on specific books that go against what everyone  else is saying. Are there any books you loved that most people didn’t, or vice versa?)


I am going rogue (again) and instead I am doing What I Read on Holidays, which fits nicely into the post because I finished exactly ten books while I was away!

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki - What an interesting and delightful book! I am planning to review this soon.

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore - Given all the hype around this series, I was expecting more but it was a good book to read on a plane.

Safe Harbour in Pelican Harbour by Maggie Christensen - I always enjoy Maggie Christensen's books and this one was no exception. I reviewed this book here.

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwan Easton - I wanted to read this one because it is set in both Korea and Japan. I had no idea that Japan had occupied Korea between 1910 and the end of the war. 

The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley - I told myself I was reading this one for our read on a theme book club. The theme for this month is spy and I guess I could make this fit the theme if I really tried.

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin - This one definitely fits the theme!

Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn - This is an upcoming review book!

Next of Kin by Hannah Bonhan Young - I just wanted to read something fun and this one fit the bill! 

Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn - What a book! I really enjoyed this one! I am hoping to review it soon, but I don't have a specific date. Maybe I should just give it a date just to give myself a deadline.

One Day and Forever by Shari Low - I have said yes to a book that features some of the same characters from this book. However, it turns out that this book has lots of links to other books as well!