Gaele Hi
It’s been a year since JoJo made national news – infamous for a ‘leaked’ sex tape with her reality-show-star boyfriend, after being summarily dumped, on air, by him with her childhoodul friend. Embarrassed and distraught, she packed a bag and jumped in her car with no real destination in mind, ending up in the Languedoc region of France, working with a new friend and her multiple rescue dogs in her new guesthouse. A perfect set-up for JoJo as Poppy is an artist and not particularly connected to the gossip world, and with planning her wedding to Leo, her work and the dogs, she’s got no time to indulge. With JoJo starting to feel a bit more ‘settled’, news comes that her ex and the reality show he works with are coming to her area, and the thought of it is making her anxious. Add to that, Leo’s friend and celebrity chef Callum is coming to stay for a bit as they work on organizing “The Barn” to make a small restaurant focused on the local bounty, and JoJo is worried that Callum’s fame will bring photographers and disrupt her quiet refuge. But Callum will disrupt much more, from an overheard conversation where ‘snap judgments’ were made to the electric connection between them and the hoard of dogs (and trust me – it is a hoard) instant affection for him, there’s much more here to unpack, and most of it is for JoJo to determine. Throughout the story we get to know the real people, meet the dogs, and see just how much the connection and conversations between JoJo and Callum work on her confidence, and their electricity fairly sparks between them. With a tendency to overthink for England and working herself into a fine mess, there’s plenty of trust questioned, as JoJo is trying to find her new normal, and Callum is trying to discover his next steps. With some help from Poppy’s friends on the hen weekend, self-confidence boosts and straight talk from Callum and a social media ‘rework’ of her life and taking back her own ‘descriptors’ the story is easy to read, full of heart and sure to leave you with a smile. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
DJ Sakata
Holy smokes, this was not what I was expecting but an engaging and relatable tale nonetheless. The premise had a British reality TV star escaping unwanted notoriety to the south of France after she was “officially disgraced” when her then-boyfriend, a publicity, and fame-obsessed reprobate and scum bucket, leaked a sex tape she was unaware he had created. Oh, and he was also cheating on her with her best friend, ouch. It was no wonder she wanted nothing to do with social media or men in general, much less a well-known TV chef who happened to have escaped to the same French locale. Yet their chemistry overcame their misgivings and – gasp – their connections were so erotic I was gasping like a fish out of water. The writing was easy to follow and predominately the inner musings and observations of JoJo as she navigated her transition from disgraced to empowered with the support of her new friends and heartthrob. I was quite taken with the cleverly chosen quotes used to start each chapter and also the timely and insightful inclusion of The Power of Now, which I confess requiring Googling to accurately recall.
