We get to meet Alexandra's friend David, who comes to help her tutor the children, and he also happens to be homosexual, something frowned upon in England during the setting of this story. Although young Stephie is the one I took to heart from the beginning, I developed soft spots for all the children. I also didn’t know that the French celebrate Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day but the way Alex and David introduced the more English traditions felt so fitting in this. Not very eager to take this route, she jumps at the chance to stay in gay Paree for a little longer when a temporary job offer comes up, but it ends up in Provence, as a nanny, rather than something more glamorous.

Following on from A Wedding in the Country where three young women, Lizzie, Alexandra and Meg, meet on a cookery course and become firm friends, A Wedding in Provence is Alexandra’s story. I first started writing when my mother gave me a writing kit for Christmas, and once I started I just couldn’t stop. Alexandra is on her way to live with her starchy relations and decides to stop off in Paris for a couple of days sightseeing. While I couldn’t go to Provence during Lock Down, I had been to Provence a couple of times and had been to France fairly often, which helped. Katie lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England with her husband, some of her three children and many pets.But, the job is in a chateau in rural Provence, with 3 children to look after, no experience and a very attractive Count; can Alexandra forge her own path? Although there were many aspects of this story I enjoyed, and it was certainly romantic, I felt it was perhaps suited to younger readers than myself.

Alexandra is an engaging character who diverts from her journey to a finishing school in Switzerland to become a nanny for a short time in Provence which becomes life changing. This was your typical Hannah/Laura buddy read where the planned reading schedule goes to pot on the first night *snorts*. She finds herself looking after a teenage girl, a not much younger brother and adopted much younger sister. Katie Fforde’s latest novel ‘A Wedding in Provence’ is a refreshingly energetic read and a nod to an era where young ladies, raised by nannies and destined for finishing school, was a very real thing. Recently her old hobbies of ironing and housework have given way to singing, Flamenco dancing and husky racing.

A lot happens in the last third of the book which gives it a slightly uneven pace but that takes nothing away from this cosy read. Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. I'd absolutely recommend this book to anyone and everyone, whether you're a romance lover or not, read Katie's books. I have to say, I kept forgetting that this was set in the 60’s as it felt like it could have been happening today, until something happened that was clearly set in an earlier time. It was as if the Chateau and its inhabitants were just waiting for Alexandra’s arrival (and those who follow) to breathe new life back into it.