Tag Archive: france



My Grape Baby (The Grape Series, #9)My Grape Baby by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m sad that this is the end of the series, as far as I know. It has been fun to watch Laura in her college years, meeting and marrying Franck. I loved meeting her Canadian family and Franck’s French family. There is a bit of a feeling of traveling and living somewhere other than here.

In previous books, we met Laura and Franck’s first two babies. We enjoyed watching them flip a couple of homes and a wine cellar. And we read about food and wine, a lot of wine. The real estate and food I can do without, but in this book, it gets personal. And may I, without giving spoilers, warn you to have Kleenex nearby.

I wish Laura and her family all the best. Enjoy these books if you get the chance.

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My Grape Cellar (The Grape Series, #8)My Grape Cellar by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was my least favorite of the series. It seemed to stay with real estate, food, and wine rather than family and all things French. And it seemed to skip over Laura’s expanding family. Still, I enjoyed the read and gained a greater sense of travel and living in France.

I read this on my Kindle app on an old phone. This series has been easy for my eyes and fun for my language curiosities. I’ve already moved on to the next book. This one will center on the new baby. That should be more fun for me.

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My Grape Village (The Grape Series, #6)My Grape Village by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series, but I’m not a fan of this book. It’s not horrid, but I felt it didn’t live up to the former books. Part of this is my need for linear storylines. The couple are recently newlyweds, and suddenly they have two girls. We lost a lot of their life. This book is full of real estate, food, and wine, but lacks significant character development. I missed the family unit of grandparents and Mimi. I miss the time we could have seen growth while they were in Canada.

What holds true to the series is the feeling of travel, learning about France, and watching the couple navigate the wine country.

This series is the only one I am taking my time with, reading by sight on my Kindle, bit by bit as my eyes allow. Everything else, I use audiobooks or text-to-speech. I’m already into the next book, My Grape Cellar.

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Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2)Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The review below was from my first reading of the books. Now, because of the new series, Bone of My Bone (BOMB), I am reading and rewatching everything again. I am still so excited about the series. I finished this a couple of days ago and am already onto Voyager. I am still amazed at these books and shows.
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If my mind has not been very focused. This book may be the cause. Lack of sleep. Not because of worries. Nope, I just couldn’t stop reading/listening to the book.

I had the Audible Whispersynched with the Kindle version. Davina Porter did a marvelous job of narrating the story. Hers is not the sweet voice of the actress who played Claire Randall, Caitriona Balfe, of the TV series. But Ms. Porter has the versatility to act all the characters perfectly.

The show did a good job following the books. The only thing I miss in the reading is the music.
That’s okay. I can Sing Me A Song of a Lass That Has Gone…

This story is captivating either way. I love getting involved in the history presented. I wish I were better versed in world history, especially France and the British Isles. I know the next book will bring me into the founding of the United States of America. So that gives me a timeline,000 00I know, somewhat.

Since I read the book after watching the show, I wish I could have read it first. Not that the show is missing anything. I just like visualizing the story for myself. Now the people and places are fixed by the show.

At any rate, it is a good read, even if you’ve seen the show. It will keep you engaged in the story. I can’t wait until I can afford book three.

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My Grape Escape (The Grape Series, #6)My Grape Escape by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series so much! It is the only series I am reading without text-to-speech or narration. On my old phone, on the Kindle app. Each book is just the right size for me, and by being Kindle, I can adjust the font and background. And when French words appear that I don’t know, I can highlight them, and the app will translate them for me.

This book was enjoyable to read as Laura and her husband, Franck, fix up an old home in hopes of making it a profitable vacation getaway. Somehow, my review is falling short. But this book is anything but. I always feel that I am not only traveling to France, but also learning a bit of history and enjoying French vocabulary.

Each of these books is enjoyable and personable. I’ve already moved on to the next book. I think I’ll try to read these again, but I’ll also look for the audiobooks. I want the sound of the French to help my education.

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My Grape Wedding (The Grape Series, #5)My Grape Wedding by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this autobiographical series! I read them on Kindle on my old phone. These are the only books I actually read with my eyes: no text-to-speech or audiobook. My tracking issues take a long time. But I love the French phrases scattered throughout. With the little bit of French, I do on Duolingo, these are easy enough, and I mostly don’t need help. But Kindle has the feature to show translation if needed or a dictionary lookup for words I might not get, such as food or other things that are foreign to me.

I feel I am traveling as I read these, and I love Laura Bradbury’s family, friends, and her sweet husband.

Look, I know it is a book about a wedding, and the series seems to surround the romance of Laura and Franck, but these are more the growing process and educational adventures of Ms. Bradbury. As I mentioned, it seems more travel and food than the yucky, sweet, snuggling stuff that can get annoying in other books.

I look forward to reading more of this series. Sorry, it takes so long.

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My Grape Paris (The Grape Series, #4)My Grape Paris by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series. It is the only one I truly read. (I usually need audiobooks due to tracking and dyslexia issues). I keep it on my phone on my Kindle and just read it when I have a few quiet moments alone. Laura Bradbury writes in such a way that I never feel lost, even when I have to neglect the read for a while.

The other fun thing about the books is the use of French words or phrases, just occasionally, nothing overwhelming. But it is a great chance to practice my elementary concepts of that language. And don’t worry; it is all contextual and she adds the translation if needed.

The best part is how well you get to know Laura and her boyfriend, Franck, their friends and family. As life continues, you see them grow and learn.

In this episode, Laura needs to take a year of college in Paris to study her educational major. So you learn about her love of ancient French writings. Meanwhile, she and Franck get to visit all the wonders of Paris. I feel I am traveling with them. And Laura learns to stand up for herself and figure out how to do that while in a relationship.

I highly recommend this series. It isn’t too horribly mushy. In fact, I found a few things at 75 that Laura learned when she was still in her 20s.

If you wish you could travel to France, this series, this book is for you.

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The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3)The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, my wishes came true. I got to reread the first three books. This time, I just listened to my Audible version. As I said nearly a decade ago, Jennifer Ikeda’s voice kept the story alive. The thing I have to add is that I discovered this series has two more books than what I left in 2014. So, I have already started reading book four, Time’s Convert. So far, I’m not as happy with the narrator, but I’ll wait for my full review about her later. As my former review states, I think everyone should try it. I loved all three.

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This series was so much fun that I wish I could go back and read it again, right now! I miss the characters and the incredible voice of Jennifer Ikeda. This series is best read with the narration. The experience is over the top!

Anyone who knows me knows I am not into vampires. Okay, I watched Vampire Diary for a while, but it was because of the witch more than anything else. So, if this had not started with A Discovery of Witches and my cousin had not recommended it, I might not have gotten into this series. And the witches sure do kick b*** in this series, so I wasn’t disappointed.

Even writing this gives me a sense of remorse that it is over. Gosh, what a sentimental mush brain, huh? But how else can I tell you how good this series is?

I do have a complaint about the whispersync of this book. For some reason, it would skip over the bottom of each paragraph. But that didn’t stop me. I just signed onto my Audible, played the story from there, and read it on my tablet. Yeah, I had to turn pages, but I hardly noticed as the story moved me forward.

I noticed that there were the slightest threads left undone. Nothing drastic, but it had me hoping there would be more to this series. The last few chapters felt rather anticlimactic, but I wasn’t complaining. It just gave me more time with the family. This was the perfect read for the Halloween season, but it would hold its own over any other set of days, too.

Do read it! I think you’ll enjoy it, too!

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My Grape Christmas (The Grape Series #3)My Grape Christmas by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series is so sweet. It isn’t a mushy romance, but romance is there. It satisfies my travel bug, and I get to play with a little of my mini French-speaking. This series is the only one I am taking my time to actually read and not listen to. I have it on my old phone in the Kindle. It is a slower read than the Audiobooks, but I can stay with it as I love the characters and the story. Laura Bradbury writes her story well.

In this story, after a year in Quebec, Canada, Laura and her boyfriend return to France to visit his family for Christmas. It is a shorter book than others, but it made me love the family more.

By the way, if you know absolutely no French, you will not be lost in these books, as the little bits are used in context with the English. This series takes you from when Laura does an exchange year in France for high school through her adult life in France. I have already started the next book, in which the couple gets to go back to France for a college exchange program.

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My Grape Year (The Grape Series, #1)My Grape Year by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Who knew that a book about a foreign exchange teenager would have me in tears and longing to read the next in the series immediately? This book is the reason I read books. It took me to a place I hadn’t been before. It challenged a lot of preconceived notions. And I picked up a word or two more of French. That probably doesn’t count for much, but every little word counts, right?

Laura Bradbury can write an engaging book. When I found I couldn’t read it tiny bits at a time, I longed for more of the story than the time reading it took. I added Whispersynch, and the voice of Hope Newhouse (Narrator) made the story even better, especially since she pronounced the words text-to-speech or my own struggles with unfamiliar French words.

I don’t remember how I heard of the Grape books, and I hope it might be in connection with a movie or television series because this could be quite good in that medium, too. Anyway, I got the first Grape on Kindle Unlimited but decided to buy it and buy the Audio to go with it as I love the layers it adds to the written word.

I highly recommend this to teens and older. Even if 18 is 56 (yikes!) years ago, I still remember the angst of those years quite well, sometimes better than I remember where I put the keys, ya know?

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