THE CHATEAU

SYNOPSIS

They thought it was perfect. They were wrong…

A glamorous chateau

Aura and Nick don’t talk about what happened in England. They’ve bought a chateau in France to make a fresh start, and their kids need them to stay together – whatever it costs.

A couple on the brink

The expat community is welcoming, but when a neighbour is murdered at a lavish party, Aura and Nick don’t know who to trust.

A secret that is bound to come out…

Someone knows exactly why they really came to the chateau. And someone is going to give them what they deserve.

Title: The Chateau

Author: Catherine Cooper

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication date: September 2, 2021

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐💫

It is now a tradition (and if it’s not I’m establishing it now) to do a buddy read with my friend Kim of Catherine Cooper’s books (hers and Tessa Wegert’s). We loved our stay in The Chalet, so we booked a two night stay at The Chateau, although it ended up being a one night only, as we flew through it and had to check out early.

Aura and Nick just moved to France fleeing some scandal in the UK, and they did it in style! Buying an old chateau! The move and remodeling work on the chateau are a bit stressful, but their new community is very welcoming, so it seems like they can make a fresh start over there.  But then, a neighbor is murdered and a secret comes to light. Could their new life implode all too soon?

I don’t know what Catherine Cooper’s books have, but once I start them I can’t put them down until I’m done with them (unless physically forced). Although I liked The Chateau, I didn’t love it as much as The Chalet. 

It could be that I called most of the twists early on or that the France part and the UK part felt like two different stories put together with completely different characters. Some of them didn’t even sounded like the same person (Oh, Aura, how you have fallen down in my eyes).

The France part of the story was much more exciting, in my opinion, and throwing the UK part about the characters’ past right in the middle only managed to slow down the rhythm.

There were also a couple of plot points I thought would play a bit more into the resolution but, once it was all revealed, felt like they had been put there to shock the reader.

As the end got near there were a couple of twists that raised the tension again and made things much more exciting. Although I guessed the who, I did not guess the why, and I can’t honestly say I judge the villain. 

The Chateau was still a really bingeable read and I really enjoyed my buddy read discussion. After our trips to the French Alps and southern France, I really hope @itsallaboutthethrill will accept my invitation to go on The Cruise later this year.