Meet Me in Monaco

Just saying 1955 Cannes evokes glamour and style, doesn't it? And who better to epitomize that old Hollywood glamour than Grace Kelly? How hard must it have been to be so sought after, so in the spotlight, all the time. But even as Kelly was embarking on what was seen as a real life fairy tale, another, quieter love story was happening around her in Meet Me in Monaco, a charming historical novel by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb.

Sophie Duval runs her family's boutique parfumerie in Cannes. The shop and Sophie are both struggling after the death of Sophie's beloved father. But on a day when the film festival is in town, Grace Kelly ducks into Sophie's shop in an effort to elude a very persistent British photographer. Sophie makes the show more split second decision to protect the star, kicking off a warm connection between the women that will change Sophie's life. The photographer, James Henderson, snaps a photo of Sophie instead of his intended subject and after he abruptly returns to England, he will not be able to forget the beautiful parfumeur and the brief, happy time they spent in each other's company before he was called home. Given a second chance to photograph Grace Kelly, this time for her wedding to Prince Ranier, James contacts Sophie in hopes of meeting her again.

There is a love story, the threat of financial ruin, duplicity, soul mates, Hollywood, and royalty all wrapped into this story about two people brought together by chance in the orbit of Grace Kelly. It is far more Sophie and James' stories than Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier's but the glamour of the moment swirls around the lesser known couple too. Love is won and lost and never forgotten. The romance was a bit predictable but still pleasing for all that. The details of creating a perfume, the chemistry and the special intangible spark, that go into an entirely new fragrance are fascinating and the personal tale is bittersweet and mostly lovely. Fictional newspaper reports about the courtship and wedding are sprinkled between chapters, showing the world's love affair with the princess to be and giving a timeline for James and Sophie's relationship. The story behind the breathless newspaper accounts is interesting for showing more detail of the realities of covering the wedding of the century and the reserved young woman marrying a prince. The various secondary characters are drawn to different degrees of completeness but each of them help James and Sophie come to realizations about themselves and about what matters most to them in their lives, family, passion, loyalty. In the end, this is an engaging novel for fans of historical fiction and of novels set in France or Monaco who don't mind more than a little romance in their stories and who don't care if the famous person in the novel is not the focus. show less

I spent the most glorious weekend in my garden in the best immersive reading experience with Met Me In Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. When a story whisks me away to a time, location, feeling where everything else just melts away and you simply are inside the story with the characters I’m all in, hold everything, until the curtain is down. Gaynor and Webb masterfully build characters and settings that merge real, historical, and fictional, in a beautiful way that creates a wonderful story that takes place in Monaco at the time of Grace Kelly’s wedding.
While Grace Kelly and her royal wedding feature in the book the main focus is on a perfume maker, Sophie Duval, and photographer, James Henderson. We experience the events show more through their eyes. I loved evolution of Sophie and James, individually and together. The only thing that kept this from being five stars for me was a pacing choice later in the book. It didn’t work for me personally. I highly recommend Meet Me In Monaco for readers of romance and historical fiction, knowing the book contains elements of both.
Thank you to LibraryThing and William Marrow for an advanced reader copy and the opportunity to review Meet Me In Monaco. show less

Meet Me in Monaco is such a beautiful book. I loved every page of it. The story of Grace Kelly and her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco is such a romantic one and I absolutely adored how her journey from actress to princess is intertwined with that of James and Sophie.

James Henderson is a British press photographer, a reluctant one, when he finds himself in Cannes for the film festival. He is chasing Grace Kelly, desperate to obtain a much sought after photo of the Hollywood starlet, when she ducks into a perfume shop to try and escape him. Sophie Duval is the perfumer, a woman with an incredible nose for scent and a skill for putting them together to create the most beautiful fragrances. James’ pursuit of Grace throws Sophie into show more the path of both of them, with a friendship being forged between the two women and rather more between James and Sophie.

I always love books that use real life events as the base for the story but sometimes it does feel as though that element and the other part of the story don’t sit completely well together. Not so with Meet Me in Monaco where the two strands are perfectly woven together to create an engrossing, cinematic and memorable tale.

I have to comment on the fact that two authors wrote this book. I don’t know how they do it, as in whether they take it in turns, write a ‘voice’ each or just work together at every stage, but it’s absolutely seamless. It’s a very successful writing partnership indeed.

This book is full of the atmosphere of the French Riviera and the glamour of the film star lifestyle and yet we also witness Sophie’s worry over the future of her business, the one that her father passed onto her. She’s trying desperately to keep it going and Grace Kelly’s patronage might just help with that.

There are articles written by a journalist about Grace scattered throughout the book and at the beginning there is a lovely picture of her. It all adds together to make this a book a visual delight. And whilst I can’t smell the perfumes that Sophie creates, I can almost imagine the scents from the descriptions. It really is wonderfully evocative.

The rapport between Sophie and James is beautifully drawn. I so badly wanted them to make it and I really wanted Sophie to hang onto her business. I can't tell you if all worked out for them but I liked the conclusion very much.

Meet Me in Monaco is the perfect read for those who like a hint of reality in their fiction. The life and death of Grace Kelly is well documented but I felt she was brought back to life in this book. The real story, however, is that of Sophie and James and what a truly gorgeous story it is. I found this book a complete pleasure to read. show less

*I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.*

Until this novel, I'd mainly encountered Grace Kelly's romantic story of becoming the Princess of Monaco in tangential pieces of news stories, novels, and documentaries. Meet Me in Monaco, however, brings the tale to life and imagines what living through the romance and publicity of a royal/Hollywood wedding would have been like. I loved the characters of Sophie and Jim, and the independence and ambition they both show to pursue their futures on their own terms. This novel made for fun reading and a perfect escape.

Sophie is startled when movie star Grace Kelly runs into her perfume shop in an attempt to escape a photographer. Sophie takes charge, hides her, and sends James, the photographer on his way. Later, when James is one of the handful of photographers present at the first meeting between Grace Kelly and the Prince of Monaco, he gives her Sophie's business card. Grace orders perfume from Sophie, and a friendship is born. James, unable to forget the beautiful and alluring Sophie, writes to her, and the two begin a flirtation and relationship.

This was a well written and engaging story. It was well paced and presented. Sophie and James were dynamic and realistic characters. The settings of Cannes and Grasse was interesting and well done. show more Overall, well worth picking up. show less

This month my book club read Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. It reminded me a lot of The Gown, which we read last year, in that the book’s foundation is the marriage of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco. Like The Gown, the novel focuses on fictional characters on the periphery of the wedding — Sophie, a French perfumer chosen to create a bespoke fragrance for Grace Kelly and James, a British photographer charged with capturing an iconic image of the movie star and her prince. This novel is a lighter read with a slow-building romance and not as many dark elements. But there were themes to talk about — the emerging independence of women in the 1950s and the importance of preserving family legacies. I liked show more the main characters a lot, and Grace Kelly’s appearances added much to the narrative. The settings of southern France and Monaco are beautifully depicted, and our group was unanimous in wanting to travel there! I was starting to get mad at the authors very close to the end of the book, but they redeemed themselves. 😉

If you are a fan of The Gown, Grace Kelly and/or her movies, or just like a well-written historical romance, then check out Meet Me in Monaco. Please note: this is a general market offering and there are some adult situations. However, the book is overall a clean read.

Recommended.

Audience: Adults.

(I purchased the audiobook from Audible. All opinions are mine alone.) show less

Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb is a historical romance story that is set in the 1950s within the whirlwind romance and wedding of movie star Grace Kelly to Prince Ranier of Monaco. Authors Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb entertain us with the story of Sophie Duval, perfumer.

When Sophie shelters Grace Kelly in her boutique from a persistent photographer, a friendship between the two women is established. Grace chooses one of Sophie’s perfumes as her signature scent and assists her to take her business to the next level. As for the persistent photographer, he and Sophie fall in love, but circumstances tear them apart until Grace’s tragic death in 1982 bring them back together.

I found Sophie Duval to be an engaging show more and warm heroine. She was very easy to root for as was James Henderson, the hero. The story of life and love on the Cote d’Azur that included details about the “wedding of the century” was a yummy tale full of descriptions of glamorous Monaco. I really enjoyed Meet Me in Monaco. show less