Don't Fall in Love with Me

Ooo la la! J’adore ce livre! (I love this book!) I knew my high school French would pay off someday. 

Grace is on the losing end of a secret decade plus unrequited crush on her bestie Jackson who she’s known since they were children. She all but walked away from him when he got married and broke her heart three years ago, but now he’s called with an offer she can’t refuse: work for him for the summer in France to market his family’s sparkling water brand Eau de Sainte Églantine named after the town in the Ardèche region where her beloved grandmother Mellie lives. Oh, and her biggest incentive even if he’s clueless about her feelings? He’s single again. 

Is this her chance to finally win his heart? There’s one little complication … actually one VERY sultry Frenchman named Étienne! They met by chance on the day of Jackson’s wedding three years ago and grew close while she was nursing her broken heart and he was caring for his dying mother. It remained a friendship, but the chemistry was obvious until the day she had to return to America and he didn’t show up to see her off. When they encounter each other in town and she tells him she’s back for the summer, he offers to help her make Jackson jealous, but are his motives pure? One thing is certain … their connection hasn't dimmed a bit!

There’s a whole lot more to this story, but I’ll leave it to you to discover. What I will say is that Étienne and Grace may have the most viscerally palpable chemistry I’ve experienced in a book. There’s some spice, but it’s actually more the tension and how Étienne looks at and talks to Grace that gave the butterflies in my stomach the zoomies! That said, the story isn’t just a run-of-the-mill romance. There’s some deeply emotional baggage these characters are dealing with and things get messy on the path to the end.

There are a couple characters I’d like to drop kick, but Jackson, Grace, Étienne, Mellie, Jackson’s grandfather Albert and Étienne’s friends were all very likable characters, even if some of them needed some sense shaken into them and a solid dose of self-respect (I’m looking at you, Grace … let those fellows come to you for once and stop tolerating their nonsense!) The gorgeous French setting, the culture, the way these characters navigate their feelings and healing from past wounds … it made for a really lovely, heartwarming read.

My biggest issue, and the reason why it didn’t get the full five stars, is the pacing. There’s simply too much dragging the emotional tension along for dramatic effect. It gets you invested at first, but after awhile I just wanted these characters to communicate and stop leaving EVERYTHING unsaid. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment, but it could be tightened up. I also thought that after so much waiting, the end was wrapped up too quickly and neatly. All that said, I still loved the story and characters and Paige Toon has become an author whose books I’ll be looking for again!

★★★★ ½ 

Thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NetGalley and author Paige Toon for this digital ARC to honestly review. It’s out on April 14, 2026.