Maggie Bliss is running behind. The third book in her latest romance trilogy has to be at her publisher in months, and despite what she’s told her editor, she hasn’t written a word of it. Not one word. She has tried everything she can think of to kick start her inspiration, but nothing is happening. And when she tries to talk to her partner about it, all he has to offer her are complaints about what’s going wrong for him.
For Maggie, it’s the last straw. She kicks him out. Now she’s 48, newly single, and needing to write an entire book in mere months to meet her publisher’s deadline and to finish the series to potentially sell it for a lucrative cable series.
Fortunately, she also has a support system behind her, and her agent Lee invites her to France. He and his husband are heading over for their yearly trip to his family’s apartment in Paris and to their vineyard in Provence. While they head out to check on the vineyard, Maggie can stay in the Paris apartment, be inspired by the food and the art and the Eiffel Tower and write her book. Plus her daughter is living in France, so she can visit with Nicole while she’s there.
If she can’t find inspiration in Paris for her romance novel, will Maggie be able to find it anywhere else?
It’s not until the Lee and Martin leave for their vineyard with their live-in housekeeper Solange that Maggie wakes up to find a naked man in her bathtub. He introduces himself as Solange’s son Max. As an international banker, Max travels a lot and stays at the apartment when he’s in Paris. Maggie excuses herself from the bathroom and over an awkward cup of coffee tells him that she’s meeting her daughter and her ex-husband. When Max learns that Maggie hadn’t seen Alan in years, he insists on getting her a makeover and starts to make calls immediately.
After a new haircut, manicure, and fabulous new clothes, Maggie feels like a new woman. She heads out to meet with Nicole and Alan, and he can’t keep his eyes off of her. Nic starts dropping hints that it would be great if they got back together. Maggie hadn’t even considered the possibility . . . until then. But it doesn’t matter, because Maggie has to focus on her book. That’s why she’s in Paris.
As the days go by and Maggie succumbs to the power of French breads, wines, cheeses, produce, and all the other flavors of the French table, she finds herself finally being able to write. As the days in France go by, Maggie finds herself alternating between writing binges and meals with Nicole and Alan, more writing and then a fabulous meal with Max, back and forth, until she has trouble figuring out where her inspiration is coming from. Is it the possibility of rekindling romance with Alan? Is it the flirtation with Max? Or is it Paris herself?
As Maggie’s life expands with pages of her novel and memories, she realizes that she has found her muse again. For one novel, it had been wearing her sweater inside out. For another, it was Mallomars. But this one is more complicated, and Maggie has to figure out how to hang on to her inspiration through the rest of her novel, and maybe even longer if she can. Because it’s just possible that Maggie is in love.
Maggie Finds Her Muse is a charming story about finding new life and new hope in mid-life. Author Dee Ernst brings Maggie and her family and friends to life and describes France and its magic in way that makes you want to jump on the next plane and move into a friend’s apartment for a month or so (if you’re lucky enough to have friends with an apartment in Paris).
I really enjoyed this novel. I thought there was a lovely balance between the romance and the rest of Maggie’s life. She was a strong, smart woman who had lost her way for a bit but managed to recreate herself as a stronger version through supportive friends and being courageous enough to go after what she really wanted, and I loved watching her find herself again. This is a lovely book, but it may leave you with strong cravings for wine and French pastries, so be forewarned about that. Otherwise, Maggie Finds Her Muse is a lovely journey to France and to love.
Egalleys for Maggie Finds Her Muse were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.
