Once Upon a Rose (La Vie en Roses #1) by Laura Florand

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She stole his roses.


Fleeing the spotlight, burnt out rock star Layla—“Belle”—Dubois seeks refuge in the south of France. That old, half-forgotten heritage in a valley of roses seems like a good place to soothe a wounded heart. She certainly doesn’t expect the most dangerous threat to her heart to pounce on her as soon as she sets foot on the land.



He wants them back.



Matt didn’t mean to growl at her quite that loudly. But—his roses! She can’t have his roses. Even if she does have all those curls and green eyes and, and, and…what was he growling about again?



Or maybe he just wants her.



When an enemy invades his valley and threatens his home, heart, and livelihood, Matthieu Rosier really knows only one way to defend himself.



It might involve kissing



Review:
So, its very difficult to write a review for a book you've been anticipating for awhile and from a favorite author at that.  Laura Florand has already captivated my bookaholic romance riddled brain ever since I've read The Chocolate Thief and the rest of the books from the Amour et Chocolat series.  So when an ARC for her newest series was given to me I knew I was going to love it but was I going to love it as much as the chocolate series was the question.  Once Upon a Rose has all the earmarks of a Laura Florand book with a different viewpoint of France.  Take note new readers of Ms. Florand, she loves France and she is able to imbue this on each page of her books set in that country.  For the chocolate series, she made you crave artisanal chocolates until you are ready to buy a ticket to Paris just to see all these wonderful places she has written about.  For the La Vie en Roses, she writes about one of the places in my bucket list, Provence and Grasse and the little known places in southern France.  This time its the wonderful smells of jasmine, lavender and of course roses, views and scents that tickle our imagination.  With that gorgeous background we are re-introduced to the Rosier family, first seen in one of the chocolate books, The Chocolate Rose.  A  very unique meet-cute between our leads Layla and Matt happen and just like that I fell in love.  Once Upon A Rose is a real life fairy tale between a wandering free spirit and a solid down to earth being whose life blood is the valley of his heritage.  Layla and Matt  are a delightful pair, with hearts all open for the world to either cherish or stomped on.  Layla aka Belle Woods is an up and coming Grammy winning Indie artist whose soul being was music but she finds herself being drained by the very thing that used to sustain her.  When she gets an unexpected inheritance its given her a way to leave it all behind for a little while.  For Matt Rosier, hearing that a piece of his heritage has been given to a stranger something in him cracks.  A feeling that whatever is holding everything into place, his whole purpose for being will soon disappear.  But instead he finds the final thing that would make it complete. This is where Ms. Florand shines, the ability to write about two different personalities finding out what makes them similar in a setting where everything has the potential to become overly melodramatic.  Instead I get something really different, two characters that actually talk about their misunderstanding, that relish being in a romance, the courting, the flirting, the discovery of falling in love but with all the practicalities of what will make it work in the world beyond.  She writes realistic fairy tales, with lush imageries and heartfelt emotions, romance, humor, heartbreak and love.  Suffice to say,  I think I will love this newest series as much as the chocolate books.  

PS: And I keep getting all "this guess which fairy tale this alludes to" in each of her books, This is definitely Goldilocks and her bear :)

Title: Once Upon A Rose (La Vie en Roses #1)
Author: Laura Florand
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: January 26, 2015
Publication: Independent
Rating: ♨♨♨♨♨ (5 steaming, lovely, romantic cups)  This is a Laura Florand Book, need I say more! Okay fine, if you love anything French, a brooding alpha male hero, who growls like a bear, in a sexy way of course, and heart made of marshmallow and a spunky, whimsical talented Goldilocks of a female lead who is definitely not the drama queen kind but instead is a practical romantic (meaning there is no misunderstanding ever happening in this book!) plus the gorgeous, gorgeous setting of southern France with all those scents and sights just brewing romance then go buy and read this one now!

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