The Villa Matisse

‘It wasn’t as if I fancied Luc Mandeville. I didn’t even like the guy.’

A well-paid Christmas job cooking for a wealthy English family in their luxurious holiday home on the French Riviera — what’s not to like? Or so thinks Alix Bailey: private chef and single parent who is always up for a challenge.

With her son, Carl, off skiing with his father, what could possibly go wrong? Answer: absolutely everything.

True, the Villa Matisse would be a dream if its rude, arrogant owner, Luc Mandeville, weren’t such a nightmare. But Alix isn’t one to give up easily, even when it seems she’s made a terrible mistake. And if she’s misjudged the recipe for romance, well, that’s hardly a first. As for facing a few uncomfortable truths about herself, Alix can deal with that. She’s made of sterner stuff. All she has to do is cook her way out of trouble.

An enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy that serves up heat, heart and a pinch of chaos.