What Happens in France by Carol Wyer

Paperback: 361 pages                                                                                                 
Genre:  Humorous Contemporary Fiction,
Publisher: Canelo Publishing 2019
Source: The author.
First Sentence: Bryony Masters clattered down the hospital corridor, handbag swinging wildly on her shoulder, skirting round patients and staff as they ambled without direction in front of her.
Review Quote: "Left me with tears in my eyes and wanting more. A hilarious and touching tale." Sue Watson, author of Love, Lies and Lemon Cakes
Main Characters: Bryony Masters and Lewis Scott.
Setting: Brittany, France.
My Opinion:  It is just about seven and a half years since I read and reviewed Carol Wyer's début novel Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines and I have followed her career and rise to fame as a novelist ever since. My thoughts at that time were that here was a novelist who knows how to make you laugh and take you away from the cares of the world for a few hours. She has gone on to prove this in a big way since then.
Then in 2017 she surprised her many fans, including me by releasing a thriller! A complete change of genre, so she is now also a successful writer of detective crime novels. A prolific writer she has already published several titles in this genre. I was unsure about the change in genre as detective crime novels are not really a favourite of mine, however the one I have read was very readable.
As I have only read one of her novels in this genre to date, her humorous writing is still my personal preference. 'What Happens in France' was a delight to read and met my expectations, feeling low when I picked this title from my tbr shelf, within a few minutes I was immersed in this contemporary romantic comedy. It is what it sets out to be an easy read, light hearted with emotional undertones and if you are looking for something to lift your spirits this will certainly do the job.


Previous Reviews:   

Mini-Skirts and Laughter Lines   Surfing in Stilettos   Just Add Spice 

Three Little Birds   Little Girl Lost


Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

“She stood and took her place in front of the camera... It was now or never”

Bryony Masters has been looking for her long-lost sister, Hannah, for years, but when their father has a stroke her search takes on new urgency. So when primetime game show, What Happens in France, puts a call-out for new contestants, Bryony spots the ultimate public platform to find her reality TV-obsessed sister, and finally reunite their family.

With the help of handsome teammate Lewis, it’s not long before she’s on a private jet heading for the stunning beauty of rural France. With a social media star dog, a high maintenance quiz host and a cast of truly unique characters, Bryony and Lewis have their work cut out for them to stay on the show and in the public eye.

Yet as the audience grows and the grand prize beckons they find that the search that brought them together may just fulfil more than one heart’s wish…


Video Trailer for 'What Happens In France' Courtesy of YouTube

Author Profile:

Reproduced below is the autobiographical information from her website

Well, what can I tell you about myself? I actually began my working life abroad, in Casablanca, Morocco, where I taught English and French. I raced around the streets on an ancient VéloSoleX bike, avoiding donkeys and other clapped out bikes, to get to the jobs on time. I had one run in with a donkey at a set of traffic lights which caused me to fall off my bike – but that's another story.

After a few years, I returned to the UK to teach and run the English as a Foreign Language department of a private school. (Imagine Hogwarts without the wizardry.) Although I enjoyed wearing a gown and a mortar board and being called a mistress, I left the school to set up a language company and ventured out on my own.

I've written stories since I was in my early twenties. My first efforts were for children and sported silly titles like 'Humphrey and the Dustbin Cats', 'Hurrah for Hugo!' and 'Noir and Blanc - Two Naughty Cats'. They taught French language to younger children and were accompanied by a tape of French songs, mercifully not sung by me.

I began writing for adults in 2009 after my son flew from the nest. I converted his old bedroom into an office and began writing in earnest. At first, I wrote light-hearted novels and non-fiction books that encouraged people to age disgracefully and to 'carpe diem'.

It wasn't an easy journey but I was most fortunate and after much success with my comedies, in 2015 I signed with Bookouture (part of Hachette Group) who published the hilarious 'Life Swap', and then signed me for a three book deal. I was going to provide more comedies but I sent in a suggestion for a thriller which my editor loved and after publication of 'Take A Chance On Me', I submitted the first in the DI Robyn Carter series - 'Little Girl Lost'. The book became a huge success, becoming #2 Best Seller on Amazon Kindle UK and even featuring in USA Today Top 150 best selling books. DI Carter found her audience and by the end of 2017, the series had sold over 250,000 copies.

DI Natalie Ward came onto the scene in September 2018. 'The Birthday' rose to #3 and stayed in the Top 10 Best Selling Kindle charts for over 3 weeks. 2019 will see the release of three more novels in this series  along with 2 new romantic comedies.



Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.


Carol Wyer - Amazon Page     Official Author's Website     Goodreads Author Profile

Facebook Author Profile          Twitter Profile

Little Girl Lost by Carol Wyer

Kindle Edition:   4247 KB
Paperback Edition:  412 pages                                                                                               
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery
Publisher: Bookouture (19 Jan. 2017)
Source: Amazon
First Sentence: Alice couldn't shake the ominous feeling that had plagued her all evening, no matter how hard she tried.
Favourite Quote: "It's a gift of the truth. Lies harm. Lies hurt. The truth liberates. You should try it sometime. In fact, you should try it now before it's too late."
Review Quote: 'OMG what can I say? This is the first book I have read by Carol Wyer and I find it very hard to believe that this is her first thriller. I was totally hooked from the first page and the suspense kept delivering all the way through the book right to the last page with several red herrings to keep the reader guessing. This is a very special book that has all the makings of a bestseller and I eagerly await the next in the series.' All Things Books
Main Character: Detective Robyn Carter
My Opinion:   It is just about six and a half years  since I read and reviewed Carol Wyer's début novel Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines and I have followed her career and rise to fame as a humorous novelist ever since. My thoughts at that time were that here was a novelist who knows how to make you laugh and take you away from the cares of the world for a few hours. She has gone on to prove this in a big way since then. Unfortunately her rise to fame coincided with what turned out to be a very bad period in my own life and suddenly I did not feel like reading her particular brand of humour. Life has moved on, now I am stronger and once again able to laugh at things that during the dark times I was unable to. I am now busy catching up on the titles I have missed in recent years. Just last year she surprised her many fans, including me by releasing a thriller!  A complete change of genre, she is certainly a prolific writer as already there are three more titles in the Detective Robyn Carter Series of which Little Girl Lost is the first. 
I was unsure about the change in genre as detective crime novels are not really a favourite of mine, however I need not have worried as Carol has succeeded in producing a very readable thriller. It certainly held my interest and made a recent flight to Hong Kong pass by quickly!
It seems like I now have another three titles to catch up with from this author's back catalogue.


Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

A perfect family hiding disturbing secrets. A killer who wants the truth to be told.

A teacher goes missing under suspicious circumstances.
A millionaire is murdered at a local reservoir.
For Detective Robyn Carter, there’s no obvious link between the men. But as she starts to delve into the cases, her investigations lead her to Abigail, perfect wife and mother to beautiful little Izzy. What was Abigail’s connection to the victims? And why is she receiving threatening messages from an anonymous number?

But as Robyn starts to inch closer to finding the killer, Izzy is abducted.

Unless Robyn gets to the twisted individual in time, a little girl will die …

Gripping, fast paced and nail bitingly tense, this serial killer thriller will chill you to the bone.



Video Trailer for 'Little Girl Lost' Courtesy of YouTube

Links to previous titles by Carol Wyer that I have reviewed:

Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines   Surfing in Stilettos     Just Add Spice

Three Little Birds


Author Profile:

Somehow Carol has so far managed to keep her age a secret from the media and there is no autobiographical information about her birth that I could find online!

Reproduced below is the autobiographical information from her  website

Well, what can I tell you about myself? I actually began my working life abroad, in Casablanca, Morocco, where I taught English and French. I raced around the streets on an ancient VéloSoleX bike, avoiding donkeys and other clapped out bikes, to get to the  jobs on time. I had one run in with a donkey at a set of traffic lights which caused me to fall off my bike – but that's another story.

After a few years, I returned to the UK to teach and run the English as a Foreign Language department of a private school. (Imagine Hogwarts without the wizardry.) Although I enjoyed wearing a gown and a mortar board and being called a mistress, I left the school to set up a language company and ventured out on my own.

I've written stories since I was in my early twenties. My first efforts were for children and sported silly titles like 'Humphrey and the Dustbin Cats', 'Hurrah for Hugo!' and 'Noir and Blanc - Two Naughty Cats'. They taught French language to younger children  and were accompanied by a tape of French songs, mercifully not sung by me.

I began writing for adults in 2009 after my son flew from the nest. I converted his old bedroom into an office and began writing in earnest. At first, I wrote light-hearted novels and non-fiction books that encouraged people to age disgracefully and to 'carpe diem'.

It wasn't an easy journey but I was most fortunate and after much success with my comedies, in 2015 I signed with Bookouture (part of Hachette Group) who published the hilarious 'Life Swap', and then signed me for a three book deal. I was going to provide more  comedies but I sent in a suggestion for a thriller which my editor loved and after publication of 'Take A Chance On Me', I submitted the first in the DI Robyn carter series - 'Little Girl Lost'. The book became a huge success, becoming #2 Best Seller on Amazon  Kindle UK and even featuring in USA Today Top 150 best selling books. DI Carter found her audience and I was contracted to write a series of seven books in total.

Four of the books: 'Secrets of the Dead', 'The Missing Girls' and 'The Silent Children' were all released in 2017 and by the December the series had sold over a whopping 250,000 copies.



Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Amazon Author Page    Carol Wyer - Facebook Profile     Twitter Profile    

 Goodreads Author Profile    Official Author Website - Carol Wyer

Just Add Spice by Carol Wyer

Ebook:  Kindle Edition 577KB  (Paperback 184 pages)

Genre:  Humorous Contemporary Fiction
Publisher:   Safkhet Publishing.  July 2013
Source: The author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review
First Sentence: The windows in the old golf GTI were almost completely steamed up, thanks to the activities of the middle-aged woman and the young man inside it.
My Opinion: Hilarious and highly entertaining.

It is just over two years since I read and reviewed Carol Wyer's début novel Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines and I have followed her career and rise to fame as a humorous novelist ever since. My thoughts at that time were that here was a novelist who knows how to make you laugh and take you away from the cares of the world for a few hours. She has gone on to prove this in a big way over the last few years. Unfortunately her rise to fame coincided with what turned out to be a very bad period in my own life and suddenly I did not feel like reading her particular brand of humour. Life has moved on, now I am stronger and once again able to laugh at things that just last year I would not have been able to find amusing! Carol has very kindly given me the opportunity to catch up with her writing, so I was fortunate to have ' Just Add Spice' to read on my Kindle on a recent flight.  I do not normally enjoy reading books that are so short, under 200 pages, but as it happens this was perfect for the journey. It was a good laugh and actually I do not feel it would not have worked had it been longer! 

As well as being very funny the storyline is very touching, with two female protagonists, although the second Cinnamon Knight is just in the imagination of the real heroine Dawn Ellis. Dawn is bored with her life, finding her life dull and with the spark gone from her marriage, she decides to take up a new interest in the form of a writing group. It is thanks to this class that Dawn creates the character Cinnamon, for the novel she plans to write. Dawn takes her writing very seriously and the further into the story one gets the more the characters of Cinnamon and Dawn seem to blend into each other. Is Cinnamon Dawn's, alter ego? It certainly becomes difficult to distinguish between their life's but that is all part of this cleverly constructed novel. Hilarious and highly entertaining is as much as I am going to say, no spoilers. 

There are going to be many readers that are going to enjoy this story as it is full of comments and characters that they are going to be able to relate to. Highly recommended to all those women of a certain age that are finding life a little mundane, as well of course those that are happy with their lot, but will appreciate the humour! 


 My earlier reviews   Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines     Surfing in Stilettos


The video trailer is a humorous look at ' Just Add Spice' and does not contain any spoilers.

                      Just Add Spice (Spicy) Book Trailer

Author Profile

Somehow Carol has so far managed to keep her age a secret from the media and there is no autobiographical about her birth that I could find online!

Author Biography is in her own words and reproduced from her website

Well, what can I tell you about myself? Like many people I have worn many different hats over the years. I actually began my working life abroad, in Casablanca, Morocco, where I taught English in an American language school. It was soon discovered that I could speak French rather well, and so I became a translator and teacher to large organisations and companies such as ‘Regie de Tabac’, Morocco’s largest cigarette company, and the Mediterranean Shipping Company. I’d race around the streets on a clapped out VéloSoleX  bike, avoiding donkeys and other clapped out bikes, to get to the jobs on time. I had one run in with a donkey at a set of traffic lights which caused me to fall off my bike – but that’s another story.

After a few years, I returned to the UK to teach and run the English as a Foreign Language department of a private school. (Imagine Hogwarts without the wizardry.)

Although I enjoyed wearing a gown and a mortar board and being called a mistress, I left the school to set up a language company and ventured out on my own.

A recurrence of spinal difficulties that began when I was a teenager, forced me to give up teaching. In order to deal with my health problems, I attended a fitness course, took the qualifications to become a fitness instructor and became a personal trainer. I even appeared in a major fitness magazine

as a ‘success story’. Those were the hedonistic days when I

could actually touch my toes with my hands rather than my knees with my stomach!

I have always written stories. My early stories were for children and sported silly titles like Humphrey and the Dustbin Cats, Hurrah for Hugo! and Noir and Blanc - Two Naughty Cats. They taught French language to younger children and were accompanied by a tape of French songs, mercifully not sung by me.

I began writing for adults after my son left home. I converted his old bedroom into an office and set about writing humorous novels largely aimed at women of a certain age.

The rest is history. Following much media success with Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines, I signed the Amanda Wilson novels with Thornberry Publishing. In 2012, I was lucky enough to be offered a three book deal with Safkhet Publishing. They have published How Not to Murder Your Grumpy and Just Add Spice, and Grumpy Old Menopause, the sister book to How Not to Murder Your Grumpy.

I now write full-time. When I am not working on a novel, I'll be writing articles for magazines such as Woman’s Weekly, or blog posts for The Huffington Post and Indies Unlimited. More recently, I decided to take up another challenge and did my first comedy stand-up gig. It went so well that I'm going to be doing a few more. Called Smile While You Still Have Teeth, look out for one near you.

The biographical information and photo used in this post are with thanks to the following websites, where you can also find more information about the author and her writing.

Goodreads Author Profile   Carol E Wyer - Author - Facebook Page   Twitter - Carol E Wyer

Amazon Author Page      Offical Website - Carol Wyer     YouTube -Carol E. Wyer