Lucy Checks In

Lucy Checks In follows Lucia “Lucy” Gianetti, a once-respected New York hotel manager whose life was destroyed when her lover and employer vanished with millions, leaving her under suspicion and professionally ruined. Desperate for a fresh start, she accepts a job in Rennes, France, managing the centuries-old Hotel Paradis.

But the dream job is not the elegant boutique property Lucy imagined. The hotel is neglected, nearly empty, and held together by its stubborn owner, Claudine, and a circle of eccentric long-term residents. As Lucy paints rooms, rebuilds systems, and earns back her confidence, she also finds unexpected love with Bing, a sharp-tongued artist who challenges and sees her.

This is a warm, character-driven story about shame, reinvention, chosen family, midlife courage, and learning that a second act can be messier, stranger, and far richer than the fantasy.

• Listeners who enjoy midlife reinvention stories with warmth, humor, and emotional healing.
• Fans of found-family fiction set in charming European locations.
• Readers who like romance woven into a larger story of personal recovery and purpose.

Dee Ernst is a novelist from northern New Jersey. She began dreaming of becoming a writer in childhood, self-published her first book in 2010, and later published with St. Martin’s Griffin. She is also the author of Maggie Finds Her Muse.