Guest post by The French Honeymoon author Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau
Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau is a bilingual French author based in the U.S. She has previously published novels and nonfiction books for teens, which have been translated into over twelve languages. The French Honeymoon is her debut adult novel. After graduating university in France, she moved to Amsterdam to begin a career in advertising. She then spent a few years in Melbourne before settling in New York City, where she lives with her French-Australian-American family, two gorgeous cats, and a whole lot of passports. Find her on social media @asjouhanneau.
About The French Honeymoon(out April 15th 2025): The Paris Apartment meets A Simple Favor in an unputdownable thriller about a honeymoon gone horribly wrong.
It’s me, hi, I’m the romance-turned-thriller author. I used to write about swoony meet-cutes, steamy first kisses, and mad love. Give me the passion, the heart palpitations, the unabashed feelings of “I’ll do anything for you.” I love a love story. Always have. Always will.
But I’ve also always been drawn to the darkness. I’m here for the messy characters who fall for the wrong person. I want to experience the heartbreak of a life spiralling out of control (from the comfort of my reading nook). I will root for two people in love who can’t help but ruin everything in their paths.
So, as I pondered what I wanted to write next, I had a thought: I can have both. I don’t need my love stories to end well. I’m okay if not all parties are alive by the end of the book. Think about it: yes, it’s a tragedy, but isn’t Romeo and Juliet one of the greatest romantic thrillers of all time?
So move over, happily ever afters, we need to make room for the dead bodies.
Because when I think about some of my favorite thrillers, it’s often the romantic relationships that sucked me in. Yes, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is brilliant for its excellent writing, jaw-dropping plot and perfect pace, but it was Amy and Nick Dunner’s marriage I was fascinated by. How can a love story decay to such an extent? How does a happy marriage bring both parties to their knees? See also the pulse-pounding The Push, by Ashley Audrain.
And what about when three’s a (deadly) party? Give me all the sexy, dangerous vibes of Andrea Bartz’s The Spare Room or May Cobb’s The Hollywood Assistant. And what if you’re (kind of) forced into moving with a new flame a la 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard? It’s so ripe for claustrophobic suspense, for all the ways proximity can “kill” a blossoming romance.
It’s magical when love goes right. But if, like me, you’re intrigued by all the ways it can go wrong, you’ll find no shortage of avenues to explore.
What I hadn’t read about (though I’m sure it exists), is the honeymoon from hell. I’m fascinated by contrasts, in case you couldn’t tell by the fact that I’m lumping love and crime together. So I picked Paris, the most romantic city in the world, which everyone loves to agree is “always a good idea.” But what if it’s not? Imagine traveling to a stunning place for a once-in-a lifetime occasion and having the worst possible time? And not just because you get food poisoning from bad oysters.
In my debut adult thriller, The French Honeymoon, country bumpkin Cassie is giddy about her first trip abroad with her handsome French husband Olivier and can’t wait to rub it in the faces of everyone who thought she was good for nothing. As for Olivier, well, he’s going to do whatever his bride wants him to because that’s what good husbands do. Just kidding. She’s practically holding a gun to his head and he has no choice but to go along with the honeymoon.
As Cassie points out soon after they arrive in Paris:
“You know when people say they met the right person at the right time? That the stars aligned and it was all meant to be? We were the wrong people coming together at the worst time, and the sky must have been pitch-black.”What could possibly go wrong?
But before we meet these not-so-happy newlyweds, there’s Taylor. Taylor, who so deeply wants to believe in love that she turns up to her Paris honeymoon without luggage and, more tellingly, without a husband. (She does have a wad of stolen cash, so not all is lost.) She knows Paris was a terrible idea for her, and yet, romance swirls in the air. The life she should have had is right here, within reach. Could she still get the amazing husband? The dreamy honeymoon? Would she kill for it?
When she comes across Cassie’s gushing social media posts, Taylor can’t fathom that a couple might be this happy. Oh, to be young and beautiful, and in love in Paris! So of course, she starts following them all over the city, because she needs to see it for herself. But when she overhears a heated argument between the newlyweds–proof that they’re not the loved-up couple they pretend to be–Taylor is shattered. She’s left to question everything she thought she knew.
So much about love is passion mixed with deception. We have no idea what truly goes on behind closed doors. The perfect couple might be hiding the worst fights. The most tumultuous affairs go on in darkness. What is a compromise and what is a lie?
Even the concept of attraction itself is mystical. Shall we believe the people who claim to have loved each other at first sight? Or warn the ones who seem so wrong for each other, to anyone but themselves? Cassie and Olivier fit both profiles, and there is no one to save them from the consequences of their own misguided actions. Especially not each other.
I’ll admit that, while I drafted The French Honeymoon, I genuinely believed that love might prevail for at least some of my characters. I even seriously considered indulging in one happily ever after. But as I got to know my characters and as I learned their stories, I understood that none of them could leave Paris unscathed.
Love can so easily get tangled up with the most dangerous feelings. Envy, jealousy, and desire are great recipes for disasters. And even greater elements for an unputdownable thriller that ends (or does it start?) with murder.
