The Keeper of Happy Endings

Soline Roussel is well schooled in the business of happy endings. For generations, her family has kept an exclusive bridal salon in Paris, where magic is worked with needle and thread. It’s said that the bride who wears a Roussel gown is guaranteed a lifetime of joy. But devastating losses during World War II leave Soline’s world and heart in ruins and her faith in love shaken. She boxes up her memories, stowing them away, along with her broken dreams, determined to forget.

Decades later, while coping with her own tragic loss, aspiring gallery owner Rory Grant leases Soline’s old property and discovers a box containing letters and a vintage wedding dress, never worn. When Rory returns the mementos, an unlikely friendship develops, and eerie parallels in Rory’s and Soline’s lives begin to surface. It’s clear that they were destined to meet – and that Rory may hold the key to righting a forty-year wrong and opening the door to shared healing and, perhaps, a little magic.

• The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis
• Published: Brilliance Audio on October 1, 2021
• Genre: Historical fiction, romance
• Listening length: 15 hours 2 minutes
• Dates listened: 8.30.25 – 9.10.25 (12 days)
• Format: Audiobook (Kindle Unlimited)
• Narrators: Robin Siegerman, Hope Newhouse
• Add on Goodreads
• Purchase on Amazon
• ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 🌶🌶

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It’s been a rough couple of weeks for me, reading-wise. I might make a separate post about it, because it ended in me finally coming to the decision to DNF an ARC that I’ve been struggling to finish for over 30 days. Trust me when I say…it rarely, RARELY ever takes me that long to finish a book unless it’s 600+ pages and tiny fine print. Think Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I haven’t finished that series for that very reason. Love the books, but they can be a bit of a slog to get through unless I’m in the right frame of mind. But I’ve come to the realization that if a book isn’t bringing me joy, then it’s ok to stop reading it. If reading the book gives me more anxiety than it does peace, then it’s ok to stop reading it. More on that, maybe in a non-review-related post. Who knows!

However, this book, The Keeper of Happy Endings, was not a slog fest!! I loved it! I really think I’m in my historical fiction era of reading. I never would have thought that, because honestly…in school, I always kind of hated history. Looking back on it, though, I think the memorization of the dates deterred me from enjoying history. The story part of it, I always loved. But having to remember a specific person, place, and time? Yeah, no thanks! The only way I was able to remember them was to turn them into stories inside my head in some way, which makes sense, now that I’ve discovered that I love historical fiction so much.

This book was a beautiful story told from two POVs, Soline and Rory. Rory’s POV is told in the “here and now” perspective, which is mid-1980s Boston. Soline’s POV is a dual timeline, where it shifts between her past (1940s Paris during WWII) and the “current” timeline in Boston. In search of a location to open an art gallery, Rory is drawn to Soline’s building for unknown reasons. The two strike up a friendship, realizing how similar their stories are, despite their age difference. In the background is Rory’s mother, who wants the best for Rory but has a hard time allowing her the freedom she needs to discover who she is as an adult woman and fulfill her own dreams.

But when you love someone—truly love them—you’re connected to them in a way that can never be severed. Even when they’re taken from you, years later, you can still feel them, like an echo calling back to you.

Davis did an amazing job with the dual timeline and weaving the two women’s stories together. The story unfolds into a beautiful tale of faith, hope, and love, but also of grief, loss, and forgiveness, which by the end had me wiping a few tears away. There are twists towards the end, and although I found them very far-fetched, it didn’t make me love the story any less. Sometimes in life, we need to believe that things like this could possibly happen. In a world so full of despair and anger, it’s nice to live in a world that allows us to hold onto the hope that love can conquer all, even if that world is fleeting and make-believe. I think that’s why I loved the book so much. I felt a personal connection to Rory’s story, as I myself have had mother/daughter struggles of my own as I entered into adulthood, and still do if I’m being honest. I also very much enjoyed the little sprinkle of la magie, or magick, that Davis included. Even though it wasn’t the main focus of the book, the author did a beautiful job of reminding us that there is magick in the world, and it may help nudge someone to their destiny, but it can only go so far. The rest is up to that person.

I read in an article interview that Barbara Davis did, that said she wanted to tell a story about how women can be conditioned to repeat the same mistakes that their mothers made, and what it would be like for them to break that mold. That hit home with me because of my own personal experiences with my mother, and what I grew up knowing about her and her own mother. My mother did not break that mold, but I did. And perhaps that can sometimes explain why we have so many difficulties with each other. I hope my story ends with a happy ending like this one did.