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NetGalley Review of The Valencia Expat Club

Posted on May 28, 2026May 23, 2026 by caritagardiner
Screenshot 2026-05-19 at 7.35.15 PM

title: The Valencia Expat Club

author: June Patrick

publisher: Atria Books

publication date: June 2, 2026

pages: 302

peppers: 2 (on this scale)

warnings: lots of alcohol and hangovers

summary: When her divorce is almost final and she wants out of San Francisco, Dahlia runs to visit long-lost cousins in Valencia, where she runs into her college TA Liam, on whom she had a massive crush and toward whom she made one very embarrassing advance twelve years earlier. He doesn't seem to remember her, and he ends up hiring her to be his club's social media manager. As Dahlia learned to love Valencia and her new friends and old family, she also falls in love with Liam.

tropes:

  • new in town
  • found family
  • family secrets revealed

what I liked:

  • lots of food descriptions
  • feels like a travel guide to Valencia

what I didn’t like:

  • WAY too many similes for my taste
  • repetitive parts
  • Dahlia seems very immature and not always nice

overall rating: 2 (of 5 stars)

As always, you can click on the photo above if you want to buy the book.

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WHAT I DO

I serve as a class dean and teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while deaning, teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

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Read my recent “Why” Wednesday Blog Posts

  • NetGalley Review of Villa Coco
  • 388. Why Not “Could Potentially”
  • NetGalley Review of You Won’t Forget Me
  • NetGalley Review of The Valencia Expat Club
  • 387. Why Give Speeches
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