Saturday, August 29, 2020

Book Review: A Perfect Paris Christmas by Mandy Baggot

 


GOOD READ SUMMARY
United in grief. Pushed apart by tragedy. 

Keeley Andrews knows more than anyone that you only live once. So when she receives an invitation to spend two weeks in Paris, all expenses paid, she jumps at the chance. 

Ethan Bouchard has had the worst eighteen months of his life. He's ready to give up on everything, including his hotel chain. So when he meets Keeley, it simply isn't the right time. 

As Keeley and Ethan continue to bump into each other on the romantic Parisian streets, they can't help but wonder whether this is fate telling them to let go of the past and leap into the future...


Tee's Review

August was one of those months that I struggled to read. Nothing  I read seemed to captured my attention or if I did manage to read, it took me forever to finish the book. Luckily I was gifted a copy of the recently released Christmas romance A Perfect Paris Christmas by Mandy Baggot from NetGalley. I love Hallmark Christmas movies, yes, all the gooey stupid and predictable storylines, so I knew reading this book would help me get out of my slump. And it did!


A  Perfect Paris Christmas was not the typical romance at all, it was actually deeper than most that I have read. The Mandy Baggot has done a great job at writing not only a romance book but one that could easily be read by fans of women’s fiction. 


There are actually several plots going on in the book, with quite a lot of secondary characters, but the book is well written and they do not get confusing or overwhelming, they flow perfectly with the story.  There is Rach, who is the main character's best friend and her travel partner to Paris. Silvie, who is the mom of the kidney donor, and Erica, who is my favorite, and who reminds us that we need to live each day, as we are not guaranteed the next one.


The main character is Keeley Andrews, she is a survivor of a car wreck that kills her sister Bea. We are told that Keeley was also near the point of losing her life but was given another chance with a kidney transplant. She is invited to Paris to meet the mother of the donor and while she is there she also meets Ethan, who himself is struggling with the recent loss of his best friend, while also fighting with the friend's family on how to run the hotels that they owned together. Ethan also has a great storyline with a homeless girl named Jeannie and her dog BoBo which quickly became one of my favorite parts of the book.


My favorite in any romance, reading or watching, is always the meet-cute, and the one between Keeley and Ethan did not disappoint, it is comical and even involves a penguin and a prank. It wasn’t a quick meet, it was well into the book and I was beginning to think we would not be getting one!


The author also did a great job describing the streets of Paris, from the carousel to the Christmas markets, to the interiors of the hotels and small courtyards. It transported you there and made the story even more magical because you pictured each scene very vividly along with the added bits from your own imagination.


When I started A Perfect Paris Christmas I was expecting the nice fluffy candy floss sweetness of most romance books, but the book offered me so much more than that. It was a heartfelt read about several different types of love, dealing with grief, in-depth family relationships, and very touching friendships. If you need an escape from your usual reading I would highly recommend this wonderfully written story.

 

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