Author: Marc Levy
Publisher: AmazonCrossing
Year: 2017
Genre(s):contemporary fiction, romance
Part of a Series: No
Rating:
Why I read it: Recommended by Amazon and I thought it looked intriguing
Summary: Actress Mia Barlow is heartbroken when she learns her husband and frequent costar is cheating on her. She goes to visit her friend Daisy in Paris, staying with her and trying to avoid the limelight as she figures out what to do next. On a whim, she signs up for an online dating site and pretends to be Daisy—a chef with her own restaurant.
Meanwhile, American author Paul is stuck. He’s trying to write his next novel but is struggling with it while living a rather secluded life. He believes he’s in love with the woman who translates his work into Korean, where he is very popular, but is scared to make any changes. His friends decide to make the leap for him and sign him up for an online dating site, where he gets matched with Mia.
Despite a disastrous first meeting, Mia and Paul feel a connection. They build a friendship but could it become something more? And will they both discover what they really want from life?
Review: As a Francophile, I was intrigued to read a story by a French author set in Paris. And a romance at that! The summary seemed interesting and I was excited to delve into it. But after only a few chapters, though, that excitement wore off and I couldn’t help but wonder if something had been lost in translation. Because it just seemed…off…to me.
I don’t want to get too negative in this review. There’s really no point in tearing something apart, even if it might be cathartic to write and fun to read. So I’m going to try to balance it out. After all, I did make it to the end and didn’t just send it to my “Did Not Finish” shelf on Goodreads. So there was some things I liked.
Let me start with some of those…I like Mia as a main character. She had a sympathetic motivation—trying to rediscover herself after betrayal—and was a quirky individual. It was easy to root for her to find herself and to determine what she wanted to do next. It’s just that the conclusion of her story made little to no sense. While I’m glad she made one decision, another was a bit baffling to me and seemed to come out of nowhere.
I also liked Paul, though it did seem a little cliche that a male writer was writing about…a male writer. Paul definitely needed a little kick to his ass to start really living and I think Mia’s friendship really gave it to him, giving him the support and courage he needed. She also found meaning outside of her failed relationship and career, which was beneficial to her.
While I enjoyed their friendship, I never really rooted for it to turn romantic and for them to become a couple. And that’s a failing when a book is supposed to be a romance. Maybe if it had been a bit longer, I could’ve gotten into a romance between them. But where it left off…no, not really.
I also felt that Levy relied a little too heavily on dialogue, including whole passages where it was just the characters speaking with little narration in between. It sometimes got difficult to keep track on who was talking and it felt as if the story came to a halt and felt flat.
I also don’t know how I feel about Mia’s friend Daisy. Levy wanted us to believe she was a good friend but I didn’t get that feeling. She seemed very dismissive of her friend’s pain and just not very supportive. I really couldn’t figure out why Mia went to her for comfort. She came off as very callous, especially when she basically said: “So your husband cheated on you. Big deal. Stop crying and just go back to him!” I don’t know why Levy wrote her like that and wonder if he understands friendships between women.
Or maybe something was lost in translation and Daisy was far more likeable in the original text.
Bottom line: Maybe it’s better in its native French?
Sex: Implied.
Moonlight Musing
Have you ever had someone push you out of your comfort zone and to be a better version of yourself?
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