Paris Is Always a Good Idea
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One of Popsugar’s Best New Books for Summer 2020 A thirty-year-old woman retraces her gap year through Ireland, France, and Italy to find love—and herself—in this hilarious and heartfelt novel. It's been seven years since Chelsea Martin embarked on her yearlong postcollege European adventure. Since then, she's lost her mother to cancer and watched her sister marry twice, while Chelsea's thrown herself into work, becoming one of the most talented fundraisers for the American Cancer Coalition, and with the exception of one annoyingly competent coworker, Jason Knightley, her status as most successful moneymaker is unquestioned. When her introverted mathematician father announces he's getting remarried, Chelsea is forced to acknowledge that her life stopped after her mother died and that the last time she can remember being happy, in love, or enjoying her life was on her year abroad. Inspired to retrace her steps—to find Colin in Ireland, Jean Claude in France, and Marcelino in Italy—Chelsea hopes that one of these three men who stole her heart so many years ago can help her find it again. From the start of her journey nothing goes as planned, but as Chelsea reconnects with her old self, she also finds love in the very last place she expected.
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This book had potential but ultimately was just blah. I think it would have helped to go all-out comedy or make it more introspective and explore the grief Chelsea is facing. Instead, it tried to straddle the line between comedy and serious, without really achieving either. There were no genuine laugh-out-loud moments, and any serious scenes were just underwhelming or insincere.
Paris is Always a Good Idea seemed like a good choice for a quick read – a fun trip around Europe, some tension with a coworker? I was just fine with some nice, forgettable escapism. But the last two chapters were ridiculous and honestly ruined the story for me. The end turned it from a book that was enjoyable to one I definitely wouldn't recommend.
She just let go of all her grief, seriously? All it took was a hot guy to tell her she needed to move on? Smh
From Spain ([b:The Spanish Love Deception 54189398 The Spanish Love Deception Elena Armas https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1610900883l/54189398.SY75.jpg 84555384]), off to another part of Europe we go, namely Ireland, France and Italy. It was a delightful journey, but gets pretty tiring by now. Yet another hate-to-love trope, this one is. Nothing wrong with it, honestly, just that I'm pretty much saturated with it after reading previous books with more or less the same theme.On a positive note, the male main, Jason's character feels so refreshing after having to deal with main male characters who brood and clench their jaw most of the time. Also, Top Gun's reference? Always a good one. And there's that decadent hot chocolate. And Italy. Definetely Italy.Decent.
Chelsea's dad is getting remarried, and Chelsea hits the panic button. What has happened to her old, happy self? Chelsea is determined to find that old self, and she carefully plans to reunite with three old boyfriends who live in three different spots in Europe (including Paris). Along the way, she is forced to collaborate with her work rival, Jason, and she is surprised to learn that perhaps he isn't as unbearable as she thought.
A perfectly satisfactory little romance with a stopover in Paris.
