Ratings9
Average rating3.8
From the critically acclaimed author of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune comes a new delightful novel about exploring all the magical possibilities of life in the most extraordinary city of all: Paris. Vanessa Yu never wanted to see people's fortunes—or misfortunes—in tealeaves. Ever since she can remember, Vanessa has been able to see people's fortunes at the bottom of their teacups. To avoid blurting out their fortunes, she converts to coffee, but somehow fortunes escape and find a way to complicate her life and the ones of those around her. To add to this plight, her romance life is so nonexistent that her parents enlist the services of a matchmaking expert from Shanghai. After her matchmaking appointment, Vanessa sees death for the first time. She decides that she can't truly live until she can find a way to get rid of her uncanny abilities. When her eccentric Aunt Evelyn shows up with a tempting offer to whisk her away, Vanessa says au revoir to California and bonjour to Paris. There, Vanessa learns more about herself and the root of her gifts and realizes one thing to be true: knowing one's destiny isn't a curse, but being unable to change it is.
Reviews with the most likes.
i needed something beautiful romantic and sappy but not holiday themed and this was the perfect fix. i loved everything from the predictions/clairvoyance to even the romance. roselle lim does a phenomenal job of writing a rich cast of characters with intertwining stories and also the food/location descriptions transport you into the world like no other. intensely excited for what she has in store next!
Vanessa sets off for Paris to learn the secrets of fortune-telling from her aunt Evelyn. Vanessa hates it that she has been born with this ability, but she has finally come to accept that she needs to learn from her aunt how to control it. She falls instantly in love with a man in Paris, but a sad part of her fortune-telling heritage is an inability to keep a relationship, her aunt tells her. Vanessa soon learns that it is a failed relationship that drove Evelyn from Paris long ago, and that the man Evelyn loved is still in Paris.
SOME SPOILERS BELOW:
All the loose ends and difficulties are tied up and quickly resolved by the end of the book, though often the author uses methods that really make no sense (A car accident changes Vanessa's gift from fortune-telling to matchmaking? A gambler stops gambling quickly and easily? Evelyn goes back to Paris...and why? What has changed?) But, hey, it's a romance and it's a fantasy and, most of all, it's set in Paris, and all of this gives the author leeway to do whatever she feels like.