About the book (from goodreads)
Ava and her best friend Debs arrive in Paris just as the snow starts to fall. The Eiffel Tower glitters gold and the scent of spiced wine is all around, but all Ava can think about is Leo, her no-good, cheating ex.
Debs is on a mission to make Ava smile again, and as they tour the Christmas markets, watch lamplight glittering on the river Seine, and eat their body weight in pain-au-chocolat, Ava remembers there’s more to life than men … Until they cross paths with handsome, mysterious photographer Julien with his French accent and hazelnut eyes that seem to see right inside her.
Ava can’t ignore the intense chemistry between them, but her fingers have been burned before and she can’t forget it, especially when her ex, Leo, starts texting again. Can Ava really trust Julien – and what exactly is his secret?
Will Ava go home with a broken heart, or will she find true love amongst the cobbled streets of Paris?
Join Ava and Julien in the most romantic city in the world this Christmas, as they discover the importance of being true to themselves, and learn how to follow their hearts.
Review
One Christmas in Paris by Mandy Baggot is my first holiday-themed book this year and it is set in Paris. Can it get better than that? The story begins with Ava and Debs right before they go to Paris. The two women are at a point in their lives where a trip to Paris seems like the perfect idea.
The story is narrated through two perspectives with Ava and Julien as the main narrators and characters. We get to see their lives before they meet. We get to know what was going on especially with their complicated family backgrounds. At first, the narratives are told interchangeably through the chapters. However, once the two characters meet, the POVs alternate within the same chapters. This was really good. You sort of get the two perspectives on the two characters especially on each other and everything else around them.
I love Paris. It sounds like such a beautiful place and I am so glad that the setting was a key feature of this story. The culture and the food were predominant in the story. Ava develops a love for camembert and plus the couple was always meeting at the restaurants and sampling different French dishes. The landmarks too were at the background of the story. I got to know about Place Des Voges and Seine. Other landmarks like The Eiffel Tower were also mentioned. I liked the fact that one of the main characters was a tourist and the other one a native so the descriptions of the settings were more detailed. In addition, Julien was a photographer trying to capture the beauty of Paris. The setting was definitely the perfect fit for the story.
There were a number of conflicts in the story that made it interesting by creating some tension. This book wasn’t just about a couple that meets and connects in Paris. It is about family, grief, friendship and romance. There is also a theme revolving around the devastation that took place in Paris. The Paris attacks come up and hence the theme of healing and finding beauty in the ashes that remained.
This has all the makings of a great book. The imagery is wonderful. I have never been to Paris or even seen snow (apart from on TV) but I could picture it all. The story took me to Snowy Paris for Christmas. The flow of the narrative is effortless. The characters are not one dimensional; they are also charming, easy to relate with and funny. And then there is Paris, the landmarks, the food and the culture.
One Christmas in Paris by Mandy Baggot is a wonderful read. If you are in the mood for a holiday-themed, feel-good, Christmassy book then you should check this one out. If you like Paris and all things French then this one is for you. Lovers of the romance genre will also enjoy this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this review copy.
About the Book
- Title: One Christmas in Paris
- Author: Mandy Baggot
- Kindle Edition, 368 pages, Aldiko-700 Pages
- Published October 7th 2016 by Bookouture
- My Rating: 5 stars
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Now I’m curious, I want to read this book only to see if the picture made of Paris is a realistic one! 🙂 The capital is not my favorite city, but it has its charms. As a French, I’m often surprised by the portrait made of our population or the cities. But the food is always a success! I want a pain au chocolat now! I love buying them just out of the oven whenever I’m downtown. Anyway, I’m rambling! Great review! It sounds like a nice holiday read.
So I had to Google Pain au Chocolat and now I want it too. It does look like some sort of croissant but better with chocolate. I would like to hear your thoughts on the book if you get to read it. There are statements that were made like about The Eiffel Tower and French people not really being amazed by it. Anyway, I would like to hear your thoughts about it. Thanks Donna:-)
What a lovely sounding story with such an iconic setting.
Thanks. It is a good story but the setting made it even more magical:-)
Argh!! I said no more Christmas books and now I’m really tempted. If I go get this I’m blaming you 😀
haha get it Ali, its a great book plus its still available on NetGalley:-) Don’t fight the temptation. Its a really nice Christmas book and it is set in Paris:-)
Ahhh Seems so cute!!! Now have to have it! >.< lovely review!
Thank you and I hope that you will enjoy it if you get to read it:-)
I saw this book on Netgalley, but the cover sort of turned me off. Now reading your review I kind of want to read it! Something light-hearted and fun sounds good right about now (:
I get what you mean. I think the reason as to why I requested for this one was mainly due to the setting. I really like books set in Paris and luckily this one worked out well. I hope that you will give it a chance and that it will end up being a great read for you:-)
Excellent review!!!!!! 🙂 Up until I opened this blog and saw all of these books I didn’t know Christmas books were a thing haha 😀
hahaha Annie.. really though? but you do know about the Christmas movies right?Thanks. You should give one of these books a chance someday:-)
But I didn’t know there were so many books about it! Haha I had never seen them in bookshops 😛
I’m sad that the friend and the knowledge that there is more to life than romance fall to the wayside!
sorry, I didn’t understand your comment. Did you mean that the friend and romance were not part of the main story?Please explain a little bit.
There was the friend, who sounded interesting, but the friend didn’t sound like she plays a big role. The character starts to learn there is more to life than live, until a guy notices her. There aren’t many books out there that encourage women to be single, or even suggest being single is okay.
Oh I get you now. The friend does feature in the story alot but as a supporting character. I didn’t highlight about her and the guy friend in the review but they were there. I get what you mean about the romance bit and totally agree with you. Thank you for explaining your first comment 🙂