If you love memoirs and if you love audiobooks – especially those read by the author -- this is a great “read” for you! There are times when I pick up a book because I want to be enchanted by the setting, and the idea of reading about Paris delighted me. But this book is so much more than a travelogue of an American transplant in the City of Lights. It is narrated by the author, Eloisa James, who we learn is on sabbatical in France (with her family) from her rather juxtaposed life– she is a respected professor on Shakespeare by day but also writes “bodice ripper” romances on the side. Her writing style belies her romance writer reputation. I found her narrative to be almost poetic at times when she describes things like “an airplane that patterns the Parisian skyline like a swatch of fine lace” or “a silver pitcher that held milk chocolate as dark and thick as lava.” At times it felt like I was reading her diary of daily life with her teen/tween children, and cosmopolitan husband (who is Italian). While not a romance read itself, its sumptuous descriptions and poignant observations certainly whisked me away from my hum-drum life here in the States. A recommended read for adults.
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