A sweet but slow-moving tale of a love affair in Paris.
A financially strapped university student in Paris starts an affair with a sophisticated married woman over the course of one tumultuous year.
Marc Fontbleu is a 23-year-old French student who makes ends meet by mowing lawns. When he glimpses Emma Delors, the wife of a faculty member, walking past him early one morning, his world is rocked. He can’t help but approach beautiful Emma, who reveals that, as usual, her husband is out of town. Emma readily relays that her husband often neglects their marriage in favor of his archaeology studies. Marc and Emma begin a deep and intense affair, spending long hours getting to know each other in and out of bed. They gallivant through parks, restaurants, and the attractions of Paris, falling deeply in love. Marc confesses that he has published poetry under the pseudonym Léopold Montblé and hopes to become famous. Emma worries that she is too old for Marc and should set him free. As they luxuriate in their mutual feelings, they are simultaneously troubled by their own worries about protecting the happiness of the other. Told in the third person, the narrative is broken into four sections based on the temporal seasons and interspersed with short poems and uncredited artwork. There is a heavy emphasis on monologues and dialogue, both internal and external, throughout Cullen’s sentimental story. For the first two-thirds of the book, the main action consists primarily of lengthy conversations between the two central characters. The plot does move more quickly as the novel approaches its conclusion, and if readers can hang on, the tale becomes increasingly engrossing. While there are some stylistic oddities (such as a plethora of parentheses) and errors (like the scene in Chapter 6 in which Emma takes her shoes off after having already removed them), the story features lovely descriptions of French foods, locations, and landmarks. There are also several beautifully rendered moments of human connection and self-sacrifice.
A sweet but slow-moving tale of a love affair in Paris.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-7433-2154-9
Page Count: 244
Publisher: Clocktower Books
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Empowering and exhilarating.
A lesbian artist wants to make the most of her summer in Paris in this belle epoque romance.
Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan would like to be thoroughly debauched before returning to Venezuela and entering into a loveless marriage for the benefit of her family’s finances. After she bonds with the enticing Duchess of Sundridge, Cora Kempf Bristol, over their mutual appreciation for art, the women come to an agreement. Business-minded Cora wants to buy land owned by Manuela to complete a railroad, and Manuela agrees to sell in exchange for Cora’s introducing her to the parts of Paris where women who like women gather throughout the remainder of her trip. Cora was once involved in a scandal and has no desire to be part of another, so she tries to push aside her desire for vivacious Manuela, but their attraction proves irresistible. As Manuela’s sojourn approaches its end, though, the women realize they don’t want a future without each other. Herrera delivers another sumptuous and historically rich romance, following A Caribbean Heiress in Paris (2022). The queer and Latine characters are lively and bold, and they get to embrace a full, earned happily-ever-after despite all obstacles and detractors. The big emotions, exciting drama, and toe-curling sensuality make for an engrossing tale, but what stands out is the sense of community. This is a riveting story of finding one’s person, but equally important, it’s about finding one’s people—the friends who understand, accept, embrace, and encourage. It’s with that support that these characters are able to be their full, vibrant selves and open themselves up to love and be loved.
Empowering and exhilarating.Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781335006349
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
A sweet romance with appealing hints of heat and angst.
An accidental wedding planner and an even more accidental officiant must learn to purposefully stride toward love and commitment.
After RJ Brooks officiated at an impromptu celebrity wedding in a public park, she's become a walking paradox—a divorce attorney who is also a very popular wedding officiant. Although her side gig draws the side-eye from Gretchen, a senior lawyer she desperately hopes will mentor her, RJ is able to efficiently juggle her career as a lawyer with her interest in marrying couples until she’s knocked off balance—literally and figuratively—by Lear Campbell, a cousin of RJ’s favorite wedding planner, Penny. Lear, once a pro-football events manager, is substituting for Penny while she’s on leave. Lear has never had trouble charming people, especially because he tries very hard to be nice. But RJ is a challenge: She appears to be immune to his appeal, and recent events have caused Lear to reevaluate his proclivity for niceness. RJ decides not to work with Lear, but when he turns out to be a close friend of Gretchen’s, she finds that she cannot refuse him. Forced to spend several hours in close proximity while romance is in the air, Lear and RJ find themselves attracted to one another, but RJ’s personal demons and Lear’s past prevent them from acknowledging any mutual feelings beyond lust. RJ and Lear are instantly likable: Each has a lovely sense of humor, and their personal struggles ring true and demand empathy. RJ’s interactions with her friends and Lear’s with his family are entertaining and heartbreaking in equal measure. Although their unwillingness to lower their defenses is understandable, RJ and Lear go around in circles one time too many. But Williams has a talent for weaving moments of genuine warmth and tenderness with sizzling sexual chemistry in ways that are consistently engaging.
A sweet romance with appealing hints of heat and angst.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-43719-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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