An entertaining read for Francophiles, foodies, and romantics.
In this follow-up novel, an American woman who left her husband to live in Paris discovers obstacles to living her dream.
Amy Brodie, first introduced in The Paris Effect (2016), abruptly left her Phoenix home and her husband, Will, for a Paris adventure after the death of her best friend, Kat. It was to have been a short trip, but after a brief visit home and argument with Will, she decided to stay on in the City of Light. Amy’s new landlady, Margaret, a 60-ish British expat who’s been lonely after her adult daughter’s disappearance, has two friends who’ve become Amy’s own: Hervé, self-absorbed but theatrically charming, and Manu (short for Emmanuel), who once dated Margaret’s daughter. Amy works for Manu’s catering delivery service, a good fit—she loves everything food-related and writes a blog called Fun French Food. On the day of Amy’s 30th birthday, Will shows up in Paris at the same time another unexpected guest arrives at Margaret’s house. Both visits introduce complications that upend Amy’s newly arranged and blissful life, giving her several questions to answer: Should she stay in Paris or return to Phoenix? Go through with her divorce or not? Uncertain, yet with a newfound trust in her intuition, Amy must make choices that will affect more than herself. Burns offers an appealing heroine in Amy, who has managed to let go of her self-admitted “insane” relationship with food in favor of one that’s fulfilling and creative, reflected even when describing Margaret’s apartment: “The butter-pat yellow walls, the chocolate and robin’s egg blue Aubusson carpet, the clove-dark beams.” Though such a novel could easily become shallow wish-fulfillment fantasy, Burns adds several layers of complication: secrets and lies to be unraveled; a history of grief and loss; and opportunities to prove Amy’s skill and resourcefulness, as when putting together a meal from an almost bare pantry. Amy’s voice is wry, honest, and articulate, a pleasure to spend time with.
An entertaining read for Francophiles, foodies, and romantics.Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 257
Publisher: Velvet Morning Press
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
