Paris Is Always a Good Idea is a charming novel that uses a children’s book to connect the lives of three people who would have never met otherwise.
[Some Spoilers; Mature Audiences]
Paris Is Always a Good Idea by Nicolas Barreau
Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Paris Is Always a Good Idea follows three characters who are true romantics at heart.
Rosalie Laurent has always had a vivid imagination and loved the color blue. Instead of following a sensible career path, like her mother wanted, she opened up a postcard store. Her specialty is wishing cards. They all hand painted and original. She even takes special requests from her customers.
The wishing cards catch the eye of a publisher’s wife. Her husband then calls his old friend Max Marchais, a famed children’s author. He hasn’t written in years. After his wife passed, he lost interest in writing or dealing with the outside world. His publisher talks him into writing another children’s book to celebrate his 70th birthday with a lovely artist named Rosalie to illustrate.
During all of this an American, Robert Sherman, is going through the loss of his mother as well as deciding if he should take over the family business in NYC, Sherman & Sons Law Firm. He’s been asked to be a guest professor of Shakespeare in Paris for a year, but his Uncle and girlfriend want him to drop the Shakespeare job and go back to being a lawyer full time.
In a last ditch effort to sort himself out, Robert goes to Paris. His mother had always said they should go back after he graduated college, but it never happened. Her words, “Paris is always a good idea,” lead him there and in the path of Rosalie and Max.
The children’s book that Max wrote and Rosalie illustrated immediately catches his eye because it’s the same story that his mother told him as a child. Before he knows it, he and Rosalie have teamed up to figure out the mystery of The Blue Tiger.
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There were several things that I really liked about this book. The first of which is Rosalie.
I love that she’s so sure of herself and independent. She has followed her dreams despite the fact it aggravates her mother. She has a fierce loyalty to her family and her dreams. She’s a strong woman who has made a life for herself that is all her own.
She’s also a romantic. Her wishing cards are straight from her heart and every year on her birthday, she takes one and drops it from the Eiffel Tower, hoping her wish will finally come true. I admire her optimism and sureness.
The book unravels slowly, but we see a lot of the character’s personality, and the slow pace seems to fit with the easy atmosphere of Paris. The theme of everything having a time and place is very relevant to the novel as well.
The events of the story have been years in the making, but it takes just the right catalyst to make things fall into place.
The Blue Tiger pulls Rosalie, Max and Robert together is such a believable way.
The conversations between Max and Rosalie were lovely. I can see them becoming friends and creating a father/daughter relationship. The ease of conversation didn’t translate between other characters, though. Rosalie and her boyfriend’s conversations are stilted, but this is even more the case for Robert and his girlfriend.
There’s not much believability in the conversation. The wording is very formal for people who have been in a long-term relationship. There are also times when Robert finds it far to easy to call the women he interacts with as “bitches” and that really made me take a step back.
It’s pretty obvious the direction the story will go, but I enjoyed the journey getting there. It just seemed to wrap up so fast. Rosalie and Robert do end up together, but there’s little character development to lead the reader to feel it’s natural.
Despite that, I loved the story of The Blue Tiger in the novel, and I liked the lovely scenery details of Paris. Max and Rosalie were a great pair, and I’m so happy that he found some form of closure in regards to R in the dedication of the book.
There are elements of romance, but I wouldn’t call this book a romance. It’s more of a mystery or fiction novel about finding out who you are and where you come from with a dash of romance thrown in toward the end.
You can find this book available today!
Thanks so much to the publisher for providing an advanced review copy of this novel!