From the critically acclaimed author of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune comes a new delightful novel about exploring all the magical possibilities of life in the most extraordinary city of all: Paris.
Vanessa Yu never wanted to see people's fortunes—or misfortunes—in tealeaves.
Ever since she can remember, Vanessa has been able to see people's fortunes at the bottom of their teacups. To avoid blurting out their fortunes, she converts to coffee, but somehow fortunes escape and find a way to complicate her life and the ones of those around her. To add to this plight, her romance life is so nonexistent that her parents enlist the services of a matchmaking expert from Shanghai.
After her matchmaking appointment, Vanessa sees death for the first time. She decides that she can't truly live until she can find a way to get rid of her uncanny abilities. When her eccentric Aunt Evelyn shows up with a tempting offer to whisk her away, Vanessa says au revoir to California and bonjour to Paris. There, Vanessa learns more about herself and the root of her gifts and realizes one thing to be true: knowing one's destiny isn't a curse, but being unable to change it is.
Vanessa never saw her clairvoyance as a gift. Rather, it was a plague which kept her from forming any meaningful relationships outside of her family. After the very unfortunate timing of one of her visions, Vanessa decides it is time to get her "gift" under control. That means lessons with Aunt Evelyn, the other fortune teller in the family. Though she was not looking forward to being under Aunt Evelyn's tutelage, she was excited that her lessons would take place in Paris. Maybe even she could find love there.
Once again, Lim delivered a feel-good story which was beautifully written and included a bit of magic. Filled with full-bodied descriptions of the sights, sounds, and flavors of Paris, I found myself transported to the City of Lights, and I delighted in every moment I spent there.
I was also charmed by Vanessa's family. The Yu clan was large and very tight knit. There were close friendship between the cousins, never ending meddling from the aunties, and an abundance of love. The interactions between Vanessa and her family members were full of fun and warmth, and they never failed to bring a smile to my face.
Though I enjoyed Lim's previous book, I was left wanting a bit more from the romance. Therefore, I was happy to find romance played a bigger role in this book. In fact, there were several romances spotlighted. Each came with smiles and swoons, but there was a bit of drama too. Needless to say, I was excited about all the pairings.
This was a beautiful story of self discovery made even better by blending in family, food, romance, and a little magic. I was enchanted by Vanessa's story and really appreciated being transported out of my world, even if just for a few hours.
