From Paris, With Love

by Samantha Tonge

[Leah]

Paris doesn’t turn out quite as Gemma expected. She’s barely arrived before she realises she’s being followed, and she spends her first weekend fighting dirty instead of enjoying the delights of the city with Edward. But it’s not what it seems — she finds herself recruited by secret service agent Joe to investigate a plot that may result in the death of a pair of royal visitors. Of course, she can’t tell anyone, so her relationship with Edward becomes rather strained, especially when actress Monique comes along and seems to be a much more suitable match for him. Things get even more tangled when she meets Blade — he’s French and gorgeous and she’s besotted … but Joe refuses to believe he can be trusted and threatens to spoil everything. As Gemma gets to know her new colleagues in the restaurant she realises they are not all they seem, but she doesn’t think any of them could want to kill an heir to the British throne. And they aren’t the only people who are being misread so, although the bad guys get their come-uppance and everything works out for the good guys, that doesn’t mean that what Gemma — or you — thinks is going on is the whole story.

This is the second book in the Doubting Abbey series and, although I realised that pretty soon after starting, not having read the first wasn’t a problem. The earlier events explain the relationships between some of the characters and why Joe asks Gemma to become an unofficial MI6 agent, but enough backstory is given for it to make sense — although the first book sounds like it might be rather fun too.

This one is fun because of the scrapes into which Gemma gets herself, the interesting people who work in the restaurant and the sheer preposterousness of the plot. If you like your romance served up with a dose of realism, this is not the book for you because you’ll find yourself saying ‘Yea, right! Like that would really happen!’ every few chapters. But if you’re willing to accept the James Bond hokum, days and times off that would make anyone in the catering business sigh with longing and so on, then the story works like the Big Thunder Mountain ride at Disneyland Paris — lots of ups and downs, lots of twists and turns.

While I was willing to suspend disbelief in order to accept the plot, there were little things that niggled because they didn’t ring true or because they made me stop reading for a moment to question or check something. Most were not important (and some were undoubtedly the result of me being overly picky, which is why I don’t want to spoil your enjoyment by giving examples) but there were rather too many of them for me to get completely lost in the story. That was a real shame because there is a lot to like about this book, not least the descriptions of Paris.

It’s something of a cliché to say that the setting is a character in its own right — albeit a cliché that doesn’t usually get used when talking about holiday reads — but the byways of Montmartre and side streets off Blvd St Michel get as much attention as the tourist attractions and all are part of the story. Gemma’s voice is strong too. She is consistently optimistic and aware of her failings without ever seeming arrogant or overly self-pitying, and that comes across in her narrative. You therefore get a good sense of what she is like as a person and so are able to understand some of her decisions that seem odd to other characters.

Overall then, a lovely bit of summer fun … just send your inner pedant away with a large bottle of absinthe first.

Reviewed by CatherineThis review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read