The Synopsis:
Most teens dream of visiting the City of Lights, but it feels more like a nightmare for Sophie Brooks. She and her brother are sent to Paris to spend the summer with their father, who left home a year ago without any explanation. As if his sudden abandonment weren’t betrayal enough, he’s about to remarry, and they’re expected to play nice with his soon-to-be wife and stepdaughter. The stepdaughter, Camille, agrees to show them around the city, but she makes it clear that she will do everything in her power to make Sophie miserable.
Sophie could deal with all the pain and humiliation if only she could practice piano. Her dream is to become a pianist, and she was supposed to spend the summer preparing for a scholarship competition. Even though her father moved to Paris to pursue his own dream, he clearly doesn’t support hers. His promise to provide her with a piano goes unfulfilled.
Still, no one is immune to Paris’s charm. After a few encounters with a gorgeous French boy, Sophie finds herself warming to the city, particularly when she discovers that he can help her practice piano. There’s just one hitch—he’s a friend of Camille’s, and Camille hates Sophie. While the summer Sophie dreaded promises to become best summer of her life, one person could ruin it all.
Books published under the Blink imprint are intended for a general readership without being overtly Christian.
I received this book from the author/publisher for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.
Review:
One Paris Summer is a book with absolute charm and romance, much like it’s title suggests. Whisked off to one of the most romantic countries there is, during a teen’s most favorite time of year, this book does not fall short of its potential.
The storyline is excellently paced and has enough “surprises” to keep the reader still interested in the summer of Sophie’s life. The characters are all charming and well developed and the French phrases throughout the book will give the reader an element of pleasure as they know they are learning a bit of this romantic language.
As for the content of the book, the romance is very high and has many kissing scenes. They range from very deep and detailed to short and sweet, but there are 5 or more direct mentions of having sex (some characters speaking about themselves doing this) however there were no actual scenes. The language, when speaking sexually, says “screw(ing)” 2 or 3 times and there is one use of “h*ll” during a fight.
Overall, I actually really enjoyed One Paris Summer for the constant push of valuing family above work and for showing that not all families are perfect, but they are certainly worth fighting for. Despite the high romance aspect, this was a generally clean YA novel, especially when compared to other’s I’ve read, so I will still give it 4 out of 5 stars and do recommend it to my readers older than 14 or 15 years of age.
Rated:
Rayleigh is a Freshman in college with a major in Accounting and long-term goal of being a CPA. She is an avid reader of all genres, and just as much of her time is spent writing as it is reading. She is the Associate Editor and Web Manager for PURSUE Magazine, in addition to posting her monthly articles on their blog. Rayleigh interns for Hartline Literary Agency where she advises authors in the best way to market their books. She is also a Social Media Manager for various businesses.
Her writing pseudonym is Rae Leigh and she is in the process of seeking publication for her Dystopian novella, Program MIRA.