Tag: swan

Book Review: The Paris Secret by Karen Swan

The Paris secret

Title: The Paris Secret
 Author: Karen Swan
 Publisher: Pan Macmillan
 Date: July 14th, 2016
 Pages: 352
 Format: eARC
 Source: from Publisher for a review

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): 

Not every door should be opened . . .

With stunning locations and page-turning tension, The Paris Secret is an intense and gripping tale from bestselling author Karen Swan.

Somewhere along the cobbled streets of Paris, an apartment lies thick with dust and secrets: full of priceless artworks hidden away for decades.

High-flying fine art agent Flora from London, more comfortable with the tension of a million-pound auction than a cosy candlelit dinner for two, is called in to assess these suddenly discovered treasures. As an expert in her field, she must trace the history of each painting and discover who has concealed them for so long.

Thrown in amongst the glamorous Vermeil family as they move between Paris and Antibes, Flora begins to discover that things aren’t all that they seem, while back at home her own family is recoiling from a seismic shock. The terse and brooding Xavier Vermeil seems intent on forcing Flora out of his family’s affairs – but just what is he hiding?

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Review:

I have a confession to make: I never understood the art.
You can put me infront of the most phrased art work in the world, and I will just stand there, totally confused, forcing my brain cells to see the beauty everyone talks about.
I was never good at art class. I hated it. As an outcome to that, I didn’t particularly enjoy learning about it either.
Therefore, when it comes to art culture, telling you that I am bad would probably be understate.

Main theme of this book is the discovery of an abandoned apartman full of paintings collected during World War II.
You can imagine my reaction when everything about it was divulged, all those masters who stood behind those masterpieces.
Yes, I was confused, but I also tried my best to keep up.

Although the name of this novel is The Paris Secret, Paris is not the only city Karen Swoon took us to in the adventure she created.
We also got to visit London, Vienna  and Antibes.
However, not one of those places, Paris included, was explored enough to make me feel like I was there or like I was learning something new about those places.

Although the art theme was somewhat miss in my case, I found the story behind the main theme pretty fascinating.
All those secrets that were revealed and consequences that came with their revelation gave interestingness to the story.

I only wish that the love aspect took a bigger part of this book.
I also wish that it was observed more and in my opinion stronger love feature is the one ingredient that missed.
I usually don’t crave for love in books I’m reading, but in this particular novel, on page 70, I cought myself hoping there would be love interest already to spice up this (until then pretty boring) book.

From all the characters in the book, there were only two I wanted to know more about: Xavier and Natascha. They were mysterious and I knew from the moment we met them that there is something about them, that there is more then meets the eye. Although their characters have a part in this novel through the whole story, I honestly wish we got the chance to get to know them even better, especially Natascha.

This is the second book by Karen Swan I read. I read her Christmas at Tiffany’s in December 2015 (you can read my review here) and fall in love with it.
Although The Paris Secret didn’t live up to my expectations, I am more then happy to know that Karen wrote many books before this one and I am looking forward to read them.
It exceptionally makes me happy the fact that most of her books are taking part during Christmas or are Christmas themed, because I really, really enjoy reading Christmas stories.

I would recommend The Paris Secret to everyone who loves art, who likes reading stories about secrets and who enjoys reading family prose.

3,5

If You Like This, Try This – Book Recommendations (Bout of Books Challenge)

It is Day 4 of Bout of Books read-a-thon and today’s challenge is to give some book recommendations on the “If you like this, try this” base.

So, without further ado, here are my book suggestions:

 

If you like chick-lit series with clumsy heroines that will get under your skin, books that will make you feel better even if you had a bad day, try I heart series by Lindsey Kelk.

i heart

 

If you like books with time travel that will keep you on the edge and make you want to speed up your reading so you could turn those pages fast enough, try Tempest series by Julie Cross.

tempest series

 

If you like books with setting so well described and mental landscape pictures so tempting that you will want to transport yourself in the story so you could be there and see the beauty of the place with your own eyes, try My Map pf You by Isabelle Broom.

my map of you

 

If you like books that will make you feel emotional and you will think about the story for days after finishing it, try The Second Love of My Life by Victoria Walters.

the second love

 

If you like books that give you glimpse of past while following the present, books that will make you think of other people’s reasons behind their actions, with a chance to wrack judgments you have, try Christmas at Tiffany’s by Karen Swan.

karen swan

 

If you like hot, swoon worthy feel good young adult contemporary reads, try On the Fence by Kasie West.

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Book Review: Christmas At Tiffany’s by Karen Swan

karen swan Title: Christmas At Tiffany’s
 Author: Karen Swan
 Series: At Tiffany’s (#1)
 Publisher: Pan Macmillan
 Date: January 1st 2012
 Pages: 585
 Format: Hardcover
 Source: Purchased

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Three cities. Three seasons. One chance to find the life that fits.

Cassie settled down too young, marrying her first serious boyfriend. Now, ten years later, she is betrayed and broken. With her marriage in tatters and no career or home of her own, she needs to work out where she belongs in the world and who she really is.

So begins a year-long trial as Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with each of her best friends in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris and London. Exchanging grouse moor and mousy hair for low-carb diets and high-end highlights, Cassie tries on each city for size as she attempts to track down the life she was supposed to have been leading, and with it, the man who was supposed to love her all along.

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Review:

This is the story about a woman who has to find herself again.

After ten years of marriage, on her anniversary party, Cassie finds out the ugly truth: her godson is a lovechild of her husband and her best friend.
What does she do?
She leaves him and goes on a year long search for her truth-self.
Where?
To three different cities that happen to be three leading places when it comes to fashion industry: New York, Paris and London.
In every city, she has a friend she will stay with.

In New York, her good friend Kelly, takes her under her wing. She shows her a lifestyle of a real New Yorker: morning running routines, going out in the clubs on regular basis, dating hot guys and keeping up with the latest trends.
She also find her a job in the fashion industry, but the thing is: when it comes to fashion, Cassie is pants and sweater kind of girl.

In Paris, Cassie is on her way to find her new-self. She listens to her inner self and discovers her passion for cooking.

London, her last stop. Place where the main decission has to be made.

Although this book sounds like a real chick lit in all it’s glory, it’s so much more then that.
I feel like I expected nothing but entertaintment from this story, but got so much from it.
Everything that happened in this book, all those little silly things and all those situations that were so easy to judge, they all happened for a reason.

There were no black and white characters, only grey. 
With all their flaws and reasons behind them, they opened my eyes and made me think about what makes people behaving a certain way.
It is so easy to be judgamental when it’s other people lives we’re talking about!

With it’s brilliant writing style and amazing setting (I liked New York the best), Christmas At Tiffany’s is a book every women’s fiction lover should read.

 

4,5