Book Review: "A Good Life" by Virginie Grimaldi (translated by Hildegard Serle)

Emma and Agathe are sisters who haven’t seen each other in five years. Growing up, Emma, as the older sister, was always Agathe’s protector and defender. Five years younger, Agathe was prone to tantrums and panic attacks, and yet always looked to her sister for comfort and security.

Their childhood was tumultuous and marked by tragedy, but they spent every summer with their grandparents in the Basque Country. Following the death of their beloved grandmother, the sisters agree to spend a week together at her home, the site of so many memories. While their estrangement and the pent-up hurts and resentments make the reunion challenging, they still are full of love for one another.

The book alternates narration between the sisters, and shifts through time, from their earliest memories to the present, with many stops in between. This is how we understand the sisters’ relationship and what led to their estrangement, as well as if there’s any chance to find their way back to each other.

This is a very slow-burn, character-driven novel. There are some lovely and poignant moments, but I struggled with the book’s pacing. At times there were so many different things happening it was difficult to keep track, but I don’t know if that's because it was translated or just the way it was written.

Book Review: "Anna and the French Kiss" by Stephanie Perkins

Getting to spend senior year of high school in Paris: can anything be better?

Anna had her senior year all figured out. She was going to spend tons of time with her best friend and had a great job at a movie theater, plus her crush on her coworker was starting to be reciprocated. And then her parents decide she should go to boarding school in Paris. It should be a dream come true—but not for Anna, who took four years of Spanish and just learned that the word “oui” wasn’t spelled “wee.”

When she arrives, despite her homesickness, she realizes Paris is a pretty cool place to go to school. She makes new friends, including Étienne, a handsome English student. All the girls love him, and it’s easy to see why. It’s not long before they become inseparable friends and it’s clear that both want more—but Étienne has a girlfriend.

When things back at home go awry and her feelings for Étienne cause tension with her friends and him, Anna is feeling lost on both shores. But will she ultimately find love in the City of Lights, with him or someone else?

Anna and the French Kiss was a fun, sweet book I’ve had on my shelf for a long while. There’s nothing quite like teenage romantic angst and the whole blurring of the lines between friendship and love. Paris is such a great backdrop for a romance and a healthy helping of drama.

If you’re looking for a clean, fun, romantic romp, here’s your book!

Book Review: "The Unbreakables" by Lisa Barr

"Life is messy, love is messier. But pain is the messiest of all. And yet in brokenness, there is rebuilding, a rising from a fall."

When a book starts getting a lot of hype, I always get a little apprehensive that I may be the outlier. Will I be the person that's disappointed by the book that everyone says is so excellent?

Where Lisa Barr's new novel, The Unbreakables, is concerned, I needn't have worried. This is a smart, sexy, emotional story about a woman losing and then finding herself again, learning just how strong she can be, and recapturing dreams she thought had passed her by. I really loved this book and found it so compelling from start to finish."

It's Sophie's 42nd birthday and she's looking forward to celebrating with her husband, Gabe, her two best friends, and their husbands. It's the way it always is—the six have been practically inseparable since high school and college, and Sophie and her two best friends have helped each other through so many ups and downs.

During dinner, the conversation turns to gossip, namely the recent release of data from a website catering to married people looking for an affair. The group eagerly tears into the list to see who in their area will be deservedly exposed. It's all fun and games, until it takes a personal turn, when Gabe's name appears on the list, as the top cheater in their town, no less.

Sophie is devastated, and she quickly learns that Gabe's infidelity isn't the only betrayal she faces. When her college-age daughter calls from Paris, where she is studying abroad, and is having her own emotional crisis, Sophie decides to leave the chaos of her life behind her and join Ava in Paris.

After helping get Ava back on track, Sophie decides to venture to Provence, and is determined to recapture the life that has passed her. Her time in France reawakens her self-esteem, her sexual desires, and her dreams of being a sculptor, dreams that she had thought were all but gone.

But as Sophie tries to put the pain of Gabe's infidelity and the betrayals she experienced behind her, her "real life" keeps intruding. Can you really stop caring about the people who were part of your life for so long? Do you really want to? If not, how can you regain control so that you're never left so shattered?

An epigraph at the start of one of the sections of The Unbreakables includes a quote from Frida Kahlo which says, "At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can." This is tremendously fitting for this book, because Sophie learns that she is stronger than she imagined, but that sometimes it takes falling apart to become stronger.

There are definitely familiar elements in this book, and there might not be a lot of surprises, but the beauty of this story is in Sophie's journey, and the people that surround her. It's a pretty sexy book as well, as Sophie starts to get her, well, groove back.

I had heard from a number of people that this book is even better if you go into it knowing very little about the plot so the story can unfold around you, as Sophie's life unfolds around her. I've kept the plot description fairly simple because I agree with that advice. Lisa Barr does an excellent job charting Sophie's journey, and she made this story funny, exciting, sensual, thought-provoking, and poignant.

Definitely read this one!

Book Review: "Paris Trance" by Geoff Dyer

"People talk about love at first sight, about the way that men and women fall for each other immediately, but there is also such a thing as friendship at first sight."

Luke is an Englishman in his mid-20s who decides to move to Paris in order to write a book. But when he arrives, he quickly realizes the city, and his life there, aren't what he imagined.

He's renting a decrepit apartment in the wrong neighborhood, he barely speaks or understands French, and he can't seem to meet anyone, especially a woman, no matter how hard he tries. He's considering moving back to England but knows that would be admitting failure and taking a step backward.

Then he meets Alex when he begins work at the same warehouse. Alex is a fellow English expatriate, and the two quickly find the rhythm of an intense friendship. With Alex in his life, things begin picking up for Luke—he finds a better apartment, and he begins playing soccer with his other colleagues. These victories bring his bravado back, and it's not long before he meets Nicole, a beautiful Serbian woman, with whom he falls completely in love.

"Even when we recall with photographic exactness the way in which someone first presented themselves to us, that likeness is touched by every trace of emotion we have felt up to—and including—the moment when we are recalling the scene."

As Luke and Nicole's relationship intensifies, Alex meets Sahra, a brilliant interpreter, and the two couples become inseparable, sharing meals, drinks, countless films, activities, travel—even the occasional drugs. Nicole and Luke's relationship is the more passionate and mercurial one, buoyed by wild sex, periodic arguments, and Luke's unending desire for fulfillment. Alex and Sahra are more stable—while their relationship might not reach the same levels of passion, their love is a steady one, which seems key to its future.

Paris Trance follows the four through more than a year of their relationships, the ups and the downs, and how the differences between the two couples—and the two men—become more evident as time carries on. The book also gives a glimpse into the future, and what happens to each of the couples, how some can change with the curves that life throws at you while some cannot.

This story is a beautifully compelling look at friendship and love, how some can enjoy the present while preparing for the future while others can only focus on what is in front of them. The book conveys the flush of relationships, the bonds of friendship, the insecurity of love so well, and captures both the tumultuous moments and the quiet ones. The banter between Luke and Alex, and at times, the four of them, is really enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this book, although I definitely enjoyed Alex and Sahra's characters more than Luke and Nicole's. The story has a poignancy at times, while other times it moves with a frenzy. The one thing I didn't quite understand is the periodic shifts in narration between first and third person. There is also some graphic, borderline kinky sex in the book which some may find awkward or unnecessary.

While elements of the plot of Paris Trance may seem familiar, in Geoff Dyer's hands the book feels unique. The book may not be perfect, but I'll remember it for a long while as a book that touched my emotions.