Review of One Paris Summer

Book description:

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.

My thoughts:

This was such a cute romance!!!

So Sophie's father has basically up and moved to Paris, not spoken to her or her brother for almost a year, and then drops a bomb - "I'm getting remarried next week." Uh oh. Now they have to spend the summer in Paris which would be great if Sophie wasn't wounded by the horrid way their dad handled the situation, if Sophie could even speak French, or if her new stepsister didn't hate her guts for no reason.

I related so much to Sophie! Seriously, she is one of the most relatable teens I've read in YA in a while. She's just your average girl with passions and hurts. She loves to play the piano, and her passion for it just flows through the book without drawing focus away from the storyline. I thought Denise Grover Swank did a good job at portraying Sophie's hurt, anger, and confusion throughout the story.

The description of Paris was amazing. Like this-will-be-in-my-bag-if-I-ever-go-to-Paris amazing. Sophie and Mattieu's romance was oh so very swoon worthy! Oh, the butterflies, my friends! Fans of Sarah Dessen are sure to enjoy One Paris Summer.

I also want to remind everyone that while Blink is a Christian imprint of Zondervan, their titles are much more mainstream. Blink specializes in clean YA fiction, and an editor at Blink recently wrote a great blog post about what "clean" YA means. Their stories have Christian tones, but may mention very little if any Christianity.

Bottom line: This is a sweet, easy to read, clean YA romance that teens and adults are sure to love! I really enjoyed it. Four stars. :)

I received a copy of One Paris Summer by Denise Grover Swank from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest opinion, which I have given.

God bless you guys! See you next time!

V. Joy Palmer