Friendship, loss… and a tantalizing trip to Paris in this highly praised debut novel!
Amy and Kat had a plan: A secret trip to Paris. Even Amy’s husband wouldn’t know about it. But when Amy loses Kat, the “friend of her heart,” to cancer, she knows the plan, too, has disappeared forever. Or has it?
Guided by memories of her friend and dissatisfaction with her own calorie-counting life in … calorie-counting life in Phoenix, Amy sneaks off to Paris while her husband is away on a business trip. Once there, she’s robbed, stalked, arrested and kidnapped (almost). Worse, she finds that her numerous issues have come right along with her.
Through her adventures, laced with luscious descriptions of food and Paris, Amy learns that often in life, love and friendship, nothing is exactly as it seems. Grab a croissant and settle in for a decidedly non-touristy trip to the City of Light.
Fans of Ella Carey’s Paris Time Capsule and Allison Winn Scotch’s Time of My Life will enjoy this touching and thoughtful story of self-discovery and second chances.
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Amy, the protagonist, is young, married, diet-obsessed and grief stricken at the death of her best friend, Kat. On the spur of the moment, while her husband is away on business, she decides to make a dream come true that she and Kat shared of visiting Paris. In the short time she is there, nothing goes as planned and a series of quirky characters deliver one surprise after another. I have to confess there were many times when I found Amy annoying. In spite of that, the clever writing of K.S Burns and the always enchanting city of Paris made this a story I enjoyed. (Good news! The sequel, Paris Ever After, picks up the story and turned me into a believer. Burns creates a much more sympathetic and likeable Amy and the fast-paced story is a great ride!)
An unexpected take on a woman’s trip to Paris… I thoroughly enjoyed it! Witty dialogue, a vibrant setting, and nice little touches like things being described in terms of food (“butter pat leather”) to parallel the main character’s own struggle with a calorie-counting life. Intriguing (if not always likable) characters and a story you just won’t be able to put down until you’ve reached the end! Plus, Paris! This novel is a must-read.
I loved this story of friendship, self-discovery, and of course, Paris. The main character, Amy, and the cast of characters populating her life both home in Phoenix and in her travels around Paris come to life on the page. I finished this novel quickly because it was so interesting, but was sad to see the book come to an end! I highly recommend The Paris Effect.
It had the Paris effect on me! Perfect holiday read! I was actually in Paris when I read this and the descriptions of the city and its way of life were spot-on. Beware the string men! I thought I knew Paris well but I’ve never before been on a chilling tour of the illegal catacombs and loved the thrills – from the safety of my armchair. I found Amy both endearing and irritating but was drawn into her adventures, curious to find out what would happen to her and what choices she would make.
I see Amy as a romantic character trapped in an anti-romantic life. Her rules on dieting add a little chic-lit lightness to the emotional conflict caused by the possessive love shown by her husband and by her best friend, who both seem to know what Amy should be doing. Paris alone as somewhere to have adventures and find out who you are and what you want, is a chance for any reader to go on the same journey – and it’s a surprising ride.
The ending was what I hoped for and leaves room for the next instalment – I will definitely continue reading.
Since I am a ‘Francophile ‘ myself, all things French and stories set anywhere in France are attractive to me.
This book, “The Paris Effect”, kept me in its spell throughout the entire story.
The content was so fluid and interesting, I didn’t want to stop reading…
The author is very adept at making the reader feel as if one is actually there, experiencing everything visually and emotionally alongside the protagonists.
I highly recommend this highly enjoyable book.
An adult coming of age story of fulfilling dreams and deciding what you really want from life.
It’s hard to pigeon-hole this book into a particular genre, certainly not the chic-lit one you might assume simply from a glance at the title and cover. It starts off with a familiar enough scenario, someone, Amy, coming to terms with the loss of a close friend and one-time lover, Kat, and the gaps and emptiness in their life when the person they knew and loved is prematurely no longer a part of it.
Written from the perspective of the central character, Amy, this is almost an adult coming of age story, encompassing elements of self-discovery and fulfilling dreams and ambitions with the initial scenario of Kat’s death simply being the catalyst for everything that follows, from the frantic and secret preparation of her clandestine trip, the shock of falling prey to a bag thief, learning the truth about the wonderful characters she meets along the way, and almost being arrested in the underground Parisian catacombs.
Although told in a roughly chronological order, much of the story is inter-spaced with flashbacks to personal episodes in Amy’s life and relationships and when Amy’s mind wanders off in other directions from the main story, giving the perspective a sort of ‘stream of consciousness’ feel to it much like that of a Virgina Wolf novel.
I must admit this wouldn’t be my usual choice of genre but the description was enough to intrigue me and from there the writing and the way the author developed and delved into Amy’s character held my interest. I liked the very real and ‘rounded’ image I got of Amy and her best friend, Kat; we see that they’re far from perfect, even with a few traits one could easily dislike either or both of them for, something that can often be difficult to achieve with a first-person perspective when talking about ourselves and those we love or admire. Amy, as we learn, is someone paranoid about her weight having once been grossly obese, and her numerous references to her equally numerous self-imposed dietary rules for staying slim are a running theme through the book, giving lots insights into her character and behaviour as well as adding some nice touches of humour throughout as well as adding meaning to nice funny little twist at the end.
There were a couple of aspects that didn’t quite work for me where I had to slightly suspend disbelief: I wasn’t convinced by the idea of taking off on a transatlantic journey in the belief you could have such an adventure without anyone knowing, like wagging the afternoon off school to go to the pictures, and the idea of keeping up the pretence by phone, believing that her husband could be fooled into thinking he’s speaking to his wife from home instead of from across the Atlantic – I’m not sure what the calling protocols are in the US but I imagine you still have to input international dialling codes for transatlantic calls – I just think for sheer plausibility it might have worked better with Amy perhaps leaving a note or communicating a message in some other way saying she needed time away on her own on account of her friend’s death, but again, minor details I’m probably being over picky about and certainly nothing that impacted on my enjoyment.
Overall this was a thoroughly enjoyable story – well written, good characterisation, nice touches of humour, and an odd sort of feel-good factor to it as you almost ‘will’ Amy to fulfill her dreams and hope that everything turns out for the best. Will definitely be reading any further adventures the author may have in store for Amy …