From the publisher:
A thirty-year-old woman retraces her gap year through Ireland, France, and Italy to find love—and herself—in this hilarious and heartfelt novel.
It’s been seven years since Chelsea Martin embarked on her yearlong postcollege European adventure. Since then, she’s lost her mother to cancer and watched her sister marry twice, while Chelsea’s thrown herself into work, becoming one of the most talented fundraisers for the American Cancer Coalition, and with the exception of one annoyingly competent coworker, Jason Knightley, her status as most successful moneymaker is unquestioned.
When her introverted mathematician father announces he’s getting remarried, Chelsea is forced to acknowledge that her life stopped after her mother died and that the last time she can remember being happy, in love, or enjoying her life was on her year abroad. Inspired to retrace her steps—to find Colin in Ireland, Jean Claude in France, and Marcelino in Italy—Chelsea hopes that one of these three men who stole her heart so many years ago can help her find it again.
From the start of her journey nothing goes as planned, but as Chelsea reconnects with her old self, she also finds love in the very last place she expected.
One of Popsugar’s Best New Books for Summer 2020
I recently read this author’s newest book, Wait for It, which I liked a lot so I poked around my Kindle and found this book that somehow I missed last year. Have I mentioned that I have over 5000 books on my Kindle? So easy for stuff to get lost. I try and keep it organized as best as I can, but sometimes books fall through the cracks. As this one did.
Chelsea has had a really hard time managing her grief after her mother’s death from pancreatic cancer. It’s been several years and she is still mired in it. When her father announces he is remarrying, she doesn’t handle it well, to say the least. Her family points out that she has lost her joy and she decides the best way to find her old self again is to return to Europe.
Seven years earlier Chelsea had taken a gap year and worked in several different countries in Europe, before being called home when her mother became ill. She fell in love three times; in Ireland, Paris, and Italy. She hasn’t been able to get in touch with any of the men other than Marcellino from Italy, but she decides to take a leave of absence from her job and see if she can find her joy with these men.
It’s an interesting trip, especially when her nemesis from work shows up. Jason is helping on a big account but she never expected him to show up in person. They don’t get along at all and have very different working styles. But come together they must for this new client.
Meanwhile, her European romances are not at all what she was expecting, but luckily, Jason is helpful with all that. Much to her surprise, Chelsea realizes he is not the bad guy she thought he was.
This is an enemies-to-lovers romance and a very good one. There is a lot of humor here, as well as bits that made me cry, or as they say, it has all the feels. Highly recommend!
8/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA by Jenn McKinlay. Berkley (July 21, 2020). ISBN: 978-0593101353. 352 pages.
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