Last month was all about mysteries and suspense here at The Biblio Blonde! While those are perennial favorites and I’ll be reading plenty more, I took a little detour into Women’s Fiction last week.  And what a lovely journey it was!

A friend of mine posted a quote on social media today that is an old favorite of mine:

The best kind of friendships are fierce lady friendships, where you aggressively believe in each other, defend each other, and think the other deserves the world.

I love these words!  The timing was perfect, because I think it perfectly describes the book I’m about to share with you!

One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two women who, on the surface, couldn’t be more different.  Here’s a description:

To celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, Grace has planned the surprise of a lifetime for her husband—a romantic getaway to Paris. But she never expected he’d have a surprise of his own: he wants a divorce. Reeling from the shock but refusing to be broken, a devastated Grace makes the bold decision to go to Paris alone.

Audrey, a young woman from London, has left behind a heartache of her own when she arrives in Paris. A job in a bookshop is her ticket to freedom, but with no money and no knowledge of the French language, suddenly a summer spent wandering the cobbled streets alone seems much more likely… until she meets Grace, and everything changes.

Grace can’t believe how daring Audrey is. Audrey can’t believe how cautious newly single Grace is. Living in neighboring apartments above the bookshop, this unlikely pair offer each other just what they’ve both been missing. They came to Paris to find themselves, but finding this unbreakable friendship might be the best thing that’s ever happened to them…

Grace and Audrey come from different countries, different backgrounds, and different generations.  But a chance encounter on the street in Paris brings them together, and changes the course of the summer for both of them.

I really enjoyed this novel!  The story itself was terrific, but what really made this a good read for me were the characters.  The author did a magnificent job of building a background for each woman and bringing each to the point where they find one another.  The bond that develops between Grace and Audrey is magical, and proves that family is where you find it.

As a forty-something woman who has been married over twenty years, I found Grace in particular rather relatable:  her insecurities, her routines, her impending empty nest.  Now, I don’t know if I would have made the same decisions she did… at many moments, I found myself wondering: is that would I would have done?  Sometimes, the answer was no.

Audrey, too, was well written and interesting.  And I enjoyed the development of both women, and seeing how things changed for them over the course of the book.  And Mimi?  Grace’s elderly grandmother was absolutely charming… and she was keeping some secrets of her own!

This story was, in a word, delightful.  It’s a beautifully written tale of broken hearts, fresh beginnings, and fierce female friendship.  I love finding new authors to enjoy, and I’ll definitely be reading more of Morgan’s work.

Five fierce stars for this one… I highly recommend One Summer in Paris for a heartwarming, lovely read!

Find “One Summer in Paris” here:

Bookshop.org     Amazon

I hope you have a delightful book in hand as well!  (If not, pick this one up!!)

Happy reading!!

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My thanks to Net Galley and Harlequin for a complimentary digital review copy of this title.  All opinions are my own.

This is my Review of the Month for the review collection on LovelyAudiobooks.info