Meet Me in Paris ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Meet Me in Paris by Kristin Harmel

G👀dreads About Summary

Nine Americans in Paris. Seven intertwined love stories. One City of Light.

Love Actually meets The Notebook in a tale of love, loss, and finding your way home, all set over the course of one life-changing week in Paris.

Julia Glover has brought her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Piper, to Paris for the first time—but they know it will also be their last trip here together. Julia is dying, and as the mother and daughter desperately try to make memories together as the clock ticks down, the world opens up around them. Piper meets a cute French waiter, who might just understand her better than anyone she’s ever met, and Julia meets a man at a dive bar and struggles with how to tell him the truth about her future.

Rock star Jackson Quick’s glory days are behind him. He had a handful of hit songs thirty years ago, but he hasn’t toured in a decade. This week, he’ll launch his reunion tour in Paris, the city where it all began. But he wants more out of life than being defined by fame. When he meets a woman who finally sees him for who he is at his core, the ground shifts beneath his feet.

Henry McGee has been writing hit songs for decades—including Jackson Quick’s biggest hit, City of Light. But his secret is that every love song he’s ever written is for a woman named Celeste, whom he loved a lifetime ago, when they were both teenagers in Paris during World War II. He has spent eighty years believing she died—but when a letter arrives telling him the opposite, he’s on the first flight to France. Can he break through the haze of her dementia, using the songs he’s written all these years, to remind her of who they once were to each other—and to tell her he came back for her?

Henry’s granddaughter, Melody, has just discovered that her husband of twenty years, Gilles, a French cosmetics executive, is having an affair. When she confronts him, he tearfully apologizes and begs her to forgive him. But can she? And, perhaps even more importantly, does she want to? Or is there a different kind of life out there for her if she chooses to be alone?

These intertwining stories—plus several others—unfold over a few breathtaking spring days, as an unforgettable group of Americans in Paris must find their way to their own versions of happily ever after in the City of Light.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, France, Paris, Chick Lit

The How/Why: Kristin Harmel told me to! I liked The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau so I was hopeful. She did not disappoint. 
This one was just published 7-28-2026 and had it tagged in Libby. Shocked it came off Hold so quickly. At this moment, 11 people are waiting behind me so I better hop to it.

Plus still need a diversion from my book club's BotM, the KKK book. I can only take it in small doses. Hoping to finish it tomorrow. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

🎉 Overall Storytelling? 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

🎣 Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes ➕

🕮 Would I want a sequel? Yes ➕ I know, I'm surprised too since I'm always saying I don't like getting sucked into a series. Actually I wouldn't mind a sequel following these characters as time goes by.

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author? Yes ➕

⚠️💣💥 📢 Content Warnings? Terminal Illness and Cancer, Dementia and Alzheimer's, Ǥriɇf & LoŞŞ

🌶️🫑Spice? No

🌪 Plot Twist? No

👟 Pace? Very good

💻 Tidbits ~
@20% - I thought I would need to get out the marker board when the About Summary started with "Nine Americans in Paris". At 20% I'm finding them easy to keep track of without a guide!
******************

Jane Austen’s quote perfectly captures the concept that love connections can develop in a single week.
“Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”

This weeklong journey in Paris explores different kinds of love.

Happily-Ever-After does not mean the same thing for everyone.

A mother’s HEA might be that she can finish out what’s left in her life knowing her daughter is going to be okay. And maybe it’s never too late to find someone special even in your darkest hours.

A woman can choose herself over her broken marriage to live her best HEA.
Or maybe it’s someone catching a glimpse of a memory when most of the memories have long faded away.

Yes, there are a LOT of characters, but I felt it was easy to get to know them. They were all so different that I found it easy to jump from storyline to storyline with ease.

I don’t know that I can pick a favorite character because I enjoyed all of their stories.

There is always a special spot in my heart for the ‘agenarians. In this case nonagenarians Henry and Celeste. Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.

Also Julia and her daughter Piper embracing the remaining time they have together.

Eye opening quote by Julia:
"The minute you're diagnosed with cancer, everything about who you are vanishes in the eyes of the world. You’re no longer a mother, a friend, or a professional; your entire identity is stripped down until you’re just the lady who has cancer."

That one hit me hard as I find I think of my friends who have battled cancer a “cancer survivor warriors”. So ya, need to change my mindset immediately.

Author’s note:

"Wherever you are in the world, and wherever you are in your life, you have the right to choose happiness— and to pursue your own happily ever after with your whole heart."

She also discussed her inspiration and how she tapped into her time in Paris, her battle with breast cancer, her love for the movie Love Actually and wanting to dive into something similar bringing Americans to Paris.

Yes, I will meet you in Paris, because I should really chase the fantasy that Paris has to offer.

Side note: I went to France a few years ago and Paris was not my favorite. I enjoyed all the other surrounding towns and old storybook villages we visited. When I got home and was watching a movie with all the charm and love for Paris. I called my sister and said “That’s not the Paris we were at. I want to go to THAT Paris!”

🎧 Narrator: Madeleine Maby 👍👍Some books with a large cast benefit greatly with a full cast of narrators. Madeleine Maby brought on the one-woman band! She did a fantastic job transitioning from person to person with ease.

🎧10.55 hours (Libby) 🕮 368 pages 

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