Review: Paris Ever After by K.S.R. Burns

I didn't like this book very much. This review is sort of regarding both this book and The Paris Effect, who which Paris Ever After is a sequel.

First, lots of respect to the author for writing something so weird and different. When I first saw the book, thought it was another story about a woman who runs off to Paris to escape her dull life and find herself. And it is that, but it's a lot more. The characters are bizarre. The Paris in this story is not the one we're used to seeing or reading about, but rather one of underground clubs and insane English women, and creepy, lying men. No one is what they seem.

As for the main character, she's equally complicated and disturbed. She's married to a man she doesn't love and married only because she was pregnant - but had a miscarriage very early in the pregnancy and has since been miserable in her marriage for years. A big part of the story involves her grieving the loss of her best friend, who was also her lover in college though her confusion about her sexual orientation is never really addressed. (I was kind of hoping the story would end up with her finding an amazing woman in Paris but finally realizing maybe she was never happy in her marriage because she was lesbian, but that didn't happen - big missed opportunity because the actual romance that got tacked on at the end of this book was super boring.)

There are several characters suffering from some fairly serious mental issues and no one seems to be especially concerned about this. The English woman who lies and manipulates people, her daughter who is either a liar or suffered something fairly traumatic that no one is addressing, and then the creepy guy who pretends to be wealthy. Then we have the main character's eating disorder that is only sort of addressed - mostly in the first book, less so in this one.

I didn't really like the characters in this book. Amy, the main character, is selfish and irresponsible. She runs off to Paris while her husband is away on business, thinking she'll be back before he returns. Then she gets sick, loses her phone, ends up being completely dependent on total strangers. That was the first book. And I didn't like it all that much, hadn't planned to read next book - but then I saw in on NetGalley and I was curious as to what happens next because as I said, I was quite impressed with how bizarre the story was.

In this book, Amy has a fight with her husband, takes off to Paris again. She essentially abandons her marriage and then, surprise, realizes she's pregnant. So again, she's expecting these people she barely knows to care for her. And her constant referring to her unborn child by name is so annoying - once in a while, okay, but it's constant, the baby (I don't remember the name) likes this, the baby was doing this, the baby wants this. That kind of made me hate the character.

Also, as I've said in other reviews, many times I'm sure, I despise stories in which the accidental pregnancy is the most wonderful thing ever - the last thing this woman needs is a baby. She doesn't even have a place to live, or any source of income or any real plans at all regarding her future.

Clearly, I didn't like the book very much.

I received a copy via NetGalley.