SPOTLIGHT ON… Paris: Ten Must-Read Chic-Lit/Romance Novels
Paris Dreaming Anita Heiss
Libby is on a man-fast: no more romance, no more cheating men, no more heartbreak. After all, she has her three best girlfriends and two cats to keep her company at night and her high-powered job at the National Aboriginal Gallery in Canberra to occupy her day – isn’t that enough?
But when fate gives Libby the chance to work in Paris at the Musée duQuai Branly, she’s thrown out of her comfort zone and into a city full of culture, fashion and love.
Surrounded by thousands of gorgeous men, cute baristas and smooth-tongued lotharios, romance has suddenly become a lot more tempting.
And as if life wasn’t hard enough, there’s a chauvinist colleague at theMusée who seems determined to destroy Libby’s exhibition in every way he can.Then there’s Libby’s new friend Sorina, a young Roma gypsy, desperate to escape deportation. Libby must save her job and save her friend, but can she save herself from a broken heart?
Sleeping with Paris Juliette Sobanet
Date like a man in the City of Light and Love…
Charlotte Summers is a sassy, young French teacher two days away from moving to Paris. Love of her life by her side, for those romantic kisses walking along the Seine? Check. Dream of studying at the prestigious Sorbonne University? Admission granted. But when she discovers her fiancé’s online dating profile and has a little chat with the busty red-head he’s been sleeping with on the side, she gives up on committed relationships and decides to navigate Paris on her own. Flings with no strings in the City of Light—mais oui!
Determined to stop other women from finding themselves in her shoes, Charlotte creates an anonymous blog on how to date like a man in the City of Love—that is, how to jump from bed to bed without ever falling in love. But, with a slew of Parisian men beating down her door, a hot new neighbor who feeds her chocolate in bed, and an appearance by her ex-fiancé, she isn’t so sure she can keep her promise to remain commitment-free. When Charlotte agrees to write an article for a popular women’s magazine about her Parisian dating adventures—or disasters, rather—will she risk losing the one man who’s swept her off her feet and her dream job in one fell swoop?
Hidden in Paris Corine Gantz
In a tale of friendship, self-discovery and love, three women running away from their lives become unlikely friends in a beautiful house in the heart of Paris.
Lost in France, a country she mistrusts, among French people she hardly understands, Annie has trouble venturing away from home since the death of her husband. And since home happens to be a small jewel of a house nestled in the heart of Paris, why would she ever want to? But when bankruptcy threatens her beloved house, her one anchor in life, Annie has no choice but to find renters, and quick.
Leave it to someone socially phobic to phrase a want ad in all the wrong ways. With shimmering promises of ‘Starting over in Paris’ –– a concept she has no intention of applying to her own life––Annie attracts tenants with the kind of baggage that doesn’t fit in suitcases. A long-legged, cool-headed ex model (everything Annie is not) on the run from her abusive husband, a frail young woman harboring a possible death wish, a mysterious French artist, and an infuriating blue-blooded French man soon threaten Annie’s way of life in ways she never anticipated.
But when Annie finds herself reluctantly yet actively engaged in the rescue of her tenants, she discovers that she might just save herself in the process.
Je T’Aime, Me Neither April Lily Heise
Is Paris really the eternal City of Love? Dumped suddenly by her Parisian boyfriend, sultry expat Lily is left wondering if je t’aime still exists. Instead of crying into her glass of wine, she decides to heal her bruised ego and quash her romantic doubts with a carefree summer fling . . . or as the French call it: une aventure.
Supported by her faithful friends and trusty Saint Amour wine, Lily embarks on her presumably easy quest. Little does she know what—or whom—this adventure has in store! Rather than guide her into the arms of a perfect summer amoureux, the sexy streets of Paris lead her from one impossible candidate to another: disappearing foxy Frenchmen, unavailable Latino heartthrobs, overly-mysterious world travelers, mistress-hunting married men, and not-so-single amnesiacs—oh la la!
As her amorous mishaps accumulate, Lily gradually re-evaluates her strategy. But will her good intentions be enough to lead her to the right homme . . . one who might last out the summer—and maybe even beyond? Or will she continue to get embroiled in more mésaventure? This novelized memoir tells the tantalizingly true romantic odyssey of a 21st-Century young woman caught in the mire of desires—which is only intensified by the passion of Paris.
I Heart Paris Lindsey Kelk
Angela is in the city of love – but romance is taking a nose-dive…
When Angela Clark’s boyfriend Alex suggests a trip to Paris at the same time as hip fashion mag Belle asks her to write a piece, she jumps at the chance.
But even as she’s falling for the joie de vivre of Paris, someone’s conspiring to sabotage her big break. And when she spots Alex having a tête-à-tête with his ex in a local bar, Angela’s dreams of Parisian passion all start crashing down around her.
With London and her old life only a train journey away, Angela can’t decide if should stay and face the music or run away home…
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris Jenny Colgan
As dawn breaks over the Pont Neuf, and the cobbled alleyways of Paris come to life, Anna Trent is already awake and at work; mixing and stirring the finest, smoothest, richest chocolate; made entirely by hand, it is sold to the grandes dames of Paris.
It’s a huge shift from the chocolate factory she worked in at home in the north of England. But when an accident changed everything, Anna was thrown back in touch with her French teacher, Claire, who offered her the chance of a lifetime – to work in Paris with her former sweetheart, Thierry, a master chocolatier.
With old wounds about to be uncovered and healed, Anna is set to discover more about real chocolate – and herself – than she ever dreamed.
J’adore Paris Isabelle Lafleche
When chic Parisian lawyer Catherine Lambert lands her dream job as intellectual property director for Christian Dior, she is on top of the world. She’s prepared to embark on the ride of her life in the world of fashion, fighting high-profile legal battles against international counterfeiters. She’ll also be reunited with colleague-turned-boyfriend Antoine in her beloved hometown.
But Catherine’s visions of front-row seats at the couture shows and strolling the Champs-Élysées hand in hand with the love of her life are soon displaced by the realities of dingy police vans and threatening anonymous phone calls. The code of ethics that she knew from mergers and acquisitions does not seem to apply in the nefarious counterfeiting underworld, and Catherine finds her life turned upside-down by surprise meetings in dark alleys and an unexpected degree of notoriety among the criminal element.
Will Catherine and her loyal assistant, Rikash, manage to outsmart even the most crooked of characters and come out on top?
Three Weeks in Paris Barbara Taylor Bradford
As students at the prestigious Anya Sedgwick School of Decorative Arts in Paris, Alexandra Gordon, Kay Lenox, Jessica Pierce and Maria Franconi share the challenges and excitement of developing their artistic talents to the fullest under Sedgwick’s caring and demanding guidance. But once best friends, they part enemies, and after graduation they go their separate ways, pursuing careers and establishing lives in different corners of the world.
Alexandra, a set designer, becomes a leading figure in New York’s theatre world. Kay, who marries and moves to Scotland, designs a successful line of clothing. Jessica, an interior designer, makes her home in California, while Maria returns to her native Italy, where she continues to work in her family’s textile business.
For each of them, the arrival of an invitation to Paris to celebrate Anya Sedgwick’s eighty-fifth birthday stirs up complicated feelings: nostalgic memories are coloured by poignant regrets and the reluctance to revisit their own pasts mixes with curiosity about the other women. It is ultimately their desire to deal with unfinished business that convinces all of them to attend the party. During three eventful weeks in Paris, they visit their old haunts, rekindle ties, and awaken in each other the sense of wonder, adventure, and possibilities they had shared so long ago.
The Chocolate Kiss Laura Florand
At La Maison des Sorcieres, the window display is an enchanted forest of sweets, a collection of conical hats delights the eye and the habitues nibble chocolate witches from fanciful mismatched china.
While in their tiny blue kitchen, Magalie Chaudron and her two aunts stir wishes into bubbling pots of heavenly chocolat chaud. But no amount of wishing will rid them of interloper Philippe Lyonais, who has the gall to open one of his world famous pastry shops right down the street.
Philippe’s creations seem to hold a magic of their own, drawing crowds of beautiful women to their little isle amidst the Seine, and tempting even Magalie to venture out of her ivory tower and take a chance, a taste…a kiss.
Deus ex Machina Sparkle Hayter
When a starving writer splurges on a cab ride in Paris, she ends up on an unexpected journey.
“Sparkle Hayter’s Deus ex Machina . . . exploits the conventions of the crime story and the new realities of Paris in a roller coaster from suicide to murder to resolution that is quite simply a lot of fun to read.” ~ International Noir Fiction
AusRomToday 
Great selection of novels – particularly love Jenny Colgan’s new (ish) novel, just wanted to be in Paris! Thanks for bringing the titles together!