Hi guys!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.
It seems I’ve been spending a lot of time recently in Paris...well, reading wise at least...considering my current read (more on that next week), and the title at the center of today’s post. It’s a work of Fiction that shows two sides to the city of lights...that which glitters in daylight, and that which dazzles at night. Ready to take a glimpse at a world you know, but only just? Ladies and gents, grab your boarding passes as we take a look between the pages of today’s title in the spotlight...
by
Christa Menegas
9781399903868
About the book...
Newly arrived for a six-month stay in Paris, Helen Larsen is settling in with her Montparnasse writer's group when she skids straight into a mystery. Is a once-famous, now-reclusive rock idol responsible for a dark deed? The story dashes from the Louvre museum's most suggestive paintings to a seduction in a medieval chapel to a legendary cemetery to find out.
Helen's tendency to snoop lands her on a one-of-a-kind tour of the City of Light. The trail as alluring and twisty as the art nouveau tendrils that climb the city's shadowed corners. The ups and downs include stained glass and teargas, an antique sex manual and mysterious poetry, the Eiffel Tower the hard way, and seduction in an absinthe bar. The conclusion takes place in that famed necropolis of lovers and poets, the Pere Lachaise cemetery, where resting peacefully is not the dead's only option.
The story-funny, sexy, with dashes of macabre-pulls readers along on a delicious romp through this most decadent of cities. Nothing is quite what it seems. All's well that ends well-but until then, the language barrier is the least of the barricades Helen will crash into or storm.
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My fellow readers and bloggers, you’ll relate to this. Have you ever read about a book, and then started it only to find yourself neck deep in a story you weren’t expecting? Yeah, that was totally me here. It’s not to say I didn’t find it enjoyable in its own dark and curious way, but the synopsis had me going one way, and the beginning of the book another, and then the actual story took a large deviation and I felt thrown. Cie la vie, it is what it is, and I rolled with the punches…
I felt for Helen, having lost someone close to her, and trying to find her footing. It both hurt and helped that part of the legacy left behind for her was travel to destinations unknown, discovering all life has to offer. Can’t say I’d be able to do the same in her situation as I have to have a planned place to land come what may, but I love the IDEA of it! The freedom to experience life as it comes, chase dreams, and follow your heart. In the City of Lights, that should be easy, right? Well, she’s tackled some of those aspirations, but finding the measure of her heart is proving a bit of a task. The French seem to view liaisons in a different light, and their allure are proofing to be the call of the siren for Helen. She gets into a few uncomfortable situations on her journey (apparently the hours of five to seven are something to avoid for a meet up unless you’re in the know), including the steps she takes to delve into the mystery alluded to in the synopsis...which lead to a very memorable, very unexpected end sequence.
All in all, the darkness and light, ups and downs, the macabre and mundane...it’s all about LIFE and LIVING IT. Dreams are great, fantasies are fine, but what we have left at the end of the day is what really matters. Even our rock star legend learns a thing or two through some hard knock life lessons, though it may have taken many years to finally get it. I say this is a story to come to with a desire to see the city through the eyes of another, as they take a detour in their own path to truly experience what life is all about.
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Special thanks to author Christa Menegas for the copy for review! For more information on this title or the author, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now, so click on over to your favorite online retailer to snag your copy today.
Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
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