Review: Paris Letters by Janice Macleod

Title: Paris Letters
Author: Janice Macleod
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publish Date: February 4, 2014
Source: Netgalley

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a memoir fan
• You like armchair traveling.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Unfulfilled at her job and unsuccessful in the dating department, Janice MacLeod doodled this question at her desk. Then she decided to make it a challenge.

Over the next few months, with a little math and a lot of determination, she saved up enough to buy two years of freedom in Europe.

But she had only been in Paris for a few days when she met a handsome butcher (with a striking resemblance to Daniel Craig)—and never went home again.

A love story in the vein of Almost French and Lunch in Paris, Paris Letters (February 4) is a joyful romp through the City of Light, and an inspiring look at what can happen when we dare to create the life we want.

Realizing that her Parisian love affair would be forever, MacLeod began her own business on Etsy, creating beautifully-illustrated letters from Paris inspired by artists like Percy Kelly and Beatrix Potter. She now paints and writes full-time, bringing beautiful things to subscribers around the world and reviving the lost art of letter-writing."

My Two Cents:

"Paris Letters" is the memoir of Janice, a woman who decides that she needs a change in her life. She hates her job and her love life leaves something to being desired. So Janice saves up her money and is able to leave for Europe where she lives a much freer life. This memoir has a heavy focus on some wonderful traveling and I ate it up.

I think we've all wanted to run away at some point or another. I know that I dream of running away to some place where life is a little bit quieter and perhaps even a little bit slower where I had days where I didn't have to do anything but relax and read a whole bunch of books (oh, if money grew on trees!). It was really cool to read about someone who was actually able to do it (at least for a little bit). The book starts from the point in time where Janice is beginning to save money. She figures that she needs to save just $100 before she can go to Europe.

I enjoyed the travel aspect of the book but I wish a little bit more focus on some of the aspects of her life. While overseas, she faces a language barrier even with the guy that she falls hard for. I would have also loved to know more about other difficulties that Janice faced. Those items are sort of glossed over in this story. This book would be really good for armchair travelers but maybe not for those that were looking for a more serious and detailed memoir. This was a fun romp!