Review: The Paris Key by Juliet Blackwell

Title: The Paris Key
Author: Juliet Blackwell
Format: Paperback
Publisher: NAL
Publish Date: September 1, 2015 (Today!)
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "As a girl, Genevieve Martin spent the happiest summer of her life in Paris, learning the delicate art of locksmithing at her uncle’s side. But since then, living back in the States, she has become more private, more subdued. She has been an observer of life rather than an active participant, holding herself back from those around her, including her soon-to-be-ex-husband.

Paris never really left Genevieve, and, as her marriage crumbles, she finds herself faced with an incredible opportunity: return to the magical city of her youth to take over her late uncle’s shop. But as she absorbs all that Parisian culture has to offer, she realizes the city also holds secrets about her family that could change her forever, and that locked doors can protect you or imprison you, depending on which side of them you stand."


My Two Cents:

"The Paris Key" is the story of Genevieve, who is running away from her marriage after her husband has an affair. She's heartbroken and she thinks that getting back to the city that her mother fell in love with and taking over her uncle's locksmith shop might just be the trick to getting her life back on track. Genevieve can barely speak French when she arrives in Paris but slowly she begins to build a life for herself and begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to her mother in Paris.

This book is the story of family, love, and family secrets. This book started off a little bit shaky for me and throughout the book there were places where I felt that the author told a little bit too much and gave a little bit too much detail which gummed up some of the narrative. Luckily for me there were only a couple places like that and in general, the storytelling was very good. I was entranced by the story of Angela, Genevieve's mother, and how she fell in love in Paris. I don't want to give anything away about Angela's love story because that makes a huge crux of the story arc. The story is definitely originally when it comes to Angela's story, which I appreciated.

Paris is definitely one place that I love to read about. I would love to visit someday and this book had me wishing that even more. I thought that the author gave a really unique look at Paris in the present day as well as Paris in the more recent past. Overall, I thought this was a good story and I read it pretty quickly!