Seven Letters from Paris by Samantha Verant: An Enchanting Modern Fairytale

I received this book for free from Publisher for review consideration, opinions expressed are 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links as indicated by an asterisk. Purchases from these links provides a small commission to me at no extra cost to you.

Seven Letters from Paris by Samantha Verant
Publication Date: Oct. 7, 2014
Pages: 254
Format: eARC
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Synopsis from Goodreads:

“Twenty years, seven letters, and one long-lost love of a lifetime

At age 40, Samantha Verant’s life is falling apart-she’s jobless, in debt, and feeling stuck… until she stumbles upon seven old love letters from Jean-Luc, the sexy Frenchman she’d met in Paris when she was 19. With a quick Google search, she finds him, and both are quick to realize that the passion they felt 20 years prior hasn’t faded with time and distance.

Samantha knows that jetting off to France to reconnect with a man that she only knew for one sun-drenched, passion-filled day is crazy-but it’s the kind of crazy she’s been waiting for her whole life.”

 

My Thoughts:

Oh, l’amour! I first heard about Seven Letters from Paris when Deb from Reader Buzz gave a copy away during our Travel the World in Books Readathon in September. Much to my delight, the author Samantha Verant asked if I wanted to read a copy and review for the book’s blog tour. How could I pass up a book about an American woman going for the Frenchman of her dreams after 20 years?

I devoured this book all in one day. At 39, Sam realizes that her relationship with her husband has fizzled into a passionless union of anger and resentment. After talking with her best friend, she pulls out the 7 love letters she received from the handsome Frenchman, Jean-Luc, 20 years ago after the one crazy day they spent together in Paris. It took losing Jean-Luc and her husband to make Sam remember what real passion felt like.

As Sam and Jean-Luc reconnect, each of Jean-Luc’s love letters is teasingly revealed throughout the book. The letters made me swoon and yearning for the next one. The way Jean-Luc lovingly describes Sam’s eyes, her beauty, her humor and his passion for her after just one day of knowing her. Jean-Luc is charming and seductive and holds nothing back, a man that says just what he feels.

For Sam, her feelings and situation are more complicated. Her financial problems and mounting debt make matters worse as she moves back home with her parents to get back on her feet. Torn in different directions by the men in her life, her confused ex husband, her estranged biological father and her doting adopted father, she has trouble figuring out how she should proceed with Jean-Luc.

The story takes place back and forth from swanky Malibu, California to the small towns in the south of France. Sam describes her struggle to learn the French language and culture with humor and sweetness. There were definitely some laugh out loud moments when her French pronunciation got her into some totally embarassing situations which she laughed off with grace. Me? I’d have been beet red, mortified and hiding in a corner. I loved reading about French food, wine and the smaller towns I’d never heard of, where castles are like bed and breakfasts and you can give yourself away as an American by the wine you order. I was mesmerized by the landscape, the fields of sunflowers turning towards the sun. I was enchanted and charmed by this lovely book, a modern fairytale showing it’s never too late to find true love with France as a perfect setting.