Paris in the Spring Time

Winner of the day: Meredith please email us your name and mailing address at author2author(DOT)blog(AT)gmail(DOT)com to claim yesterday's book Zig Zag. Congrats!

The book I’m giving away today is French Kiss by Aimee Friedman. It’s a story about two friends who have an awesome time on their spring break in Paris. Senior Alexa St. Laurent originally went to Paris with her boyfriend for a romantic getaway (Note: My mother would SO not go for this when I was in high school. I couldn’t even have a boy in my room WITH the door open.) That turned out to be a sucky idea, however, and he left right after a fight at the beginning of their trip. So Alexa calls her friend, Holly, who is on a school trip in England and asks her to join her in Paris. They meet up and have a great time. You know great time=some hook-ups with cute French boys right?? (Question for all blog readers: Do the French call French kissing, French kissing? Hmmm…)

From the Publisher:

“Two beautiful girls. One sexy city.

Endless opportunities for l'amour.

When Alexa St. Laurent falls in love, she falls hard. Can she keep her cool after meeting a French guy who's too good to be true and too hard to resist?

For Holly Jacobson, being in love with her boyfriend Tyler is as natural as breathing. But there's no denying that Alexa's Parisian cousin, Pierre, takes Holly's breath away...

On a whirlwind rendezvous in Paris, the City of Love, Alexa and Holly are about to discover that everything sounds sexier in French.”

I thought this book was great—a fun, fast read. It was one of those books where I just read the blurb on the back and was hooked to buy it. There was a lot of brand name dropping and commercial stuff like that but I kinda like that stuff. And the scenery and experiences of the girls in the book felt so real that I wondered if the author herself went and experienced these things firsthand, maybe when she was a teen.

Which then made me think, why didn’t I go to Paris when I was a teen? Or really anywhere abroad? I did have a chance once to study abroad in England but a stinkin’ guy talked me out of it because he just couldn’t bear to be without me. Ha! (It was all very Dawson’s Creek when Dawson talks Joey out of studying in Paris. Note to all teenage girls who may find themselves in this position one day—ditch the guy! Take the trip!).

I just love books set somewhere outside of the U.S.—especially in Europe. And taking a trip to Europe is great for inspiration to write these kinds of books. Granted I didn’t go when I was a teen but I did go with my husband and toting two babies a few years ago and it was awesome! And it gave me great ideas for a second Espressologist book set in Europe (so, when my book comes out next fall, please buy one so they ask me to write this book, ok? Thanks.)

So if you want to escape to romantic Paris for a few hours by reading this book (and you know you do), Comment below and enter for a chance to win. Double your chances of winning by posting a link to our contest on your own blog (and leave the blog address in your comments). Winner announced tomorrow!

Kristina, Miss Soon-to-Pub