Smada's Book Smack : Blog Tour & Giveaway: Alone in Paris by Ashley Earley

Alone in Paris

byAshley Earley

Publisher: CreatSpace

Release Date: April 1, 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Breathe, Taylor.

Taylor Clay's family isn't exactly perfect. They may look the part with the nice, big house and her dad's fancy job, but that's what's tearing them apart. That, and her dad's sudden recurring drinking problem. Though her family is close to falling apart, she never wished for something like this to happen. She never wished for her father to drive off a bridge. Especially not while they were on vacation; especially not when her and her mom were in the car with him at the time.

Breathe.

She's devastated after the fact. And it isn't helping that the papers are gossiping about how the pristine lawyer could have driven off the bridge on purpose. And just when she thinks nothing could possibly make things worse, she realizes she's left alone with no relatives to care for her. So she's alone. Her parents are dead. And she's stuck in the country her family was visiting for their vacation. She's alone in Paris.

Just breathe.

Then Nathan walks into the picture. Funny, snarky, persistent, and sometimes, just flat out rude, he annoys Taylor to no end. He won't leave her alone, but Taylor doesn't know whether or not she should push him away.

3.5 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Teen, Romance--

Taylor has been living in an abandoned apartment building in Paris alone since the death of her parents, barely getting by and living off scraps and random finding dropped by tourists. She is overwhelmed by depression and loneliness, not even living anymore. When some men enter the apartment building and discuss tearing it down, Taylor has to face some hard realities that her year of drifting may be destroyed. When a strange boy, Nathan, comes barreling into her life, he forces her to give life another shot.

This story was definitely different from what I was expecting. I thought I was going to go into this story and get a coming of age sweet love story that has a little bit of tragedy thrown in for flavor. In actuality, this was more about the grief and feelings of being along that Taylor experienced. This story was a whole lot more emotional than I could ever have anticipated. I mean geez, the feels! I was so caught up in the swirling emotions of despair, emptiness, regret, loneliness and longing that made up Taylor, I did not know where she ended and I began. If anyone needed a hug (or an nosy, pushy Nathan) it was her. The book was surprisingly romantic too, in a surprising, sneak up on you way and the tragedy was able to be turned into something so wonderful.

I did have a question as to the language issue. She is an American in Paris yet communicates perfectly with everyone. Was everyone speaking english? Did she learn French in the year that she was hiding out and for the most part ignoring people? Was all the books she found and squirreled away in English? I thought the book created very realistic, relatable people that I felt like I knew and rooted for, but the setting felt more like it was here in America, just with the Eiffel tower and and a few pastry shops lying around.

I am glad that I got the opportunity to read this book (and I loved the ending!) and I look forward to more from this author.

I received this title in return for my honest review.

Ashley Earley is a 20-year-old author that is working toward her B.A. in English with anemphasis in Creative Writing. When she’s not writing, she’s posting on her blog, reading, obsessing over a book character, or spending time with friends. Her obsession with books started at the age of twelve, before developing into a love for writing at the age of fourteen, when she wrote her first novel.

Her Thriller/Suspense short story, Chasing Hair of Gold, won first place in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards.

You can visit heratwww.ashleyearley.com.