An enjoyable easy read, this would be perfect for enjoying on a sun lounger or curling up on an autumn afternoon. The plot was very gentle and full of sweet characters

I really enjoyed The Paris Secret by Lily Graham. It has been a while since I have read anything other than mystery/thrillers and this book was a refreshing break.

The book tells the story of Valerie from the time she was brought to the UK at the end of the Second World War. She was three years old at the time and is brought up by an aunt and uncle and is told that the rest of her family is dead. As she turns 20 her aunt tells her that she has a grandfather still living in Paris but that he doesn’t want to see her.

By a little scheming she gets a job at his bookstore in Paris under an assumed name and slowly but surely learns the truth behind her birth.

The book is a little predictable but also sweet. At times it almost seems like a romance novel set during that time period. I agree with another reviewer that it would have been interesting if she tried to track her father’s family especially since the book seems a little short.

I would definitely recommend this book and give it 4 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

Sweet, light, novel about a young French girl who falls for a Nazi officer in WWII Paris. It was a bit predictable at times but it was enjoyable. As with many works of historical fiction, the story alternates between the past and a more contemporary time. The storylines were easy to follow. This was definitely lighter than most novels about WWII.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I just can’t get enough of historical fiction. This book pulls you in from the start. I love the character of Valerie and the growth of the relationships throughout the story. I would call this a quick, sweet read. There isn’t any aha moments or wow moments, but overall a great story.

The Paris Secret goes back and forth in a timeline that covers the invasion of Paris in 1940, Valerie's return to Paris in 1962, and her life there. Valerie spent her first three years in occupied Paris, was given to her mother's cousin who eventually moved with Valarie to London. It is not until she in in her 20's, a library assistant, that she is told that her grandfather is still alive, a bookseller in Paris. Because she has no information on what happened to her parents or why she was given away, she applies for and gets a job at the bookstore in Paris under an assumed name.

Valerie wants desperately to get to know her grandfather, and to find out what happened to her parents when she was three. She knows that the true is here, with her grumpy grandfather Vincent and her mothers' best friend Clotilde. Neither mission is easily accomplished, but Valerie is not a quitter. What is the secret of her birth, and how did her parents die?

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Lily Graham, and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

What a delightful yet sad and heartbreaking story! I loved the back and forth storytelling, though I wish Valerie had perhaps searched for her fathers family as well. The author has quite a talent for painting a picture as it was so easy for me to imagine everything!

Given to me free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I could not stop reading this book! Absolutely loved the historical weave and it was so beautifully written. The struggles faced in Paris were real and the author truly captured it. Captivating.

Warning! This book will make you cry and crave the attention of a mangy old cat. It will make you want to head straight to Paris to find this magical bookstore!
Oh I wanted to live in that shop, pass through the shelves as the book flits through the timelines and hug almost all of those characters. Well the ones in the shop and lovely mr Dupont! The whole story of war time Paris as seen through the shelves and books of that small, quirky bookshop was the most moving story I’ve read in a long while.

The way the threads wove in and out of the periods was magical, as fluid as turning a page, reading Clotilde’s chapter, Mr Dupont and then the present day. The story is one of Paris, Jewish resistance, perseverance and humanity where you least expect it. It’s a unique way of looking at the war and I’ve not read one about the occupation as seen through the customers and owners of a bookstore.

I loved Mr Dupont, Madame Joubert and those warm characters who had done so much behind the scenes and kept heartbreaking secrets all these years. Clotilde, Mattaus, Valerie. Mon Dieu, I have not wept so much in a while. Such rich characters and vivid scenes.Gorgeously evoked! I fell in love with one of them myself.

I bawled at one of the later scenes. But by the end I was smiling and crying. I was an emotional mess all round really. Think I need that mangy old bookshop cat to come alive so I have something to cuddle right now.

This is a story that goes back and forth between different time scales so we get to learn, along with Valerie, the truth about her departure from Paris as a young child.

You really get a sense of Paris as well as sadly the war. The descriptions of the shops and café's and the buildings, it really makes you fall in love with the place, even though a lot of it is set at a time in history that no one would to be party to. 

I was fascinated when we are transported to the parts to do with Valerie's mother. It really does make for some emotional reading as we see what life was back then and in fear of the Nazi's. I was gripped wanting to rush through the pages to see why Valerie had been taken to England yet wanting to savour all that I was reading.

This is very much a story of discovery. Valerie's story will have readers totally engrossed and taken on an emotional roller coaster of a ride as we share the highs and lows of her families history. 

The Paris Secret is a heartbreaking and emotional read that will have you reaching for the tissues more than a few times. Sometimes in happiness and others in sadness. A captivating and beautifully written story that ingrains itself in the readers hearts and minds.

A Paris Secret by Lily Graham is the story of Valerie who was born in Paris during the occupation in the 1940s. She has grown up in London living with her aunt who rescued her from France as a small child. Valerie now in her 20s travels to Paris to find her family. She desperately wants to find out about her mother and the reason that she was given away to her aunt.
I enjoyed this story. I was appalled at the treatment given out to women and children during the occupation.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

The war was unkind to Valerie’s family. She fled Paris at age three, one step ahead of the Nazis. The rest of her family was not so lucky. Now a young woman, Valerie has returned to Paris to help run the bookshop owned by her grandfather, Vincent, her only surviving relative. He is also the only person who knows what really happened to her parents in those dark days, but the secrets he keeps have been long-buried and his wounds are too close to the surface for him to want to share the truth. This is a beautiful story about two people coming to terms with the worst of humanity and finding a light on the other side. Be prepared to shed a few tears