Member Reviews

Tatiana, a character from The Secret Vow, returns to tell her story in The Paris Girl. While Katya and Harry (the couple from The Secret Vow) are off on their own adventure, Tatiana is forced to go it alone. She makes quite the mess of things, as you would expect given her spoiled princess personality. This book was fast-paced and the plot was interesting. I found myself staying up way past my bedtime just to finish!

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I enjoyed the idea of this book but sadly was far too long for me and I didn’t find it gripping enough to finish. Sorry.

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What a wonderful read!!! Paris, Russia, Fashion. I would love to go back in time to see the fashion. I couldn’t put this book down. Natalie Meg Evans has a way with words!

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I enjoyed most of this book. It's a long, long book with several story lines. However, the main character becomes a doormat about 40% into the book, and the author lost me. This book has lots of potential, but I think the author had trouble with the protagonist's main character. I expected. more of the main character's backstory as a refugee from tsarist Russia, but there wasn't enough of that aspect of the story.

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Russian royalty fled to Paris in the early 1920s to escape the revolution, One princess had to find a way to survive. Her beauty took her into the resurgence in high fashion in what was once the fashion centre of Europe. Her tragic past blends with a fatal romance. It's not a great story but still a decent one.

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I admire a writer when they are able to evoke an emotional to one or more of their characters.
However, in "The Paris Girl" I found it almost impossible to feel any interest in the novel's main character. In fact, I was totally annoyed with her and the plot didn't keep my attention long enough to want to finish it, which is a shame because the topic of fashion in Paris after the first world war as well as the role photojournalists played in promoting high fashion was really quite interesting.

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Not for me this one I’m afraid. The Paris Girl tells the story of Tatiana Vytenis and her sister in 1920s Paris. Forced to feel Russia after seeing the Bolsheviks murder their father and take away their elder sister, Tatiana is desperate to escape her past. I loved the descriptive detail in the book about Paris and the fashion industry there in the 1920s. However for me the story falls flat simply because I couldn’t warm to Tatiana, I found her annoying and immature. The format also didn’t work for me as I found the jumping about and different viewpoints confusing. Sadly I also found the romance cliched and predictable.

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Yay a new book from Natalie Meg Evans. She has Paris in her blood so I was looking forward to read this as her other books have been very good!

This follows the pattern of her other novels but with an added level of intrigue - there’s an exiled Princess, Russian no less, now working as a model in Paris. (Tatiana) is engaged but her fiance’s mother thinks he could do better. Charming! What would she think if she knew that his brother also had designs on this woman? That is nothing compared to what happens after that.

See, what did I say about intrigue? There’s tons of that here but what Natalie really does well is the scene setting, the 1920s overtones of glitz and glamour despite the war years. The fact that Paris is always glamourous darling even if the world and the people around it are crumbling. American photographer Regan comes into the novel to show Tatiana happiness again and to see if there is a chance she could revive her career.

It’s this career that fascinated me the most. I’m not a fashionista by any sense of the imagination but the 1920s are endlessly fascinating to me. Does Natalie have a time machine which takes her back there so all she has to do is take pictures to show readers? It’s very realistic and immersive how she uses imagery and translates it to the page. All characters are well drawn and everyone, every thing has its place and pride of place, not to mention the attention to detail lavished upon it.

There’s snippets and signs from previous novels but this stands on its own two (very fashionably decked) feet.

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The Paris Girl by Natalie Meg Evans takes you to Paris in the 1920’s. Do you even need to know more than that? A beautiful place during a time of gorgeous fashion and glamour, Paris is home to Tatiana, a young woman working as a model. What a different life she leads now compared to when she was poor and struggling! Of course, life isn’t all glitz and wealth and happiness…

Here’s the plot:

Tatiana Vytenis has worked hard to leave her past behind. Once a ruined Russian princess in hiding, she is now a sought-after model and engaged to Gérard de Sainte-Vierge – a handsome, if occasionally overbearing, aristocrat. With the Sainte-Vierge heirloom ruby sparkling on her finger, Tatiana feels as though she should be happy. Not long ago she was penniless and now she’s about to become a marquise.

But fate still has a final hand to play. One night in a bohemian café in Montparnasse, Tatiana discovers she’s been the unknowing plaything of the Sainte-Vierge family. Hidden beneath their genteel exteriors, Gerard and his brother have a secret darker side, and her darling fiancé will gladly ruin Tatiana’s life to save his own reputation.

As Tatiana’s situation becomes ever more desperate, she crosses paths with an unlikely guardian angel. Regan Dortmeyer is an American in Paris – a war photographer running from his own hard knocks in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. He’s no fancy French nobleman, but Regan has seen the lengths to which a wicked man like Gerard will go. As the consequences of her disastrous engagement threaten to swallow Tatiana up, he might be the only one who can save her now.

I love stunning, gripping historical fiction like this book. It’s always nice to switch up genres and I do like to read mostly thrillers with some historical fiction and memoirs thrown in to mix it all up. Natalie Meg Evans writes so well, I will read anything she comes out with. I absolutely adored The Milliner’s Secret! Have you read it?

This book will be out on October 31, order it now for $3.99!

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This was an excellent historical novel that gave an enlightening look at post-war Paris.
The story follows a Russian Princess, Tatiana, and her family who have escaped from Russia. She finds her place as a fashion model.
Her character undergoes a huge change throughout the course of the book. She starts off as a spoiled aristocrat and evolves into a very likable character and redeemed her earlier self.
The vivid imagery was engaging and I learned so many details about Paris in the 1920s.
While this book is a continuation of an earlier book, this book can stand alone. I enjoyed it so much, that I plan to read the earlier book.

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An evocative slice of historical fiction, The Paris Girl by Natalie Meg Evans takes the reader back to Paris in the 1920's , a world of glamour, glitz and couture. Formerly a Russian Princess, exiled Tatiana Vytenis is now working as a model for an up and coming fashion house. Desperate for security ,she clings to her aristocratic fiance Gerard de Sainte- Vierge despite the disapproval of his autocratic mother who believes he should marry someone more suited to his standing. To further complicate matters, her fiance's brother is infatuated with her, and his persistent attention is troubling. One dark night matters come to a dramatic and deadly climax, and to save her fiance's reputation she helps to cover up a terrible crime, at deep personal cost, Abandoned by her family , she is imprisoned and on her release finds she has lost everything she once held dear. Only her budding friendship with American photographer Regan gives her the slightest hope that she will regain happiness and possibly revive her career.
This was my first book by this author, and when I picked it up I was not sure what to expect, but what I got was a fascinating glimpse into the world of couture fashion in 1920's Paris and the bohemian lifestyle. Tatiana is a really well created and believable character, she is certainly not without her flaws but her determination and strength are certainly admirable. Even the more secondary characters have clearly been imagined with a lot of loving care and attention, and this really brings them to life on the page for the reader. The pace of the book is very good, there is a good blend of drama and romance to keep the reader's attention, At the end of the book I learned that some of the characters who appear in this book are the subjects of books of their own by this author and I would definitely like to read more about them,
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the Publisher, all opinions are my own.

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It was a beautifully written novel by an extremely talented writer. Excellent character depiction, plus an exciting storyline make for a roaring success. Highly recommended.

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This book was okay. I was really hoping to like it more than I did. I'm not really sure why I didn't enjoy it more. The plot is decent but not spectacular. The characters were okay but they felt a bit boring. I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea at the moment which is sad because I normally love historical fiction and Paris.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

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