A fun rom com read for any weekend you need a literary getaway. Paris IS always a good idea, and so is this book!

Seven years ago Chelsea lost more than her mother. She lost her laughter. Her happiness and her ability to love.

Since the loss of her mother, chelsea has dedicated her life to raising money for cancer so others don’t have to go through the loss that she did. But when her father and sister both point out that she is closed off and still grieving, she realizes everyone else moved on with life but she is in the same place she was seven years before. With a little push from her sister, Chelsea decides to go back to the last place she felt alive, right before everything changed ... Europe.

Despite working on a deal with a big donation, Chelsea takes a leave from her job with the promise to help to close the deal. Her plan is to visit a small farm in Ireland, Paris, and a vineyard in Tuscany. She is hoping that by revisiting the places she once worked, and the boys she once loved that maybe she can find her old self along the way. There is only one problem ... after just a few days away she finds out how instrumental she is for the deal, and in order to close to deal she has to work with Jason Knightley, a coworker, while away.

Paris is Always a Good Idea shows how time, distance, and loss can change someone’s perspective. And how revisiting lost loves can open you up to a new one you didn’t see coming.

This book was so so good. I loved Chelsea. I wanted to hug her and also shake her just like a best friend should. To see her drowning in grief, to taking a dive into the unknown, then stepping out on the other side was such a beautiful thing.

DNF

Heroine is an over-the-top bitch to her dad because he's planning to remarry and sell the family house. Her mom died seven years before, and she's ranting that he dared to move on and disgrace her memory. It's like a middle grader reacting to a parent remarrying, not an adult. I did not see myself enjoying this story.

Thoroughly enjoyed this story, a great escape from the world. Would make a good Hallmark movie. too. Travel, work issues, romance, family issues, and it all works out in the end. The characters were such fun. Will recommend.

I LOVED Paris Is Always a Good Idea! I am usually irritated towards the end of romance books, but this was such an adventurous and enthralling read, I could not put it down. I absolutely adored the settings and descriptions of them and many times felt as though I was right there with the characters.

A fun story with wonderful characters, places, and a happy ending. Chelsea feels old at 30 and has been stuck in her life since her mother dies. She thinks she'll find love and fulfillment if she relives her gap year trip to Europe. She set of to revisit her vacation flings - Colin in Ireland, Jean-Claude in France, and Marcelino in Italy. Any regular romance reader will guess how the trip goes for Chelsea, but it's worth the read.

I love the author's mystery books, glad I gave this one a chance, too. Well-written, human and a virtual getaway in the time of covid.

Paris Is Always a Good Idea by Jenn McKinlay is the most amazing heartfelt novel I have ever read. It brought about all the tears both good and sad. The humor inside left me laughing so hard-I could not stop. The image of the hero's grin every time he grinned at the heroine made me smile. The tale was full of emotionally charged scenes.

I felt everything the characters felt. It was as though I had lived inside this book and experienced it all firsthand versus sitting on my bedroom stool reading words on a page. This was the best story I have read in a long time. The novel is not just a romance or a feel good tale. There was a deep connection between the characters and what they had loss and what they have found together that I was hooked. Loss, grief, fear, and love was not just woven beautifully on every page of this book, but they could be felt.

These characters felt alive and as real as any writer could possible make them. I want to go back into the book and read it again and again. Jenn McKinlay is a talented writer and a master at creating the best fiction. Action-packed, never a boring moment, and a raw intensity that pulled me deeper into the lives of fictional characters-is something I want to relive every day. Wow!

One question-Jenn McKinlay, please, tell me there's a book 2 or something to follow up on these two amazing out of the world characters? I need to know more!

Feeling stuck in her grief since her mother's death, Chelsea decides to revisit places (and ex-boyfriends) from the year she spent traveling across Europe after college, hoping to rediscover the happier, open-to-love person she used to be. And, of course, she does find love again... but not where she was expecting to find it. A great romance for travel-lovers or readers who are looking for romance grounded in grief and healing.

Thank you to netgalley, Berkley, and Jenn McKinlay for giving me the opportunity to read and review this charming book!

Yes, I am giving Paris Is Always A Good Idea 5 whole stars because by the end of the book I had tears in my eyes. I absolutely fell in love the the two main characters, Chelsea and Jason, because there is so much depth to them which is slowly revealed throughout the novel. There are so many times that Chelsea refers to Jason as "the bane of my existence" but is he really?

Soon after finding out that her dad is getting remarried to a woman that he only knew for 2 weeks prior to proposing, Chelsea finds herself fleeing to Europe to try and find her "old self" again. The person she was before her mother passed from cancer. During this journey she makes three stops; Ireland, France, and Italy. Chelsea is on a mission to reconnect with three men from each of those countries to try and remind herself what it's like to be in love. However, halfway through this journey she runs into the last person on her mind, Jason.

I loved going on this adventure with Chelsea. Yes, there is alot of banter and romance but there is also something greater. Chelsea learns why she has become closed off and the root of why she is such a workaholic. There are also things that we learn about Jason and how the two of them can help each other.

When workaholic Chelsea realizes she hasn’t laughed or felt like herself since her mother’s death, she goes on a trip. She repeats the trip where she last felt alive, and in love. While tracking down her three ex-lovers from her European trip, she deals with her replacement at work who she can’t stand.

I don’t know what is going on with me but since I’ve opened my heart to rom-coms, my heart feels like it’s beating again. I always thought they’d be cheesy, but it’s just not the case. This book was about grief and learning that after you lose someone, you lose part of yourself as well. Despite that being the takeaway, the book managed to be hilarious and warm. The banter between the two characters was perfection. Hate to love is a common trope with these books, but I often find the banter misogynist and basically making fun of the female and disguising it as humor. The banter in this book was not like that at all! It was clever, funny, and equal. This was a superb finding yourself, and finding love, story.

Paris is Always a Good Idea is out now!

“I was saying yes to all of it: to him, to Paris, to feeling all the feels again.”

Really cute lite romance with travel. When Chelsea's widowed father falls in love and announces he is getting remarried, Chelsea can't deal. She can't remember the last time she was truly happy since her mother's death. Taking time off from her work as a fundraiser for a cancer charity, Chelsea decides to retrace the steps of the last time she remembers feeling alive, her summer abroad, and she hopes to reconnect with her former loves.

Her journey to self-rediscovery is complicated, however, when her loathsome colleague, fellow fundraiser Jason decides to join her on her trip to chase after an elusive donor for a new campaign. As she spends time with her former loves, an attraction begins to grow between Chelsea and Jason.

Fun hate to love read!

Paris Is Always A Good Idea By Jenn McKinlay

Rating 3.5 / 5 Stars

Publication Date - 7/21/2020

** Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley, and of course, Jenn McKinlay, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Three Countries, Three Men - My first thought? A modern eat pray love?

Ok, slightly.

Loss, One of the most complex things a human can experience emotionally. Everyone experiences loss in a different way. For Chelsea, a large part of her soul is lost when she constantly deals with loss one after another.

Chelsea is reminiscing on her time in Europe after she graduated college 7 years ago. The light that was once her life has been replaced by darkness after she lost her mother to cancer, saw her sister get married, then divorced then married once again. With all her stress, the only relief she finds is her job - where she throws herself into fundraising for the American Cancer Coalition. The one problem - the fourth man in her life - her annoying coworker Jason.

After her father announces he is getting married, Chelsea finally decides to find her heart that she lost with her mother’s death. How? She embarks on the path of her previous trip - taking stops to find Collin in Ireland, Jean Claude in France, and Marcelino in Italy. All three of these men stole her heart, can they help her find it again? But nothing goes as planned, only leading Chelsea to find her old self with gusto in the last place she expected.

I really enjoyed following Chelsea stalk her past in order to find her future. I laughed at the conversations between her and Jason at work - It was snarky and complex, which I love. I am a huge sucker for love-hate troupes.

I really began to root for Chelsea from the beginning and that is something that really makes the book for me. I highly recommend her journey!

I really enjoyed this story! I found it fun, emotional, and engaging. I could really relate to the characters and I just lost myself in the story for a few hours. I would highly recommend this author and book!

This was such a cute wholesome read that delved into some very important topics too. Loved this book

Chelsea is focused, driven, and has little time for fun. When her dad announces that he is getting remarried, she won't accept that he is moving on. Her dad, and then her sister, told her that she stopped letting love into her life, and stopped having fun, when her mom died.

What I loved about her character is that when Dad pointed this out, she actually took a step back, did some deep soul-searching - and decided to find the carefree girl on a gap year until called home because her mom was very ill. That jump gives us a bit of foresight into the girl she was - and how she'll tackle her crazy plan to revisit the three great loves she met and left in that gap year.

But that means leaving her job behind and in the hands of Jason, her co-worker and arch-nemesis. He's everything she's not - where she's tightly buttoned, detailed-oriented spreadsheet driven, and acts after careful thought, he's a fly by the seat of his pants, big idea (and let someone else worry the details), wild and flashy idea kind of guy. And they are totally oil and water. Yup, this is an enemy to lovers story.

Chelsea's adventures in Ireland, Paris, and Italy are fun and offered some laugh out loud moments. I equally enjoyed the real emotional connection that develops between Chelsea and Jason. Can we ever go back to who we were, or can we at least reclaim a bit of who we were in the past? It's a great question, and I really enjoyed following along as Chelsea finds the answer to them.

This was just an OK read for me. When the book opens Chelsea is informed that her father is getting remarried. Since the loss of her mother to Cancer Chelsea has been all work. To try and find love and happiness again she embarks on a trip to Ireland, Paris and Italy to reconnect with her younger self and three old boyfriends. I never did warm up to the main character. It was obvious from the beginning of the book who her love interest was going to be so there were no surprises. I did like the travels and the author did a good job with each country. The book was a quick read but the story was too predictable for me.

I really enjoyed this one! Funny, moving, exciting, and charming, a fun read! Chelsea Martin is a workaholic - something that she is blissfully unaware of until her father announces that he is getting remarried and her reaction is less than supportive. In an effort to find her old self, Chelsea leaves her job (and her coworker/nemesis Jason Knightley) behind and recreates her year abroad, finding her three old loves. As one can expect, things do not go as planned - at all. Travelling from Ireland, to France, to Italy Chelsea may not easily find the girl she used to be, but she certainly learns more about who she has become, and maybe starts to second guess some of her opinions.

For a fun rom-com, this is definitely one to pick up!! It is everything you want- romantic, adventurous, quite funny, and at times magical. It was wonderful to lose myself in Chelsea's story for a few hours - I didn't want to put it down. Would recommend for this genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.

Wish away the pandemic and travel ban with a European adventure, without leaving home! Comfortable travel adventure with possible romance and relatable self discovery!

Book Review { Thank you @berkleypub and @netgalley for my gifted copy #partner }

Review: I'll just start out by saying that I loved this book and felt it was a perfect summer read. So if you're looking for a fun book to escape into, grab yourself a copy ASAP!

What I loved:

1. This plot honest instantly grabbed my attention and kept my attention all the way until the end. Would I ever decide to willing see any of my ex-boyfriends? Absolutely not, but it made for a fun book.

2. This book touched on grief from the loss of a loved one and how everyone reacts and processes it differently. This aspect of the book had me shedding a few tears so make sure you have some Kleenex near by. (TW: cancer)

3. The characters were all well-developed and easily relatable. I enjoyed the relationship between Chelsea and Jason and their banter was (chef's kiss) amazing! The enemies to lovers is my favorite trope and this one did not disappoint.

This book was highly entertaining and with characters you'll easy connect with. I highly encourage you to travel Europe with Chelsea and see why everyone loves this book.