“The measure of us isn’t in the day-to-day. And it’s not in our past or our future. It’s in the fundamental changes we make within ourselves over a lifetime.” - Alka Joshi

Radha has to go through the struggles of a woman balancing motherhood and career. I enjoyed reading about Radha as a wife and mother. Her meet with Nikki was not as I pictured it. Radha seemed distant and her reaction to seeing Nikki really hurt him. I was also disappointed when Ravi didn’t turn up at all in the book.

I do like the strong message of women being independent and being more than capable of domestic work in their homes. There are themes of the inequities women face, women empowerment and women being resilient. When comparing this book to the other two in the trilogy, I didn’t find this storyline to interest me as much.

After reading all 3 books from this trilogy, The Henna Artist is no doubt my fav. If you already invested in any of the first two novels, this one is worth the read/ listen.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

In this story we see Radha as a successful professional woman who creates perfumes based on formulas and scent profiles. She is married to a French man named Pierre and together they have two young daughters. Despite being several years later and in a new country, Radha will never forget the child she gave up or the life lessons she learned from her sister Lakshmi. Torn between finding success at work, and being the mother and wife she feels she should be, Radha in the 1970s expresses the same desires and concerns of many middle-aged women today.

I went into this one with a lower expectation than I did with The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, and unfortunately it met those expectations. At about 40% I paused and asked myself "what is actually happening in this book?". There were areas that were interesting, I liked learning about Paris in the 70s, about the job of a perfumist, and having an update on the characters I followed for two books now, but very little action took place.

The Perfumist of Paris gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.

QOTD: Did you read this series? If so, which was your favourite of the three books?

Thanks to the publisher for giving me the chance to finish off this series.

Five stars and the best of the trilogy! I raced through this wonderful book having loved meeting the characters through the first two books. I learned a lot about the perfume industry and the lives of alchemists of tinctures and remedies through this trilogy. I find the culture of the east fascinating for the different role that plants play in not only the aesthetic aspects of life, but in the treatment of medical issues.

The book felt like the perfect finish to a tapestry of loose threads that continued through the books. I didn’t want it to end. Highly recommended and I am grateful to NetGalley for having granted early access to this eread.

I loved this book! It's well-written, enjoyable, and a great read. The author did a great job of writing in a way that captures the readers attention, and makes you not want to put it down until you're finished! I would highly recommend it!

The characters – in India and in Paris – of The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi come to life in this book as does the world of fragrances. The smaller stories of the other women in the book – Radha's daughter who quietly takes on the role of protector, Radha's mother in law, the ladies in Agra, and the young girl whose finds in herself a leader – are all memorable. Now that the trilogy has ended, I look forward to seeing what Alka Joshi will tackle next.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2023/11/the-perfumist-of-paris.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

“In dreams everything is how it used to be.”

Alka Joshi delights the senses with her Henna Artist trilogy. Perfumist of Paris takes us through the wonders of scent and culture as we follow the story of Radha, Lakshmi’s sister, who is now married with 2 children, living in Paris. Several themes cut across the story including the concept of motherhood, challenges of working mothers, and the burdens and fallout of holding secrets ripe with guilt and shame.

There are several touching moments like when we discover the source of the scent Radha carries in a vial around her neck, or the explanation of the scent of rain and how it is extracted in India. These are an ode to the power of scent and memory. And I loved learning the perspective of the courtesans. And I especially loved watching the evolution of the mother-in-law. But I’ve never been a Radha fan from the first book. I discounted it with the henna artist knowing it was just her youthful immaturity. But I continued to not like her in this story. She makes questionable decisions and is terrible at communicating. So it’s hard to fully enjoy the story when I can’t connect with the MC.

There is telling instead of showing and a little too many story arches. But it is a pleasure to the senses and makes me think of my own memories tied to scent.

Beautiful story, Joshi's writing is absolutely stunning. I love that she circled back to Radha and her life, we learnt so much about Lakshmi and Malik, it was wonderful to hear more about Radha after she moved to Paris. I also enjoyed the look into the world of perfume making and scents.

The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi is an emotionally charged story that will leave you enthralled from the very beginning. Radha's story is one of a woman determined to follow her passion, and it feels just as relevant now as it did in 1974. The setting shifts between Paris and India, creating a vivid backdrop for the characters to come alive, and the descriptions of Radha's work as a perfumist are mesmerizing. Radha's story stays with you long after you turn the last page, and it's a testament to Alka Joshi's skill as a storyteller.

It’s a changing world for women in the 1970s, but Radha’s marriage is under strain. Mixing scents had become her passion and career, but a long held secret is about to transform her life.
Joshi captures the many tugs on Radha in the novel.
I liked reading about all the different scents mixed together.
The conclusion was very satisfactory and paid homage to the many themes in the previous books.

This was a great historical fiction read that is the third and final book of the series. It was definitely not something that I would normally pick up but I am glad I did!

I loved all three books by Alka Joshi in this series. But I loved the Perfumist of Paris the best. It was fun to see what the characters were doing now.

Loved the story about a wife and mother holding onto her career, despite her husband and mother in law who wanted her to be a stay at home mom.
Great read, and interesting plot about a co worker stealing her “smells”.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a satisfying end to the Jaipur trilogy. While the Henna Artist remains my favorite of the series, "The Perfumist of Paris" was a joy to read.

This is the 3rd book in the Henna Artist series, the Jaipur Trilogy. I liked this one almost as much as the first. It is the story of Lakshmi’s younger sister, Radha. In the first book, she became pregnant young and was sent off to Paris. Her baby was given to one of Lakshmi’s friends to raise.

In this book, she has been living in Paris and is a mother of two daughters. She works as a Perfumist, helping to create scents. She is put in charge of developing one for a piece of art, Olympia, 1863 by Edouard Manet. While working on this scent, some of her things mysteriously change. She also is given some freedom to develop the scent, and she goes on a journey which also helps her find herself.

I liked how the story of the perfume merged with her past in several ways. Alka Joshi definitely has a beautiful way of telling a story.

“The measure of us isn’t in the day-to-day. And it’s not in our past or our future. It’s in the fundamental changes we made within ourselves over a lifetime.”

Personal review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved the first two novels in this trilogy, and this one is as an easy 5 star read. Radha was never my favorite character in the trilogy but she needed her time to shine and explanation of her life in general. This novel took place in one of my favorite places on earth - Paris, and also transports us back to where this all started - India, to complete a project for the perfumery that she works. This novel incorporated all the characters from the first two and provided closure that we needed as readers for the Sighn/Sharma families and Lakshmi and her family. Alka did an amazing job with the atmospheric aspect of this novel, which is no exception to its predecessors. While this was the last installment in this series; I am looking forward to other novels from this author.

Thank you @mirapress and @alkajoshi for the advanced review in exchange for my honest opinion, this book is on sale now!

Synopsis: Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents. She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her. Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.

The conclusion to the beloved Henna Artist trilogy! Radha-who in the first book was just a young girl and the main character's younger sister, is now a master perfumer in a Paris design house with a special talent to create a signature scent for an individual. Not only do we learn all about the perfume industry in the 70s, we also are along for the ride as Radha navigates life in Paris, the skepticism of her talents at work and the judgement of her family/husband, who believe the woman's place in the home. The author has a gift of transporting you; I am curious to see if she will pivot and continue the series in some way.

Read if you like: The Henna Artist
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This book focuses on Lakshmi's sister, Radha. I loved this character in the Henna Artist so it was so fun to really get to know her and get inside her head. She moved to Paris to get away from her past, but her past comes back to haunt her anyways. While in Paris, she works as a perfumist and I thought this was such a fun job!
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Overall a really enjoyable read!

The final chapter of the trilogy. Expands throughout Asia and Europe as once again relationships are challenged and explored.

The third and final installment of the Jaipur series and I utterly adored all three of them! A wonderful historical series. I didn't want them to end!

The Perfumist of Paris is book three in the Jaipur Trilogy and was the perfect ending to this series.

I didn't love this book as much as the first one, but I did enjoy learning about the chemistry of perfume and seeing Radha fight for what she wanted and that she loved her career. Like all of her books, Joshi transports you to both Paris and India and the descriptions of the settings are my favorite parts of her books.

I did listen to this book on audiobook, as I listened to the first two.. I highly recommend the audiobook for this series A