The story unexpectedly resonated with memories of my youth and unrequited love. The exploration of Aboriginal culture in the Art World was enlightening, and I appreciated the familiarity of the places depicted, recognizing the author's meticulous research. The vivid descriptions added to its appeal, making the book overall quite entertaining. Finishing it on Kindle felt abrupt, unlike with a physical book where you can gauge remaining pages. I found myself missing the characters afterward, wishing the story had extended a few more chapters. All in all, a rather enjoyable read.

A fantastic story of how a girl can want more from her life than just what she is doing.

Libby wants more. A more exciting job and no men. So when she decides to further herself job wise, she decides Paris is the place. Libby has found herself in the love capital of the world. But she wants to enjoy the culture and her new position.

Libby finds that men come onto her easily, but this isn’t what she wants. She’s a Koori girl who wants to enjoy her job. So when she gets the chance to extend her stay in Paris, she jumps at the chance. What she didn’t know she needed, was to fall hopelessly for another Koori. He’s her ideal. But can it last…..

I was slightly disappointed that the main focus of the story seemed to be political. I was rather looking forward to reading a romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Australia for the chance to read this book.

Another thoroughly enjoyable Anita Heiss book focuses on strong, art loving Indigenous women.
Libby has been burned a few too many times by love and decides that she is on a man-fast and only focusing on her career. But when her job takes her to Paris, she has a hard time maintaining it. She is a realistic and relatable human in that her experiences have left her cynical and mistrusting. The bonds between the women in the story are strong and a major focus.
Like the earlier book Manhattan Dreaming, there is a strong art focus, but the descriptions of the galleries are evocative and enticing.

This is an interesting book but not one that I could really get into as I just couldn't get past the writing style and the story just didn't resonate with me for some reason.

Writing as if reading a blog it was slow, hard to follow and I didn't relate to the characters. I skipped through it as I just couldn't continue at the pace the book went. A bit to political for me but I can see that it would appeal to others. 2 1/2 stars from me.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Paris Dreaming
Anita Heiss

3 Stars

Thank you NetGalley for my copy of Paris Dreaming by Anita Heiss. I have not received any compensation for this review. All thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own and mine alone.

In summary: A First Nations main character, Libby secures a position to work in France after a successful proposal to oversee a First Nations exhibition in the Museé Paris.

Written in a blog style I felt, like a YouTuber finding their way through Paris, in a first person voice I found the book hard to follow, a slow burn of a story and romance. I applaud Anita, the author for the plot of putting a First Nations, Aboriginal woman as the main character for this book. I like the idea of where the main character Libby, identified as Aboriginal, achieving great things for her peoples. I think that I would like to read more from Anita to firstly support Indigenous writers and secondly to hear more of Anita’s voice and style for her other books.
Where the story fell down for me is the slowness of the story. I felt in parts the character plods along until Libby arrives in France and then plods along again. There was more details about the food she ate and the coffee she drank and how much Libby slept (this where I got the blogger YourTuber vibe from). Libby is staunchly against having a relationship after being burnt, and as the reader I can respect and empathise that view from her. With such vehemence towards the idea of having a relationship or in fact falling in love it didn’t make much sense to throw in a serious relationship. I thought that Libby could act as a Femme Fatale here and adopt a love them and leave them approach purely because she had such anger and pain in previous relationships, enough to drive her to the point of making men weep for her gain until that one man changes her point of view.
I liked the job Libby has in the museum which was interesting. I felt that part of Libby’s story was well thought out and well written. I could believe that Libby was passionate about her work and passionate about promoting Aboriginal arts.
I took issue with scoring political points such as French policy on Muslim Hijab usage, political leanings in the book. I felt this detracted from the story and the romance. I didn’t feel like it was needed in the timeline of events. I respect that the author wanted to convey their voice on these issues, but it made the story disjointed. Women’s fiction is supposed to give the happily ever after warm and fuzzies ending, but I felt that was missing from the book as well. I think Libby settled for Jake just for the hell of it. I felt like Jake did not bring much to the romance at all.
Overall, I give the book three stars as I felt there were some good plot lines and some interesting ideas.

This was a bit different, because it was a modern love story written from the point of view of an Aboriginal woman. I found that interesting, and it was also an enjoyable tale with charming main characters, in a beautiful setting.

Libby has sworn off men, unlike her ‘tiddas’ (good friends). Wedded to her career in indigenous art, she soon lands herself an excellent position in Paris. Here she showcases indigenous artists, and liaises with the Australian Embassy. Already confident and beautiful, Libby becomes a more elegant ‘Elizabeth’ in Paris. She immerses herself in French culture, and enjoys seeing the sights. Libby is kind-hearted, though, and helps a refugee start her own business.

When Libby gets another chance at live, will she take it?

I really liked this, although I found it a bit political and moralistic at times. I read another book by Anita Heiss, and I find the descriptions of working in the galleries especially fascinating. One part that was sad is that Libby thought that some Aboriginal women regarded those who had done well as ‘selling out.’ It was hard to understand why they would see it that way.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781761109973
PRICE A$22.99 (AUD)
PAGES 336

Quite a good read that was political, comedic and interesting. This book was very Australian and in the best ways possible (i.e. the writing style). As this was a bit too mature for me, I did get a bit disengaged and confused at times.