A sweet story set in France and New York. Lots of family drama and themes of found family and family being what you choose to have etc. Some backstabbing is included. It felt a little odd that this was written about a 16 year old girl and 17 year old boy, the story seemed more mature than it should have been. Going to clubs, bars, etc. I think this might have worked better with university/college aged leads.

Not sure exactly what it was about this book that didn’t work for me but I just couldn’t get into the story. It was all tell and not show and the little description there was felt like someone looking at a postcard rather than seeing and feeling Paris and New York. The characters weren’t really developed and I couldn’t get through this one.

A cute ya book! I liked the concept of Maude moving from France to New York City. It was nice to see all the musical aspects throughout. Overall, a super cute read!

I really enjoyed this book! I loved Maude's journey from a small town in France to New York City (and a stop in Paris on the way, swoon)!

I will say it was a bit slow at times, and I kept waiting for more engagement in general. But overall, I liked the premise of the story.

Add in a little bit of romance and some whimsy, and you have a fun read. I think it's worth checking out.

This really fails to have a decent connection to the characters and it probably doesn't help that they are teens. I guess that's mostly on me though I just do not want to read romance with teens as a woman in my 30's.

This book featured Maude and her attempt at fame while attempting to figure out who she is and where she came from. I enjoyed both watching Maude navigate through her sudden rise and attempt at creating the pop/classical hits and her discovery of her roots and different type of music throughout the book.

I think the only thing I didn’t enjoy was how the beginning felt to slow and the end felt to fast. This book is a modern cinderella retelling, which I think is what slowed the beginning down too much, it leaned into that retelling a bit hard in the beginning, when I would’ve loved more focus on Maude’s journey in NYC.

I will say, my favorite parts in the book were Matt and Maude’s scenes. I loved watching him help her discover new types of music and visiting different places in NYC.

“Whichever part of the world you find yourself in, you can always count on me if you need me.”

Raised in a small town in northern France, Maude is an orphan who’s always dreamed of being an opera star—and discovering who her birth parents were. When Maude is filmed playing the piano and singing in a Parisian café, the video goes viral. Suddenly, she’s offered the chance to move to New York to produce three hit singles in six months. If she fails, she’ll have to move back to her small town. Maude accepts with hopes of pursuing her dreams and finding out who her parents were, having learned her father was from New York after overhearing her foster parents speaking about her. As she spends time with her co-writer Matt Durand, Maude discovers a whole new world of music and romance. But, not everyone is on Maude’s side in New York, and she’s running out of time to create these hit singles and learn the truth about her family.

While I was excited to read A French Girl in New York, I was disappointed from page one. The concept of a French girl being whisked away to create music in New York while falling in love had so much potential, but it just fell flat in execution. The writing felt awkward and juvenile, and I often found myself cringing at what was said. There were a few plot points that made little sense and left me unnecessarily frustrated and confused. While I liked some of Maude and Matt’s scenes together, there were not enough of them to convince me that they had a genuine relationship. There was also a love triangle element that seemed extremely rushed and unnecessary, and I could see the resulting “twist” coming from miles away. I did start to enjoy the story a bit towards the end, and I liked the results of her search for the truth about her parents. Maude’s character continued to grow, and she slowly let go of the narrow biases she held as she opened her mind to new kinds of music and cultures. I appreciated her character arc and the support she received from those around her. However, I just couldn’t move past the writing and frustrating lack of communication. Maude’s emotions changed without warning; one second she hated Matt and the next she was thinking about how much she loved being with him. So many things got lost in translation as a result, creating problems that could’ve been easily avoided. A French Girl in New York simply missed the mark.

This book is a beautifully crafted coming-of-age story that follows the journey of a young French girl Maude; whose passion for music is at the heart of her personal growth. The novel blends themes of self-discovery, resilience, and the profound impact of music on identity.

Maude’s Cinderella moment arrives when she is singing in a Paris Cafe and the video goes viral. Maude gets the opportunity to go to NYC and make an album for six months. One of the book’s strongest elements is its exploration of the found family trope. These connections Maude makes serve as emotional anchors, showing that family isn’t always defined by blood but by the bonds we choose to create.

Overall, this is a story that resonates on many levels, especially for readers who appreciate tales of self-discovery, the arts, and the importance of found family. A must-read for anyone who loves a poignant journey of heart and soul.

🩷 Enemies to lovers
🤍 Debut author
🩷 Cinderella story
🤍 Found family
🩷 New York City & Paris
🤍 Young adult
🩷 Popstar

Quote:
"Is anything in this life not filled with music?"

“She belonged to the entire world and the entire world waited out there for her. She knew who she was, where she came from, and that the world was rich with different beats, instruments, and rhythms that she would spend her entire life discovering.”

Thank you to the author Anna Adams, Wattpad Books and NetGalley for the electronic and physical copy of the book.

This story takes us transatlantic, from a small town in France, to Paris, to New York. Maude gets discovered after spontaneously singing in a café in Paris, when it was filmed by a popular influencer. With her operatic voice, and classic twist, she’s a sensation.
Maude lives a kind of Cinderella life. She’s an orphan, treated like a maid and nanny in a home with two twins who she’s supposed to take care of, and caretakers who don’t really seem to care for her. They only let her go to New York with the music executive because they’ll be getting a portion of any profit her singles make as her guardians.
In New York, life is more than Maude could have ever dreamed of. Not only does she get to write music with a teen heartthrob, but she also gets the classic high school experience— an awkward first relationship and also a bully (who happens to be a pop singer). Maude’s initial motivation to go to NYC was to find news of her birth father. But after the leads turn cold, she finds herself acclimating to her new world.
This story is a fun read, especially for teens who just want to escape into a fanfic type scenario. From small town to the big city, with a top hit and a charming boyfriend. Minus the orphan bit. I don’t think anyone really wants that. I did enjoy the fleshed out story from that though— when we find out what happened to her parents, who her real family is, and more of her heritage.

Thank you Wattpad Books for sending me a copy!

A French Girl in New York by Anna Adams light hearted YA romcom about finding yourself, your family, and perfect harmony in the big city.
I enjoyed this book tremendously and the authors writing was very well done.

Thank You NetGalley and Wattpad Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️
YA Fiction

Maude sings in a Paris cafe and she goes viral. Suddenly she is flying to New York for a record deal. She has 6 months to write songs and make a hit. Maude also has another plan for her 6 months in New York. She is an orphan who only knows one fact about her parents- her dad is from New York. She is French Nigerian and that was my favorite part. She becomes submerged into the Nigerian culture in New York. It also has excellent found family for an orphan girl.

#netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyarc #annaadams #annaadamsauthor #frenchgirlinnewyork

If you like your romances light and fluffy, you will adore this story. I’m a sucker for a fairy tale retelling. Anna Admans does a great job at taking Cinderella and putting her own fun, unique spin on this classic tale. Anna has written a story that you cannot help but fall in love with. This really was a fun whirlwind of a read. I loved how this book takes us all over the world. We get to explore Paris, New York, and Nigeria, and Anna does a wonderful job of bringing these places to life. The story moves along steadily, and Anna knows how to keep hooking her readers in with either a dramatic twist or a swoony moment. It really was a fun read.

The main heroine is smart, kind, hardworking, and so talented. From the moment that I met her, I wanted to succeed. Maude’s growth in this book is centred around believing in herself and learning to stand up to her awful foster parents. This book is Maude’s coming-of-age story. She learns more about her past, which has been hidden from her by her foster parents; she grows up as a musician and just explores the world and all it has to offer. It was so much fun being on this journey with Maude. The romance is sweet. I liked the banter and chemistry between Maude and Matt. This is a clean YA romance, so nothing spicy happens on the page.

Oh no...I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did.

On the surface, it seems delightful. A fish out of water story of a French opera singer, singing pop for a record label and finding more about her background while at it. The author herself is French-American and Nigerian, which is really cool that she put so much of herself into the book. Unfortunately, the execution was just NOT it. I couldn't stand any of the characters, and that includes the character building of the settings of France and New York. What sanitized world are they living in where all of these teenagers are ultimate pop stars and get 20 million followers just by having one cover? Why were the characters so all-or-nothing in being good or evil?

I get that this is a Wattpad story. But if we are putting a Wattpad story on NetGalley for me to review, with presumably a wider release, I expect it to be a bit, well, more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wattpad Webtoon Book Group, and the author for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. Sorry about this one.

The title is so good, and I am so happy that this is book one in a series!! The main character is a French girl, and an orphan living with a family in New York. She has a Cinderella moment where she is discovered as a singer, and has a lot of wonderful adventures.

This was a fun, debut YA romcom that reads like a reverse Emily in Paris and has a young French girl travelling to New York City where she falls in love. Delightful and light-hearted, this is a quick, feel-good read. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

2.5 🌟

I’ll start by saying that I really wanted to like this book. I liked the concept, of a small-town girl making a run at living her musical dream in a big city with some Cinderella tie-in. However, I wasn't too fond of the execution.

From the beginning, everything felt so rushed. While I’m a fan of getting to the point this book didn't really take time to build things up. There were times throughout the story when I felt characters would have been more angry about something that happened, asked more questions, or spent more time on a particular topic. Something big would happen on one page and be resolved or brushed over in the next. It all just felt kind of disjointed.

I also wasn't a huge of most of the characters (although I thought the Baldwins were okay). I did like Nigerian representation and learning a little bit about the culture and history. I also liked the exploration of different types of music but overall, this book didn't really hit the mark for me.


Thank you, Wattpad Books, NetGalley, and Anna Adams for allowing me the opportunity to review this book!

This book was ok. Not awful, but not good. The writing was juvenile, and the characters were uninspired. The prose was not particularly engaging or descriptive. I felt like I was reading filler most of the time. At the same time, a lot happens very fast. Maude goes viral, she gets signed, she falls in love with a boy. I was not interested in the petty drama between Maude and the mean girl Lindsey, or the awkward love triangle between Maude and Thomas and Matt. The author also doesn’t know much about classical singing either, it seems. Assigning Cenerentola to a bunch of teenagers seems pedagogically irresponsible. No 16 year old should be singing “Non piu mesta,” I wouldn’t care, except this is a major plot point. Overall, a very disappointing read.

First I would like to thank Netgalley and Wattpas books for the ARC of this novel.

This was a cute and sweet YA novel. It felt a little young for me but I think it’s is a book my middle schooler would love.

The friendships in the book were great and it had the right amount of laughs. I think this book is perfect for the young YA audience.

3.5/5 rounded up to 4 for this review.

This book was so sweet! It had a good amount of everything- romance, laughs, sadness, and family love. Maude’s relationship and friendships during the book were my favorite. Very well written.

This book I think is a great YA, just not for me. The characters are based on high school and I their personalities showed that, just too young for me. The writing style didn’t peak my interest so it was hard to get through, especially with all of the drama between Maude and her two love interests. It seemed to take away from a lot of her goal of finding out who her parents are.

It was interesting to read about Nigerian culture and how the main character was able to discover a part of her heritage that she lost when she was fostered. As I said, probable a great book, just not for me!