This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
REVIEWED BY KIRA SLAUGHTER
Evie Dexter is in pursuit of a career as a European tour guide. Heart set on success and buoyed on by boo
ze, she begins ‘enhancing’ her CV and soon lands a job with Insignia Tours, guiding their Paris breaks.
Bursting with professionalism, Evie quickly checks her copy of Vogue Paris to remind herself where France actually is. Task accomplished, she’s determined to become a cultured and respected chaperone. And she would be, if only the French wine wasn’t so delicious and Rob, her sexy coach driver, so deliciously distracting…
This is the debut novel from Molly Hopkins and having read a lot of good write ups about it, I couldn’t wait to pick up my own copy just to see if all of the other reviews were right. They were.
The book opens on the main character Evie, who is having a drink at home whilst searching for jobs on the Internet. As you can guess, drinking a bottle of wine whilst searching for jobs probably wouldn’t come up with the best results, yet Evie ploughs on regardless. She’s not letting anything stand in the way of her and her perfect job.
A few days after her drunken job hunt she receives an invite to an interview from Insignia Tours – a company that arrange coach tours around Europe. After wondering whether she’s doing the right thing, she eventually takes herself off to the interview and somehow, thanks to the interviewer having a raging hangover, she gets the job. This is where the mayhem begins.
After receiving the good news and telling her flatmate, Evie starts planning for her new job and after a stressful few days she starts off on her journey. After meeting her fellow travellers and the (absolutely gorgeous!) coach driver, she sets off for Paris.
What ensues over the next few days can only be described as a hilarious farce, combined with some romance and the best tourist spots of Paris. Funny stuff aside, after reading this book I did want to visit Paris just to see some of the sights for myself, as I’m guessing they have to be seen to be believed!
The character of Evie, even though she’s a complete disaster zone, is very well written and I felt that she was one of those that the reader can relate to. She made mistakes, she learnt from them all whilst retaining her sense of humour.
The relationship between her and Rob was also very well written, and you could practically see the chemistry between them jump off the page. There is a brilliant, yet sad, twist to what happens between them, and you can’t help but read on just to find out how it turns out.
This was a very impressive debut from Molly Hopkins and I can’t wait to read the follow up, It Happened in Venice.
I’m giving this a 9/10!
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