Chelsea Martin is stuck in a rut that began seven years ago. Her father is getting remarried, and before that happens she needs to find out if she has any sparks of love left in her own heart. Leaving the job that has consumed her, she embarks on a quest through her past to find the old Chelsea. However, she can't quite let go of the current one, as she still has to work on one last project for her company with her work rival, and successor. Along the way, old memories bring about new truths, and Chelsea has to make decisions that will affect her life going forward. This book is a departure for McKinlay, mostly know for cozy mystery series', but the heart and soul remain true to her other writing. Well written, and from the heart, this one is definitely a keeper.

This book was so enjoyable. I love books about travel and this totally hit the spot.
At the beginning of the book, Chelsea is totally mortified that her father wants to remarry after knowing his fiancee for 2 weeks. I totally agreed, hasn't he seen Frozen? Chelsea's reaction to that was the perfect way to kind of introduce how the book is going to play out. It showed how the grief over her mother's death had kept her in a kind of bubble for 7 years.
I loved the idea of her revisiting the places she went in her gap year, but I kind of wish that she didn't have an ex in all the places she planned on visiting. It kind of made her journey seem more like she was kind of trying to learn how to have a boyfriend again instead of loving herself. She didn't find love in all the places she went in her original gap year, and it would have been nice to visit at least one place in the current time where she didn't have a guy she was hoping to reconnect with.
That being said, I did enjoy her mishap filled adventures with all 3 of them. They were all very different and I found myself laughing and wanting to punch something, a whole range of emotions. Out of the 3, I think Colin was my favorite, but I won't say why. The attempts at romance weren't the only good parts of this book. The in betweens were almost more enjoyable to me because I loved reading about the different places Chelsea managed to go. The wedding in Ireland, going out with Zoe in Paris, touring the vineyards in Italy. It was nice to have a good mix of boys and fun.
I knew who she was going to end up with from the very beginning, but that didn't take away anything from the story. It was such a nice slow burn and it wasn't easy. I really liked how everything played out with them.
With travel being all but banned right now, it was so nice to escape into this book and imagine myself in these European countries I hope to one day visit myself, or go back to (Paris).

I thought the premise of this book, that Chelsea was going to revisit 3 men she dated in the past and they were going to solve her problems, to be silly. However, the delightful characters in this book make the silly plot seem not quite so silly. This would be a great book to recommend to people who enjoy a hate to love relationship.

This is an amazing stand alone book by Jenn McKinlay! Chelsea Martin’s life has been on hold since her mother’s death. While her father falls in love and plans his wedding, Chelsea can’t understand why this is happening so fast. How can he replace her mother so easily. Chelsea decides to retrace her steps of the gap year she spent in Europe to try to find herself and love again. Travel with her to Ireland, France, and Italy as she revisits old flames trying to rekindle the magic.

I like Jenn Mckinlay, but this was not one of my favorites by her. Chelsea was not a super likeable character in my opinion, but I did like Jason and their evolving relationship.

I'll admit that it took me a while to get into this book - it's not often that with romances you start off with a character quite as bristly as Chelsea (though I totally understood why). Once she was off to Europe, I was more into it and was charmed with the atmospheric writing. The bulk of the story really happens in Paris and Italy, and while it took our leading lady a bit of time, she finally got to a point where her head was clear and we could both breathe a little easier.

Paris Is Always a Good Idea
by Jenn McKinlay
Berkley Publishing Group
You Like Them
Berkley
Romance | Women's Fiction
Pub Date 21 Jul 2020 | Archive Date 21 Aug 2020

Cute book! Loved the descriptions of the setting so I could armchair travel in these days of COVID 19.
I enjoyed escaping in this book and would recommend it!

This book was cute. I liked Chelsea and Jason's character. I really loved their banter back in forth. I loved that he called her by her last name. I found myself tearing up a few times as they were talking about their experiences with cancer. The only thing I did not really like was the lack of steam. Yes they kissed a few times but I wish we had more. To me, it was just a little bit more of a hallmark movie with a pg-13 sex scene thrown in.

Fantastic descriptions of the travel destinations. I lived in Paris during a gap year, and the author really has the feel of the city just right.

This is a good escape and a nice way to armchair travel. The characters were ok. I didn’t understand the appeal of the main female protagonist? What on earth made her so special as to fall in love three times in the span of one summer. The main male protagonist felt like he was picked out of a perfect guy characteristics bin. His dialog was a bit saccharine at times. However, the banter between the two was fun and the subject they connected over was moving. The subplot in France stretched credulity beyond belief. Overall, an enjoyable, if flawed, read.

A cute International love story, that makes you wonder if you really do have to go find yourself in Europe.

4/5 stars
Release Date: July 21, 2020
"Paris is Always a Good Idea" is Jenn McKinlay's (author of the popular Library Lover's Mystery series) new fun stand alone romance. When we first meet Chelsea Martin she has just been given some surprising news. Her widowed father is getting married to a woman he just met two weeks ago. Not reacting to this news well, on the advice of her father and sister, Chelsea decides to try to find the person she was, 7 years ago, before her mother died. Taking a break from her work as a fundraiser at the American Cancer Coalition, Chelsea embarks on a trip to Ireland, Tuscany, and Paris to find her happiness and possibly reignate the passion she had with the boyfriends she had during her gap year trip to Europe.

What follows is the sometime hilarious situations, Chelsea finds herself in, as her reuniting with these men does not go the way she suspects. In addition, her work archenemis Jason Knightly, has been given shared responsibilty on a huge fundraising proposal that must be completed while she is abroad. While working with and getting to know Jason a little better, Chelsea may be learning about herself and others in a whole new way.

I would recommend this title for anyone looking for a romance with some humour, and those who like stories set in different locations.

Beautiful!! Even though it was predictable, it was just what I needed to read. And the ending was so, so sweet.

A sweet love story that will appeal to fans of One Night in December. The end was a little to sickeningly sweet (almost cloying) for my tastes but I am sure fans of sugar pop will love it.

Meh. The writing is good but the romantic development was not satisfactory. The exploration of grief was decent, but maybe the Mamma Mia-esque plot doesn't work so well outside a Greek island.

It’s a very very very cute journey-story about an uptight woman finding her joy. There are misses in continuity and common sense. Clearly the author needs to get Chelsea on her adventure and doesn’t spend a ton of energy making it the smoothest thing in the world.

And the end is so so so so sweet. Like oh my goodness this almost ruined a perfectly okay book kind of sweet. But that’s me.

I think if you don’t look too hard at this one and simply want a feel-good read it isn’t bad at all.

<a href="http://alleskelle.com"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1531392914r/25962167.jpg?v=1531392917324"width="400"></a>

I usually love MicKinlay but the main character in this one just felt incredibly flat to me - I never once felt that I knew her. Liked the travel aspect but had to talk myself into continuing the story. Also not at all an erotic story until on LONG scene toward the end - a strange placement and mix. Just not my story and I’ll stick with all of the other work by this author that I adore.

Chelsea lost herself when she lost her mom seven years ago. She throws herself into work and never looks back until she realises how unhappy she is. She decides to go back to the last place she was happy, on her year long European adventure. She traces her steps in order to find the girl she used to be. I loved this story! It was sweet, funny and a great read! Fans of the love to hate story troupe will adore this charming story!

Workaholic Chelsea Martin is devastated when her father announces that he'll be re-marrying a woman he has only known for 2 weeks. Chelsea's mother passed away from cancer and she is unable to let go of her grief or offer her father her blessings. With the realization that her father and sister Annabelle have found ways to move on, she decides to find the "Old Chelsea" from before her mother died in Europe where she fell in love three times--once in Ireland, once in Paris, and once in Italy.

This is such a sweet and predictable romantic comedy about a career-obsessed woman trying to find herself by traveling back to a place and time where she was carefree and allowed so much love into her heart that she fell in love with three different men. There's a very obvious enemies-to-lovers thread being woven into her journey which is the real reason I wanted to read this book (I really could care less about falling back in love with European ex-boyfriends). While themes of grief and the unpredictability of terminal illnesses (in this case, cancer) are deeply embedded into the storyline, it is truly a feel-good story that had me laughing and thinking of summer romance. While I wish Chelsea had truly found herself on her own and not just who she was when she was in a relationship, sometimes it takes the perspective of someone else--someone completely unexpected--to see and accept who you are now.

3.75 stars

tw: death of a parent; death of a sibling; cancer; brief mention of self harm

This book had a lot of things I liked and a number of things I didn't, which makes it hard to rate. I'd go from really enjoying a moment, to there being something I don't like in the next sentence.

This is a combination of so many different tropes: young woman travels back to Ireland (small town), France (Paris), and Italy (vineyard) to re-discover who she is by trying to reconnect with three men she fell in love with in those places 7 years ago before her mom died. She also has a rivalry with a ~handsome co-worker~. All of these things are tropes I love! I loved the locations, the will they won't they of meeting up with old flames, the banter between her and her co-worker, etc.

With that being said, there's also some tropes in here I didn't enjoy. The main character originally goes on this trip because her dad is remarrying to a woman he recently met, and the narrative makes it seem like the main character is "unreasonable" and has "forgotten how to love" because she doesn't approve of him marrying someone he met 2 weeks ago. Also, the love interest gets in a fist fight (with blood) over a sense of protective-ness for the main character. This theme of protective weaves together with mild-possessiveness (on both of their parts) throughout the story that I felt could have been left out. Some readers may find it to be a cute layer to the rivalry though, as he is constantly trying to thwart her plans. I also, personally, found the rivals-to-lovers pacing to be a little quick based on where these characters started, but I've had those complaints about other hate-to-love in popular contemporary romances that other readers have enjoyed.

I did enjoy the themes of travel, re-discovery, and finding someone who is a good fit for who you currently are, I just wish that self-discovery had been a little separated from the romance element. This was a quick read with a lot of tropes I think fans of The Hating Game especially will enjoy.

tropes:
- travel romance
- rivals-to-lovers w/ co-workers