A slowly unfolding epic about soulmates, missed connections, and the endurance of love

Having finished this book, I feel strangely bittersweet. It's like a rollercoaster in slow motion, watching the twists and turns that bring Zara and Leon together, only to be separated again. The agents of that separation cannot even been called villains, for as flawed as they are, their choices make sense.
It's painful and it's beautiful.

At the very end, I can confirm that love wins, but it takes an awfully long time to get there. Every possible obstacle to their love pops up, some more than once. I think the middle seemed to drag and perhaps some of the almost-meetings could've been cut. I'd also offer up a warning for a few traumatic subjects, including miscarriage and infidelity.

I think this one is going to stay with me for a while.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley; all opinions are my own.

Dreams and what do they mean? When Valerie tells her grandmother about her dream, it's an occasion the older lady has been patiently waiting for because she has a story to tell with an important message… to follow your dreams… to find love... 

Zara Ionesco and Leon Prince, two teenagers who meet in a museum in Colmar during a power cut on 9th December 1954. They spend an hour talking about there love of art, unaware of how the other looks but the connection they feel for each other is real. It's the beginning of a connection which spans decades, but not in the way you'd expect. Their story is both heart-warming and heartbreaking in equal measures as these young people follow their dreams and hearts.

The strength of the writing is in the anticipation as it builds, waiting to see if fate brings these two people together again and again. However, not everything in life is straightforward and in this case, people and unpredictable events try to thwart the unique connection they share. 

The author has written a fascinating story, one which hooked me from the beginning. The narrative fluctuated between the predictable and the unexpected; drama and tragedy but still contains moments which made me smile. The overwhelming emotion is hope… and love...!

Someday in Paris is a novel where you need to jump in feet first to fully appreciate it. I'm so glad I did and I recommend you do too! 

***review copy courtesy of the publisher Aria via NetGalley***

Once in a while you will run into a beautiful book that will steal your heart away for the beautiful setting, amazing characters and mesmerizing story of true love. This is it! Olivia Lara wrote an amazing story that gripped my heart and didn't let go. Until now I am still tearful and just in awe of the fantastic writing that is just oh so beautiful. If you love a great romance read, you cannot miss this book. Truly fantastic.

Someday in Paris is a standalone book by Olivia Lara. When I saw the cover and read what the book was about I expected a romantic, lighthearted Serendipity type story. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I don't even know where to begin with this review. I guess first of all I have to say that I am shocked to hear that this is Olivia Lara's debut book. The quality of it is exceptional as if it was written by a seasoned author.

The story about Zara and Leon's soul-deep love spans the decades and during that time the reader is made to run the whole gamut of emotions from depression to elation, back and fore, with every opportunity that our couple could 'find' each other only to lose that opportunity. Their lives have had to go on through the years despite not being with each other and feeling that loss, that emptiness. Their story is captivating and I shed many tears reading it.

If I am honest the book was a little too emotional for me, the angst of our separated couple really affected me which of course is brilliant writing on the author's part. In the blurb of the book, it is mentioned that this book would be perfect for fans of 'The Notebook'. I have never been able to bring myself to watch the film or read the book so you can tell that I am not the type to deal well with deeply emotional stories. That doesn't stop me appreciating just how well written this one is and I am more than happy to recommend it. Just have a box of tissues at the ready throughout the read.

I liked this book but didn't love it. I wasn't hooked from the beginning and was unable to finish it. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review.

Mesmerizing! Thats truly the word that comes to mind when thinking of Someday in Paris and the amazing, tragic and all encompassing love story that it contains. I did not expect to love this as much as I did and definitely took longer to get into it than it deserved. The story starts with a chance (or maybe not) meeting between two young adults and then goes through so many twists and turns, stops and starts, and yet it is all magical. I really hope someone gets the movie rights to this and makes a beautiful film about a love everlasting.

This books did speak to my romantic soul, from the moment Zara and Leon meet in a darkened museum in the 1950s. During a power cut these two teenagers meet and spend an hour talking about life, art and their love for Paris. We get the sense they could be soulmates, if only there were more time, Over the next twenty years these two soulmate’s lives will intersect, as they fall in love again and again, not always recognising each other from their original meeting, but knowing they have an invisible bond. Serendipitously they end up in the space for fleeting moments only to be torn apart again, but will they ever find their happily ever after. This is elegant, romantic and genuinely beautiful. A love story that wears its angst ridden heart on its sleeve. I was swept away but it.

This was definitely a lovely book - I enjoyed the true love story and the idea that there is "the one" out there for everyone but I was a bit frustrated with this book. The book is about Zara and Leon and how they "meet" as children and fall in love and then spend their lives looking for one another even though they are right there in front of them. People weave in to their lives - including Nicole, Vincent, Constance who were well written and most importantly JJ who I loved and wanted to hug and befriend. I enjoyed the characters and was happy with how it all ended. If you enjoy serendipity type books, this one is for you!

To be updated in due course - thank you Netgalley for the ARC

What a lovely romantic book - thoroughly enjoyed.

This is one of those books that makes me think about potential and what that means about perception and the confusion that ensues when reality hits.

Someday in Paris is a story of soulmates and the blips in their lives that bring them apart and together. There's a hint of magical realism because of how the characters recognize their soulmate status, but other than that it doesn't make the hugest impact on the setting.

I love the idea of people meeting throughout the courses of their lives, but I feel like the execution of the "lost lovers" trope was really not conducive to the best reading process. The time skips didn't really bring much to the story, other than the random catch-ups about the main characters and their lives that were almost always filler-esque.

I understand that the whole point is that the main pairing has a ton of near-misses and ruined opportunities because of doubt over many, many years, but it didn't feel like something as profound as the author may have wanted it to be.

It seems like so much happened because the book felt very long and dragged out, and the satisfaction of the struggles of the main relationship being resolved was minimal because I just wanted it to be over already, I guess.

The structure of Someday in Paris is similar to The Princess Bride in the whole storytelling aspect, with a bit of a "twist," but the breaks from the story didn't add anything to the overall narrative and it only really served as extra pages of awkward fluff.

I don't know a lot about art and artists and impressionism and the like, but I did enjoy how the lives of the characters revolved around their love of artwork and Monet, and how they were drawn together because of it. It didn't make much sense to me at all, but it was really interesting to read nonetheless.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aria for this ARC!

This book really stood out for me as not being my cup of tea. The two protagonists Zara and Leon meet briefly in a library. Discuss art and part company. Only to spend the next 20 years pining for each other and missing opportunities

The star-crossed lovers is a bit hard to swallow. Yes, there are dreams, and heartbeats and instinct but to go through your life pining for someone you met once and didn’t even see their face is a bit much. Or maybe I am not a hopeless romantic.

The two main characters irritated me being so lovelorn, and I found the other characters Vincent and Nicole two one-dimensional to be interesting. I really did want to like the novel, but the plot skimmed over the interesting things, and stuck on the two main characters wishing for each.

Yet, and this is a big yet for me, I stayed up reading this novel until three in the morning to find out what happened to them. And yes, I did come away with a sort of chocolate cooking taste in my mouth. It was syrupy, and romantic but it made me feel warm inside so the novel did redeem itself but really, I would say it’s for incurable romantics.

Of which I am obviously not one of them.

Delightful story, expected it to be a tear-jerker but not a drop fell from me, even at the end.

Spread over many decades, this story is told to Dominique's granddaughter of how she and Leon met, knew they were the one, but things happen to ensure the don't get together.

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

I wanted to like this book just a little bit more. The concept was very appealing and it started off really strong and I had a hard time putting it down. Then, rather quickly, I was left with a bit of a sour taste and I just didn't quite get past that. Overall, while I did want to read to the end to find out how these damaged people all worked out their complicates lives, I found the premise just a little bit too coincidental and the flow a bit off and far-fetched.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book but it was just okay for me. Story had very good potential but a lot of unnecessary things happened and after that I lost interest for this book.

{Thank you so much to Aria and Netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review!}

Someday in Paris is the type of book that will make you feel a full range of emotions! I smiled, I cried, I got angry, and then I was back to smiling! This book ended up being much more than I expected.

Someday in Paris is a great example of magical realism. The story of Zara and Leon is a long and complicated one. They meet as teenagers in 1954, but fate has other plans to keep them apart. The story follows the two of them through their lives and through many opportunities at a second chance at love!

This book really held my interest once I got into it! There are so many twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. Zara and Leon’s characters were easy to love and cheer for, but the downside was I also felt so much despair for them as the story progressed. I do feel like the story was a tad long and it would have been easier to binge read the book if it had been shorter, but overall I still really enjoyed it. Since a large part of the story revolves around dreams, if you liked You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley, I think you would like this one too!

Someday in Paris is now available on Kindle Unlimited!

4/5 stars!

This is an epic drama, with missed opportunities and fate the threads that tie it all together and I found it a fresh take on these themes. I enjoyed how well the protagonists were developed, especially when we met them as teens, Their meeting - kismet - was charming, romantic, and even though it was highly unusual, it was believable. I championed them from the start. I thought the author did a wonderful job of evoking setting and fleshing out the characters - they lived and breathed for me. At times, the cadence of the writing pulled me from the story (when the narrative seemed a little rushed), but on the whole a recommended read for something a little different.

A chance encounter between young Zara and Leon begin the story, and short hours define their lives for decades. Zara believes in dreams: dreams where she sees ‘the one’ and knows that he is the only person she will truly love forevermore. Meeting Leon one evening in the museum where her mother cleans, the spark is lit, and she knows that he is the one for her. She had never shared the whole story until now, some years later, while traveling with her granddaughter, who also shares her ‘dream’ of the man she just said goodbye to.

For years, until unspeakable tragedies changed the course of their lives, Zara wondered what if where Leon was concerned, and he could never let the idea of her go. Years pass, moving continents and changing direction, not to mention their names, both Zara and Leon survive, but not really LIVE their lives, finding loves of a sort, but always wondering.

Magical and ethereal, the story jumps in time and through narrators as we see Zara’s desire to hold on to the belief in her dreams, despite others in her mother’s family dismissing the ‘truth’ of them, trying to ‘speak sense’ despite her deep-down conviction in her having found the ‘one’. Arresting with the lyricism of two people’s desire to find love, the moments of connection that bring comfort and a bit of bittersweet pain, the influence and possibility of destiny and the ‘One’, and the absolute joy in the journey through the art and museums of Paris, the atmosphere and the heart shown with each page. Utterly different from what I expected, and totally unique in the storytelling as two souls find one another, love surviving and thriving through decades and changes, proving nothing is as eternal as love.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibilty.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aIL/”> <a> I am, Indeed </a>

Multiple time slips make the book a bit hard to follow. I liked Zara a lot though. Good read.

Many thanks to the author, the publishers, and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

1954 Paris- Zara and Leon meet during a powercut in a Paris museum. They hit it off despite never seeing each other's faces and feel an immediate bond because of the circumstances of the moment. They vow to keep in touch.

But yet again circumstances force them apart and their feelings for each other are there.

1963- Leon cannot stop thinking about Zara but also thinks he'll never find her. Meanwhile, Zara's dreams are where he always is- can she find him in real life?

Will they want to be together? How much will he or she have changed?

Someday in Paris is an enticing novel that has you gripped and does not let go. It's meaningful, heartwrenching heartfelt happy sad emotional gripping and downright beautiful. There are hard and easier times for all the characters and the characters are told in alternate points of view. It made me smile in some parts, and cry in others.

Olivia Lara is a gifted, master of a writer and her novel is spellbinding. The settings are intricately and emotionally described and I felt like I was living the story with the characters minute by minute. New York and Paris are two of my favourite cities.

Unforgettable and a true gem!

Thanks to Olivia Lara and Aria Fiction/ Head of Zeus for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

5 glittering stars.

I love this book soooooooooooo much! I am actually devastated that I've come to the end of this one.
It's such a shame that I will never have the pleasure of reading this for the first time again. This is a magical read which I haven't wanted to put down.
I honestly don't know how my Review can do this book justice. It is magical and there are not enough adjectives for me to describe how great this book is.
I can honestly say nothing negative about this book. It is absolutely fantastic and highly deserving of five stars.