DNF at 17%.

First, the main characters are each referred to by three names: their first name, their last name, and the name of the character they play in the film. I could not keep up. (I mean, I could, if I really wanted to. But I shouldn't have to work that hard.)

Second, the story is driven primarily by the sexual chemistry and sensory detail. There's very little characterization or plot so far.

Third, how many times do I have to be told that Nicholas resents the fact that Chris has almost no acting experience? I got that the first time. Especially since we know nothing else about Chris except that he's a beautiful model with no acting experience.

This book is beautifully written, and I'm sure it will appeal to some readers (people who like LGBTQIA fiction, as opposed to romance), but it's not for me.

This book was just really not for me. I really disliked the narrative style and found it to be too focused on embellishments and sounding elegant instead of just moving the story along and letting the voice come out organically. I also found basically all the characters incredibly unlikeable with few redeeming qualities, which didn't make it any easier to push through the prose.

I did find the initial concept pretty neat and seeing some of the other reviews on here, I'm sure lots of other people will enjoy it, but I just didn't click with this one.

Nicholas Madden is a bankable movie-star and has landed his dream role. It is a period piece and a gay love story set and to be filmed in Paris. Is is not happy that is co-star is Chris Lavalle a 25 year old fashion model and social media influencer. It will be Chris’s first acting role. Chris is out and proud but Nicholas is not and has a history of dating starlets and being private. He wants the film from a classic book to be the best it can be. Nicholas is a jerk at first but softens to Chris when he sees there may be a reason he was hired more than his pretty face.

Normally I love grumpy actors and love on the movie set. But it took a long time to warm up to the very pretentious Nicholas. The book includes acting out scenes in the movie which is interesting. And the story is set two years in the future and I’m not sure why other than to maybe move it away from the pandemic. It took me a while to catch on to the writing style as well. If you aren’t writing for the New Yorker you don’t need to use so many pompous or ostentatious words. Also each chapter begins with social media, or news feeds which I usually enjoy but it took me out of the story trying to figure out who was commenting or writing. The romance itself is sweet and overall it was a good story but I wasn’t really rooting for the characters to have a HEA.

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin) for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. In this novel there is great chemistry between the main characters and the setting plays a huge role. Great backdrop of Oaris.

Closeted A-Lister, Nicholas Madden, has a reputation: he is the Big Bad Wolf of Hollywood, known for his bad temper and incredible talent. Nicholas has dreamed of adapting the once lost Queer love story, The Throne. Finally, cast as Frederick, he is passionate about bringing this cherished dream to life. So he is horrified when French fashion model, Christian Lavelle, is cast as his lead co-star. But Chris is set to confound all expectations.

Eight Weeks in Paris is a traditional slow-burn love story. In the first few chapters, Nicholas's disdain for Chris is palpable, and S.R. Lane does a good job slowly changing the dynamic. Chris exceeds all the sceptics, including Madden, and slowly but surely, the two find themselves drawn and falling for each other. But with one closeted and the other out and active on social media it does make for an inevitable outing.

S.R. Lane opens chapters with exerts from Twitter, news articles, blogs, et cetera and I did find this grating at first. For the first few chapters, I wondered if I would get into this novel, but I found myself slowly drawn in. It's a promising debut. The ending is quite satisfying, and I enjoyed what S.R. Lane had to say about the double standards of Chris and Nicholas's industries and celebrity culture.

I am grateful to NetGalley, and Carina Press & Carina Adores for the eARC. If you enjoy LGBTQ+ novels this should prove an enjoyable quick read.

I will be honest the cover made me expect a sweet and simple rom-com. And it ended up being so so so much better. The writing was superb and made the book seem like a mixture of romance and literary fiction, which is something I adore, especially since we don’t have many queer examples of this. it was the joy of reading Less by Andrew Sean Greer and All Of My Friends Are Rich by Michael Sarais all over again.
I adored the European setting, the characters, the dialoge, the set up and everything in between. A true masterpiece that i pre ordered before I had even finished the Acknowledgements.

Eight Weeks in Paris by S.R. Lane was such a fun story to devour.

Nicholas and Chris', characters were interesting, compelling and honestly they hated each other. Which made this book that much more intriguing for me. Because I had to see how this one played out.

S.R. Lane, killed it! Her writing was beyond captivating.
From the first sentence, the writing is incredibly vivid, and the characterization is outstanding. 

I enjoyed the heck outta EWIP.
It’s the characters, the setting, the storyline, and the wonderful ending.
Y'all just need to read it! Pretty darn amazing!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Carina Adores,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.

Original at Smexy Books:

I highly recommend this book. Eight Weeks in Paris will be on my best books of 2022 list, I already know it.

An atmospheric story that takes place during the filming of a film set in the early years of the 20th century, S.R. Lane’s debut novel is a romance between Nicholas Madden, an esteemed and serious movie actor and his costar Chris Lavalle, a French man whose experience lies in modeling, not the movies. The movie they are filming, in Paris, is based on a rediscovered love story about two very different men.

Nicholas loves the book, The Throne, and is dismayed when Chris is cast in the role. Chris acting credentials are slim and unimpressive. Nicholas arrives in Paris ready to put Chris to the test. He’d like to intimidate Chris out of the role, but barring that he seems determined to live up to his reputation as the Big Bad Wolf, being rude and demanding. It’s not exactly enemies-to-lovers, because Chris’s respect for Nicholas seems to give him a well of patience to draw from. The enmity goes mainly one way. But it is delicious to watch Chris challenge Nicholas’s assumptions as the book progresses. When they finally come together it is in a rewarding sequence of comfort and heat.

Even without the “real life” romance that develops between the characters, the push-pull between the two of them rehearsing for the movie scenes was electric. Chris’s interpretation of his role as Angelo is different than what Nicholas envisioned for the film, but as they act together, they create something new and exciting.

The writing in this book is just sumptuous. I found myself highlighting passage after passage as I read, wanting to hold onto the language. It’s an atmospheric novel – so many dark nights, rain, and early mornings – but there is also some play there. Not ha-ha funny, but amusing and fresh:
“Chris had been a model since he was a teenager. The industry, a pitiless bucket of crabs, had shaped him. It had taught him never trust anyone easily.”

I do have to regret the book cover. Nothing against the illustration itself, but it doesn’t set the right expectations for the book. It evokes the idea of eight weeks in Paris as a lark and would be more suitable on a rom-com than this novel. If anyone asked me, and they did not, I would use a night-time photo of an outdoor square in Paris – the silhouette of two men in the distance, heads bent in conversation under the streetlight.

MY RATING 3,5/5 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Adores for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

It took me quite a while to get into this book, since the writing style was a bit different from what I’m used to in romance books. However, I definitely started to love the characters and the chemistry they had together after some time. I also really loved that the book was told from both Chris and Nicholas’s point of view.

Through the book we get to see many of the different struggles Nicholas goes through. As an actor he feels like he has to hide in the closet if he wants people in the industry to take him seriously. Because of this he always feels like he has to lie low and keep up appearances, in the case there might be paparazzies around. This also gives us a very realistic view of what actors in his situation would feel like in real life.

As the opposite of Nicholas there is Chris. Chris has been openly out to the public for years and knows who he is. Even though many people underestimate him and his abilities because he’s a model and influencer, it becomes clear that he knows what he is doing even though he is new to the acting scene.

Another thing I really enjoyed was how we got to see different mediums in the book in the form of posts from Twitter, Instagram, fan sites etc. This gave a great view into fan culture, and how we look up to celebrities.

I have to be honest, I needed to put this book down a couple chapters in. I found the voice of the writing difficult to follow and the "breaking news" headlines didn't translate as well as the author intended. I was bummed because on paper this book is EXACTLY what I love and it just missed the mark a little for me.

A lost novel, a queer historical love story between two men, a forbidden romance. A bold choice to make it into a movie, there are more and more queer stories now, but a big buget adaption is still not very common yet.
Nicholas, a notorious American actor, known as the Big bad Wolf of Hollywood, famous for his moods and his bad temper is set to play the main role in it.
As his characters love interest, a young French Instagram model is cast. Nicholas is not pleased to hear that one of his favourite books should be adapted with an inexperienced actor like that, much less his direct opposite. Nicholas is a professional and expects nothing less but perfection.
He instantly dislikes Chris.
He is charming, cheerful…and openly out and proud. Everything Nicholas is not.
But the more the two men work together, the more the epic romance unfurls, the more the lines start to blur.

This was written in such a beautiful and poetic kind of way, I wasn’t able to put it down.
I loved how we slowly got to get to know both Nicholas and Chris, they both had so much more depth to them then everyone thinks from the first glance and everything the press writes about them.
Both dive deep into their movie characters and I loved how their own relationship development and their discussions change their opinion and vision of the movies characters.
I loved how their own experience and relationship development fit that of the movie scenes that were shot.
I loved the way Nicholas’s own thoughts and feelings changed.
The yearning!!! I love a good slow burn!
They were so sweet together.

I loved the little chapters with the fan discussions online. They were hilarious, but also showed how the public mostly knows nothing about what’s really happening behind closed doors.
Celebrity news and paparazzi are mostly disgusting, making money from creating drama and dissecting peoples private lives.
Being closeted and famous at the same time must be hell.
I also loved how realistic this was. There are more and more openly out celebrities and more queer characters on shows and movies. But sometimes it just feels like we live in this cute, queer bubble. Because the percentage compared to big budget and big money earning straight movies and stars is very low in reality. Openly out actors have to fight to get jobs that will earn them an award, they WILL get declined by producers.

I loved the way the story develops and also the conclusion.
It was a very intense and romantic read.
I think this one is absolutely for people who enjoyed RWRB or The charm offensive.

I loved this M/M celebrity romance. It features Nicholas Madden (closeted, serious and very famous actor) and Chris Lavalle (out and proud, very successful model/social media influencer in his first film). No one on set knows how Chris could have possibly gotten this role, but Nicholas surprisingly soon realizes how good he actually is, and though seemingly opposites, they find themselves growing closer. The eight weeks of filming turn out to be a revelation, but the two will have a lot to overcome before finding a real life happy ending. I liked both main characters and the supporting cast, and look forward to what comes next from this author.

I'm sorry to say that I found this book unreadable. This author's motto seems to be: why use one word when I can use three to five words? Additionally, rather than use words common to everyday conversation, this author frequently employs Big Words that feel out of place in a contemporary romance. And because the author often uses those Big Words incorrectly, the attempt to pass this work off as a Smart book fails in my opinion.

I can concede that hidden in and among all the pretention there is a very interesting story here. We all have our own ideas of what we will and will not tolerate in a romance. For those who can look past the egregious use of language here, you may have a really good time with this one.

I so wanted to love this book. Based on the synopsis, I was SOLD. Unfortunately, as I began reading I didn't feel any connection to the characters. I also did not feel that sparking chemistry I crave in a romance. I won't be sharing a full review of this book outside of NG.

When I read the summary for this, I was so intrigued. I loveee a gay celebrity romance so much. This, though, fell a bit flat for me. While I enjoyed the characters of Nicholas and Chris, and liked how their story ended…everything in between felt a bit pretentious. I wasn’t a big fan of the writing style used. This is set a tad bit into the future but was written in this very stiff, proper way that I don’t feel like fit the time of the story. The way the characters spoke at times felt like i was reading a time piece from hundreds of years ago. And objectively, if you look at the story from that point of view, it’s actually a very good story. I just was so disconnected from the writing style I found myself trudging through and that’s never a good sign. I also found the progression of the romance odd. When the two finally come together, I had to go back and double check that I didn’t miss something cuz it felt like it came out of nowhere. Was it bad? I wouldn’t go that far. It just wasn’t for me unfortunately.

Just finished Eight Weeks in Paris, I really enjoy the plot of the book, however, I felt the writing was a little confusing in some parts. S.R. Lane portrays a very beautiful story about love in our culture today, especially focusing on the downside of being famous and how hard it is to have a private life during the era of social media. I felt a lack of representation in some parts, and I felt the part when talking about the Twitter, Instagram feed was a little confusing. Maybe it's because it's in the digital form.

i had a hard time getting into this one. i just don't think this authors writing style is for me. i think it has a great concept and others might still like though

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

📖 Q: have you ever been to Paris?

Eight Weeks in Paris by S.R. Lane is one of those books that I just fell into—it’s a blissful (& also angsty) Paris-set trope-fest that engaged me on every level & felt like Moulin Rouge meets French Kiss.

Trope-wise, this is opposites attract, sunshine & the grumpy, coworkers, caretaking, stormed in, forced proximity. (Do you hear my heart going pitter patter?)

Nicholas Madden is a “serious actor” who gives me Richard from Lucy Parker’s Act Like It vibes. He’s got a grumpy, temper-fueled, brilliant rep & he’s very invested in the current film he’s starring in with Chris Lavalle, a stunningly attractive man mostly known as a model & influencer.

Including film scenes + real life scenes it’s easy to see the two becoming confused—something the book really makes clear—especially as both leads wrestle their feelings over the magnetism of their relationship & as Nicholas in particular considers what he might lose by publicly coming out.

The writing & plot are sublime, the emotion is so stirring, & this is the kind of book I could read again & again bc there’s so much there. I wish I could have read more past HEA, especially since the big fight hurt me so bad 😆.

5 big ⭐️ for this one. Please check it out! Release date: 05/31.

ID: a white hand holds up an ebook in front of an open hardback. Behind is a painting of a white woman wearing a nineteenth century white and red polka dotted dress; it rests on a desk & against a bright yellow wall.]

The author had me wondering if she was French, the descriptions of Paris were so good. But...

... the writing style might be off-putting for some. I think it's a style that will appeal to Gen Zs, but I found it irritating and though each chapter started with pretty much the same social media snippets, it still kept confusing me and surprising me. The overuse of # and text emojis grated, tbh, and I found myself skipping the first couple of pages of each chapter.

If you're looking for a love story first and foremost, you won't get one here. You'll read a lot about filming and all that that industry entails. You'll read about the power players, the back-stabbers, the pressures, the cover-ups, the publicists, about journalists and what they'll do for a story, about rivalries, about sabotage and the work that goes into a film. And then, in among all of that, you find the slowly unfurling, surprisingly sweet and chase and old-fashioned love story, that in some ways matches the film that they're there filming. There wasn't a grand passion here but a slow burn dislike-to-like that ended with the couple together. I'm not sure they'll be together in a HEA or an extended HFN, sadly, and tbh, by the end of the book, didn't really care much about that aspect. Their world felt so privileged and fickle that that's what stayed with me, not the leads and not their romance. Maybe, too, the timing of my reading it was a bit off with the Oscars and the Will Smith-Chris Rock melodrama. But, it was an interesting read. And, the Chris character reminded me a lot of Gaspard Ulliel, the recently deceased French model-turned-actor.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Carina Press, for my reading pleasure.

I really wanted to love this book but sadly, it fell a bit flat for me. The setup was great in theory, two men starring in a retelling of one of the greatest queer love stories meet, initially hate each other, but end up falling in love while shooting the movie despite how different they are. In reality, I felt like the movie took over the book, and I didn't feel we got enough of Chris and Nicholas' own love story. Some of their dialogue felt weirdly stilted, and while I saw the chemistry between their characters, it was a bit more on and off for me regarding the actors portraying them, and it didn't feel fully believable to me. There were definitely chapters I really enjoyed and this book had all the components to make me fall in love with it and its characters but it just never fully got there.