Aussie Book Review: Bonjour Cherie by Robin Thomas
Bonjour Cherie by Robin ThomasebookReview copy provided by publisher/ netgalleyEscape Publishing, September 2013 Synopsis- It's Paris or bust in this New Adult comedy of errors about seeing beyond the surface...Beth Jenkins is into all things French — especially her French teacher, André LeBlanc. She’s on the fast track to Paris and nothing will stop her, not even the very Australian Zach Mills, whose abs and attitude are a powerful combination. As she endeavours to catch André’s interest, she also stubbornly ignores the growing chemistry with Zach.But as mishap after mishap delays her dreams, Beth begins to learn that neither Zach nor André are quite what they seem. Will it be too late to win the one man who shows her that Paris is not the only destination worth planning for?Review- Bonjour Cherie is a short, light-hearted story about a young woman's obsession with all things French. I was after something short to read on my kindle, so when I saw that Robin Thomas had a new short story/ novella released with Escape Publishing I decided to download a copy. I loved her debut, High Stakes about a woman in the corporate world who finds unexpected romance. Bonjour Cherie, has a completely different feel, with a protagonist at the complete other end of the spectrum. Though it has some of the same wit I enjoyed from High Stakes, I found the protagonist, Beth to be far less likeable and a little dense at times.Beth works at the local IGA, forever in the shadows of her high-achieving sister, her only aspiration in life is to one day go to France. Only problem is that she has no money and fairly impractical plan to fulfil that dream. She's kind of in love with her French teacher, Andrew LeBlanc and will go to any lengths to capture his attention. One person who has noticed Beth is her very blokey French class peer, Zach Mills, only Beth's a bit too blind to see this.Beth stumbles across a serious of difficulties in her pursuit of making Andre fall in love with her and somehow, it's Zach who is always there to pick up the pieces. I enjoyed the banter between Beth and Zach, though I do feel she was really quite judgemental of him when he'd only ever been nice to her. The late revelation about Andre was a little predictable and it was hard to believe that Beth didn't discover this earlier.Overall, Bonjour Cherie was an easy way to pass the time and I could completely relate to Beth's obsession with going to France, though not so much her lack of planning. However there was enough emotional growth by the end of the story for me to warm to Beth and to find the ending satisfactory. A short and sweet read by Australian author Robin Thomas.
Overall Rating
3/5
"I liked this"
Bonjour Cherie can be purchased via Escape Publishing and other leading ebook retailers
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This book was read as part of the AWW2013 challenge:
