The Paris Key

by Juliet Blackwell

I love any type of book that promises an immersive experience in another place, culture, or world that is different from my own. My desire for travel doesn’t match my travel budget any more than by reading desires are satisfied by my book budget, so books like this one are always tempting to me.

Unfortunately, there were two parallel storylines in this book, and I didn’t like one of them. Genevieve is getting a divorce, and has inherited her late uncle’s locksmith shop and apartment in Paris, so off she goes to end one life and start another. While she’s there, she finds traces of a mystery surrounding her late mother’s trip to Paris before she was born, and investigates the past while learning about her new life. This is all my catnip, though there wasn’t enough romance for me.

The mystery surrounding Genevieve’s mom didn’t do that much for me. Her mother, even in the warmest of recollections from Genevieve, seemed selfish and foolish much of the time, and I wasn’t that excited about the chapters devoted to her story in the past.

Plus, Genevieve heads to Paris to take over her uncle’s locksmith business. He trained her when she was a teenager, and she’s kept up with lock repair and lock picking (her estranged husband used to grouse that she’d mess around trying to break into old locks while they were watching tv together), so she’s not ignorant of the trade. For me, there wasn’t enough lock picking! More lock picking! More competence porn! I wanted less flashbacks of maudlin, selfish mom, and more lock picking. There wasn’t nearly enough lock repair and lock picking going on – which would have, obviously, unlocked a lot of doors and potential stories. But there were only a few that Genevieve was focused on, and they weren’t as interesting to me.

The present day conflict and regeneration of Genevieve’s life was much more interesting, though much less dramatic, than the past flashbacks that focused on the mystery connected to Genevieve’s mother. I liked this book enough to finish, but there wasn’t enough Paris, and there wasn’t enough locksmithing.

– SB Sarah

An American in Paris navigates her family’s secret past and unlocks her own future, in this emotionally evocative novel byNew York Times bestselling author Juliet Blackwell.

As a girl, Genevieve Martin spent the happiest summer of her life in Paris, learning the delicate art of locksmithing at her uncle’s side. But since then, living back in the States, she has become more private, more subdued. She has been an observer of life rather than an active participant, holding herself back from those around her, including her soon-to-be-ex-husband.

Paris never really left Genevieve, and, as her marriage crumbles, she finds herself faced with an incredible opportunity: return to the magical city of her youth to take over her late uncle’s shop. But as she absorbs all that Parisian culture has to offer, she realizes the city also holds secrets about her family that could change her forever, and that locked doors can protect you or imprison you, depending on which side of them you stand.

Women's Fiction