I reached 28% before I couldn’t take this story for a second longer. Doesn’t seem all that far in, I know, but it made me think and feel A LOT in that 28% and I want to talk about it. The Paris Match might be the perfect example of ‘your mileage may vary’.
I picked this book up for the gorgeous cover. I was so enamoured of the cover and what I assumed the feel of the book would be that the blurb, which might have made me pause, didn’t even bother me.
Physician Layla Bailey has spent over a year telling herself she’s moved on from a painful but amicable divorce from her college sweetheart. Staying friends with her ex seemed like the mature thing to do, but when Layla is invited to her former sister-in-law’s destination wedding in Paris—where Layla once spent her own romantic honeymoon—she knows her commitment to maturity might be her worst enemy…especially since her ex isn’t attending alone.
The only thing that could make the week more difficult is getting through it without the distraction of the wedding…. But when what Layla thought was a harmless conversation about the choices of her younger self leads to the bride getting cold feet, Layla finds herself facing down the groom’s mysterious, taciturn best man, Griffin, who will do anything to make sure this wedding happens.
Since she broke it, Griff demands she help him fix it. Going along with his plan to alleviate the engaged couple’s doubts seems like Layla’s best chance at maintaining a good relationship with a family she once called her own. But as she learns more about the past heartbreak that’s driving Griff to help his friend, she gets closer and closer to confronting the true depth of her own pain…while finding herself more and more willing to risk it all again for Griff.
Yup, you read that right: she’s going to her former sister-in-law’s wedding. I have never, not once, not ever had an amicable break up, nevermind stayed in touch with the family of my ex, so the very idea of going to a wedding like this is beyond me. But the cover was gorgeous and I was curious if I could enjoy a book that diverged so strongly from my personal views and experience (viz. Don’t remain friends with exes) so in I dove.
The book opens with Layla, a hospitalist, flying to Paris and responding to a call for medical personnel by the flight crew. A teenager had fainted. I forget why she fainted but she was going to be fine. (Side note: this was the first divergence from my experience. I fainted on a flight when I was younger and travelling alone. The cabin crew just told me to go back to my seat and stop drinking alcohol. Reader, I hadn’t been drinking. Anyway)
During the interaction, Layla used her doctor persona: calm, engaged, reassuring. This is the first of several masks that Layla puts on, or, more accurately, masks that she feels she should wear. Right from the beginning and throughout the quarter I read, Layla very consciously dons masks to fit the occasion. On the one hand, this is a totally normal thing to do. I’m certainly not the same with my boss as I am with my partner, but there are still similarities between those versions of myself. Both expressions are still authentically me, just with some aspects highlighted or hidden as the case demands.
With Layla, it felt like a conscious donning of a persona that is not authentically her. In this particular instance, it’s entirely appropriate that she act calm and professional during a medical crisis, but as the book unfolds, she continues to mask her true feelings and always focuses on what she feels she should portray. Even down to choosing a wardrobe for the trip that will reinforce the masks she’s wearing. I assume the resolution of the story will involve Layla learning to be more authentically herself. Anyway, that aspect of her character made me think about masks and authenticity.
Incidentally, the only person who notices that she wears these masks rather than sharing more of her true self is Griffin and it irritates him a great deal. Griffin is the groom’s best man and the man who witnessed the incident on the plane. Griffin wants her to tell the truth which is a bit rich coming from him because he is not at all honest or open about what’s going on inside of himself. He’s rude, abrupt and a bit cruel instead of admitting to how he really feels – even with his alleged best friend, the groom.
Griffin clearly has a lot going on based on the hints and glimpses behind the abrupt, confrontational and aloof exterior. He is heavily scarred and lives a reclusive life and has chronic pain, but that’s all I knew when I stopped reading. He has microscopic flickers of humanity when he, for example, holds out his hand to help Layla out of the car. And then when he tries to intervene in what looks like a fraught conversation, but those are the only two times he does it. Is that enough? Maybe? Combined with everything else going on, he wasn’t compelling to me; he was frustrating and opaque, giving me little reason to become invested in his potential character growth.
I also really struggled with the setup: it seems so cruel and immature to ask so much of Layla, even if she agrees to all of it. After months of no interaction, Layla’s former sister in law, Emily, is asking her to attend a destination wedding with a full week of events for a very small group of people – including Jamie, the ex, and his new girlfriend, Samantha – in Paris, where Jamie and Layla celebrated their honeymoon. Again, Layla agreed, a decision I question, but also: YIKES.
And when Emily begins to doubt the wisdom of her impending marriage, she leans on Layla, excluding her best friend and maid of honor, Rosie.
While there isn’t a lot going on with Rosie as a character, it still felt cruel to snub her in this way. She’s a caricature of a ditzy, alternative (as in fashion/style) woman who lacks subtlety in her behaviour and her actions. There is little indication in the first quarter of the story that Rosie and Emily are close, so I was mystified at her choice of maid of honour.
The writing is strong, if a little bogged down by (in my opinion) unnecessary detail when describing interactions between the characters. That detail makes scenes lose their dynamism and impact when every eyebrow twitch gets a paragraph. Okay, maybe not a paragraph, but still too much detail. The writing mostly effectively conveyed the many emotions that Layla was feeling. It made it a tough read because there are clearly very big, very vulnerable emotions at play here for Layla.
Then we have Samantha, the new girlfriend. The moment she was described as looking young and scared, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I couldn’t take it for a second longer and stopped reading after that. Taken by itself, a young and unsure new girlfriend isn’t too much to handle, but it was the culmination of everything that had happened so far in the story that made it too much. I felt a tremendous amount of empathy for Samantha and that was too much emotional yikes after the previous chapters of emotional yikes. I kept wondering how must Samantha feel about the situation, or even Jamie? I honestly felt terrible for her. Samantha’s maybe-one-day sister-in-law so strongly prefers Layla over her and even over Jamie.
Ultimately, the plot, the characters, and the increasing tension became too much for me and my anxiety and discomfort that I had to stop reading. I couldn’t stop wondering why Layla agreed, why she was unable to say no to anyone in her ex’s family, and asking myself if Emily’s inviting Layla to the event was as cruel as it seemed to me. I found Griffin irritating, and Layla just as confusing. I spent so much time fretting over the characters and how the story made me feel that I couldn’t continue.
Although this is a DNF for me, I am very curious about how others will feel about it. If you finish the book, please do report back.
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So… I don’t plan on reading the book because this author’s works never resonated for me, but I can tell you that yes, it is possible to maintain a good relationship with an ex’s family. It requires a lot of work and good boundaries, but it can happen, especially if there are children involved and people have matured. Attend a destination small wedding single? Probably not, but the maintaining a friendship or acquaintance, absolutely yes.
I read The Paris Match and I consider it one of the best books I read this year. It is definitely emotionally intense and the background details are an important part of the reading experience. I do agree that the book’s cover belies the angsty nature of this story. As a serial DNFer, I would never question someone else’s decision to take an early exit. Mileage may indeed vary.
Ironically, I had a similar reaction to Clayborn’s first book, Love Lettering. So many in the Bitchery loved it, but the main character made me antsy and anxious. I actually DNFed it twice. In the meantime, I read and loved everything else Clayborn wrote, and finally succeeded in reading and enjoying Love lettering this past year. Sometimes ymmv because of what you bring to the driver’s seat.
Having enjoyed the audiobook, I don’t think I could have read the actual book to the end. The summary reads like a rom-com (Paris! Marriage!Honneymoon! Ex-husband!), but it’s definitely bittersweet.
The narration helped me empathise with Layla and her reasons for faking a calm and collected persona.
Samantha the new girlfriend barely makes it as a character in Layla’s story, merely as a prop for her ex-husband’s weakness.
I kept expecting a twist about the what, the how and the who of the drama between the best man and the groom, but no twisty twist!
A good listen!
I’m friends with almost all my exes and in some cases their families. Why not? There was one boyfriend’s mom who was thrilled to see the back of me, but I am still 20 or 30 years later friends with his sister…. who was also my ex …which is definitely part of why the mom did not approve of me. But the message there is probably more: don’t date in the same family, not: don’t be friends with your exes.
I’m not actually in touch with that guy any more, not because of any ex based animosity but because -as is often the case with my friends, regardless of whether we ever slept together- if they have kids they don’t have time. I did absolutely go to his wedding, and iirc everyone had a great time. I’m pretty sure I went platonically with the friend who had been my boyfriend before the groom or his sister (and I am still at least sporadically in touch with him, and his mom, and both of his brothers) (went to his wedding also). It was definitely where I first hooked up with a different friend, that I still talk to at least once a week. I just met her delightful new partner last month.
I also went to the step-father’s funeral, which is probably more questionable than going to the wedding? I politely did my best avoid the mother who hated me and consequently spent a fair amount of the time after the ceremony talking with the woman my ex had married, who the mother also disliked. If that conversation had somehow convinced her to flee the marriage, it wouldn’t have been because she was closer to me than to her best friend or whomever, but just because sometimes talking to a relative stranger can really crystallize things because of the different perspective.
Anyway, I don’t see any reason why hooking up or falling in love should wreck a friendship, and if I don’t want to be friends with my significant other I wouldn’t consider them significant. And just because you choose to marry into a family, that doesn’t necessarily equate to them being your chosen family, but certainly it’s nice work if you can get it! I don’t know why you’d stay friends with an ex if it’s damaging, obviously, or why I would read a book in which doing so is presented as so angsty or unhealthy, but everyone likes different things and whatever works.
Thank you for this review, Lara. Despite hugely enjoying Clayborn’s Georgie, All Along, and her Love Lettering, I noped out after reading the blurb of this book. Your review confirms my decision.
I loved this one, gave it a solid A but I just plain enjoy Clayborn.
I’m not friends with any of my exes, but as to a boy they did me wrong in various ways rather than having the maturity to tell me they no longer loved me, it isn’t surprising. Plus I don’t live in the same area as any of them any more, and am only in touch with one person from those days, who happens to be my best friend so it’s not really surprising.
I’m fascinated by responses to Kate Clayborn books. Like @LML I loved Georgie All Along, but I got so angry during Love Lettering that I had to stop reading—I was rooting against the heroine and begging the hero to get away from her. I’ve shied away from picking up another book of hers since, because it seems not worth the risk, given my large TBR pile.
I have one ex who stayed a friend and I did go to his wedding, and I remain friends with him, his wife, and his sister. But maybe we didn’t date long enough for it to become impossible to stay friends? Or we were so obviously ill-suited that going back to being friends was possible?
I finished THE PARIS MATCH – but, boy howdy, do I agree that the cover is misleading. So is the blub, if you ask me. This is an angst dialed up pretty high story. Here are some content warnings I would suggest: SERIOUS content warning for detailed and narratively central discussions of a character with life-long severe pain after a horrible accident has left them with deep and wide-spread burns over around half their body, characters dealing with severe trauma after a death that occurs in the fire that leaves the other character so badly wounded, a character slowly coming to terms with how much her divorce has cost her, multiple characters struggling with how actual or found family parents abandoned them to one degree or another. Those are the main ones, I guess. This is NOT a rom com. I was ok reading it to the end, and I was glad that the end involved some characters getting serious therapy and some of them possibly rethinking previous decisions. There are some funny lines here and there – but this is very much a book focused on severe physical pain – and severe emotional pain as well.
BLURB not BLUB — sorry!