A review by bookycatlady
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Writing itself was a struggle. Dialogue felt clunky, and scenes or action would move so fast I thought I skipped a page. This was throughout the book and especially in the beginning. It was honestly hard to get through the book until the war started, which is when the good action picked up, I’m sorry to say. It was easier to read the trials of war and occupation than it was to read Odile’s rapid-fire emotional swings. I liked 1980s Lily more than 1940s Odile, and 1980s Odile was more tolerable than 1940s Odile. 

I did like that I didn’t get the betrayal twist. I thought it would be

Paul sending the denouncement letters which would have been a truly sick betrayal, but it was a subscriber.

I think the author revealed her hand too early with

Paul, by saying Odile was married to Buck early in the book. It made reading the Paul storyline pretty easy to skin because you knew it wasn’t the end game

.

Overall not a great book for me. I’m not into WWII stories at all, and that was the best part of the book, so that doesn’t bode well. I would read more about Lily and what comes next for her but Odile can stay in the past.