A review by afoxswandering
A Crown of Bitter Orange by Laura Florand

3.0

Before I start, what you need to know is this : Reading my review of [b:A Crown of Bitter Orange|17832873|A Crown of Bitter Orange (La Vie en Roses, #3)|Laura Florand|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481641832s/17832873.jpg|24950564] might be the worst choice you could make, and here's why :

1) I am not sensible to the charms of Provence. At all. Because I'm probably a sociopath. Or something. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate going there (alright, I'm lying, I really don't) but... in my head, it's nothing special, and I'm not about to take a selfie in front of a Lavender field. Therefore the descriptions, the atmosphere, the general admiration for the countryside... fell flat to me. Sue me.

2) There's only so much repetitiveness I can take. Seriously now. There must be what, three members of Tristan's family who use the exact same method to squeeze the truth out of Marjorie, and it works every. damn. time.

Tristan's grandma : Tristan has no redeeming quality, really...
Marjorie : How DARE you? He is the sun of the sky, the expression of life itself, the chocolate chips on the freaking cookies
Me : Awwwwwww
Tristan's cousin : LMAO, Tristan? What a piece of work ugh
Marjorie : How DARE you? He is the sun of the sky, the expression of life itself, the chocolate chips on the freaking cookies
Me : Awww but look
Tristan's granddad : How could someone love Tristan I mean
Marjorie : How DARE you? He is the sun of the sky, the expression of life itself, the chocolate chips on the freaking cookies
Me : MARJORIE! ARE YOU FOR REAL?!

See, Tristan is very close to his family, and they obviously love each others. Hence why I had a hard time buying into their act the first time. On the second, well, it was still a little bit cute. The last one though? Nope.

3) The plot was... very much lacking in my opinion, with no real obstacles or progression.

At this point, you might wonder why I gave [b:A Crown of Bitter Orange|17832873|A Crown of Bitter Orange (La Vie en Roses, #3)|Laura Florand|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481641832s/17832873.jpg|24950564] a somewhat positive three stars rating. I FEEL YOU.

That's simple, actually : I liked both characters a lot. Tristan first, because he was a nice, adorable love interest who managed to melt my heart. Marjorie, too, for her driven mind and her independence.

Plus, they have great chemistry. They work. How could I not root for them? HOW? And this comes from a reader who rarely enjoys second-chance romances. By the way, contrary to some readers, I do not think that sleeping with other women before meeting with Marjorie again 'tainted' (ugh) Tristan's love in any way. It's actually pretty realistic, in my opinion? Not to mention that he stops his player act before the beginning of the book, and that Marjorie never slut-shames said women, so... I don't quite get where the problem lies?

#AmClueless

Are you actually implying that... that... *GASP* 'true love' would be linked to chastity?

#LOL

As for the writing, if sometimes a bit cheesy, I can't deny that it was compelling and very readable. One note though : if the French parts were free of mistakes (woot!), it stayed very weird for me to read the conversations of two French characters... in English, and as a French reader I couldn't be 100% fooled. Indeed some idiomatic expressions used just... do not translate into French, lol.

Well, what can I say. Perhaps it takes a very tired and busy Anna to get a probably generous three star rating.

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