This is part of my Summer Reads series where I’ll be sharing book recommendations – a series of “not just cookbooks”.
This week’s Summer Reads pick is from Kristin Harmel, whose book The Paris Daughter was one of my faves that I read in 2023. I’ve since enjoyed The Winemaker’s Wife, The Book of Lost Names, The Room on the Rue Amélie and The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau – Harmel typically writes historical fiction, one of my favourite genres. Her latest, Meet Me in Paris releases tomorrow, July 28th, 2026.
With Meet Me in Paris, Harmel is shifting gears a bit, away from historical fiction and I wondered how I’d like it. The synopsis certainly reads a bit differently from her previous works…
From the publisher:
Nine Americans in Paris. Seven intertwined love stories. One City of Light.
Love Actually meets The Notebook in a tale of love, loss, and finding your way home, all set over the course of one life-changing week in Paris.
Julia Glover has brought her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Piper, to Paris for the first time—but they know it will also be their last trip here together. Julia is dying, and as the mother and daughter desperately try to make memories together as the clock ticks down, the world opens up around them. Piper meets a cute French waiter, who might just understand her better than anyone she’s ever met, and Julia meets a man at a dive bar and struggles with how to tell him the truth about her future.
Rock star Jackson Quick’s glory days are behind him. He had a handful of hit songs thirty years ago, but he hasn’t toured in a decade. This week, he’ll launch his reunion tour in Paris, the city where it all began. But he wants more out of life than being defined by fame. When he meets a woman who finally sees him for who he is at his core, the ground shifts beneath his feet.
Henry McGee has been writing hit songs for decades—including Jackson Quick’s biggest hit, City of Light. But his secret is that every love song he’s ever written is for a woman named Celeste, whom he loved a lifetime ago, when they were both teenagers in Paris during World War II. He has spent eighty years believing she died—but when a letter arrives telling him the opposite, he’s on the first flight to France. Can he break through the haze of her dementia, using the songs he’s written all these years, to remind her of who they once were to each other—and to tell her he came back for her?
Henry’s granddaughter, Melody, has just discovered that her husband of twenty years, Gilles, a French cosmetics executive, is having an affair. When she confronts him, he tearfully apologizes and begs her to forgive him. But can she? And, perhaps even more importantly, does she want to? Or is there a different kind of life out there for her if she chooses to be alone?
These intertwining stories—plus several others—unfold over a few breathtaking spring days, as an unforgettable group of Americans in Paris must find their way to their own versions of happily ever after in the City of Light.
Ok, I’ll admit that I was in a headspace where “Love Actually meets The Notebook” was EXACTLY what I needed to read, so this was perfect for me!
It was interesting to see how the storylines overlapped so cleverly – and I’ll fully admit that I was much more invested in some of the characters’ stories than others. The main characters (mentioned in the synopsis) were definitely those I was most interested in – other characters and storylines didn’t get as much airtime as these and subsequently, I sometimes forgot that they were in the mix. But Harmel blends the stories together masterfully that you will be absorbed and invested in each and every outcome. Initially, I did think there might be too much going on but as you get deeper into the characters and their back stories, it’s not.
As someone who lived in Paris in my 20s and has subsequently returned, I definitely identified with some of the characters wanting to return to old haunts, then being disappointed that they had changed (and then realising that they were exactly what they needed them to be in the present day!). I loved meandering around Paris with these characters; it’s clear Harmel knows Paris well.
A fabulous summer read that will transport you to the City of Light.
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Disclosure: I received an advance digital copy from Simon & Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review. I am not receiving any compensation for reviewing the book. Neither the author nor the publisher reviewed this post prior to publication. All opinions are my own.
Buy Meet Me in Paris on Amazon (this affiliate link should bring you to the Amazon store in, or closest to, your country).
For free worldwide shipping, find Meet Me in Paris on Blackwell’s.
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