A State of Romance special for Paris: Love rises about hate
This week State of Romance visits Paris, the City of Light, to remind our French ohana (family) that love rises above the hate.
Stephanie Perkins kicks off her YA series with Anna and the French Kiss. She returns to Paris with Isla and the Happily Ever After — the hero is an introspective cartoonist. Je Suis Ohana.
Maureen Johnson visits Paris with 13 Little Blue Envelopes while Gayle Forman spends Just One Day. Jennifer Donnelly explores the Revolution with two heroines, separated by 200 years, but connected through a diary. Lauren Willig also chronicles the French Revolution in her Pink Carnation series, including The Orchid Affair.
New Adult finds passion and fashion in Paris with Chanel Cleeton's French Kissed, Lauren Blakely's Caught Up in Us and Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble.
The City of Light turns to the dark side with Jeaniene Frost's Destined for an Early Grave, Kresley Cole's A Hunger Like No Other, Amy Plum's Die for Me and Katie MacAlister's You Slay Me.
Paris serves up the romantic backdrop for must-read historicals including Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels, Jennifer Ashley's The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie and Meredith Duran's Wicked Becomes You.
Contemporary romance shines in La Ville Lumière with Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Glitter Baby, Lindsey Kelk's I Heart Paris and Jenny Colgan's The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris — one of my favorite books from 2014. I am looking forward to Leah Marie Brown's Faking It, available in May from Kensington.
Looking for romantic suspense? Check out Christy Reece's Rescue Me. Cozy mystery? Laugh along with Ellen Byerrum's Raiders of the Lost Corset (that title makes me chuckle). Even children can enjoy a trip to Paris with Mary Pope Osborne's Night of the New Magicians from her popular Magic Tree House series.
Who wouldn't be envious of authors living in Paris? Enjoy their journey with Eloisa James' Paris in Love, Elizabeth Bard's Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes and Amy Thomas' Paris, My Sweet. I reviewed Amy's tasty book, prompting me to compare Parisian sweets to Hawaiian treats on my travel blog.
Add to the list of romances set in Paris by using #StateOfRomance on Twitter.
Next week we visit Georgia in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
Kim Lowe is an Air Force veteran, Air Force spouse and romance book blogger at SOS Aloha. You can reach her at sos.aloha@yahoo.com.