Model Undercover: Paris by Carina Axelsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an early release copy of Model Undercover: Paris via NetGalley. One of the things I like about this book and other books that have teens in them is that they are quite enjoyable for adults as well. In between travels I love to read fiction based in countries outside of the U.S. Of course, Italy and Paris are my favorites so when I saw this title available at the NetGalley site my first thought was "this sounds great!" I was not disappointed. Off the top I can say that there was only thing I found odd. Axelle Anderson is a British teen who is given a trip of a lifetime, a few weeks in Paris to work as an intern in the fashion industry for her aunt. But, to Axelle it's more of a punishment since she is not interested in fashion. She hopes to be a top-notch detective and spends her spare time investigating small crimes. Her parents are trying to steer her away from this and give her the trip.

There is one thing I found a bit off. Though Axelle and her family were British the text of the book was written in American English so the characters felt American instead of British. I kept expecting Axelle to speak like a British teen but she felt very American to me. Outside of that the characters were great. Axelle makes two great friends and has some surprising things happen to her while in Paris. She gets her chance to investigate a great crime and spend some time with her Aunt Venetia who is huge in the fashion industry in Paris as an editor of a fashion magazine. She introduces Axelle to designers and Axelle in the process of becoming engrossed in the fashion industry in a huge way she gets a chance at investigating a huge case. She sees this as her opportunity to make a name for herself as a detective and discovers some surprising things in the course of her investigation. You cannot help but like Axelle and cheer her on as she works to find the answers and also as she gets a chance to do something she had absolutely no interest in and gets a bit closer to her mom, who also loves fashion.

I look forward to seeing Axelle travel and investigate more mysteries!