LadyTechie's Book Musings

Alone in Paris

by Ashley Earley

Publisher: CreatSpace

Release Date: April 1, 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Breathe, Taylor.

Taylor Clay's family isn't exactly perfect. They may look the part with the nice, big house and her dad's fancy job, but that's what's tearing them apart. That, and her dad's sudden recurring drinking problem. Though her family is close to falling apart, she never wished for something like this to happen. She never wished for her father to drive off a bridge. Especially not while they were on vacation; especially not when her and her mom were in the car with him at the time.

Breathe.

She's devastated after the fact. And it isn't helping that the papers are gossiping about how the pristine lawyer could have driven off the bridge on purpose. And just when she thinks nothing could possibly make things worse, she realizes she's left alone with no relatives to care for her. So she's alone. Her parents are dead. And she's stuck in the country her family was visiting for their vacation. She's alone in Paris.

Just breathe.

Then Nathan walks into the picture. Funny, snarky, persistent, and sometimes, just flat out rude, he annoys Taylor to no end. He won't leave her alone, but Taylor doesn't know whether or not she should push him away.

Alone in Paris by Ashley Earley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I would be insincere if I said this was an easy book to read. It is a great book, but, it is not an easy one to read. I received a free copy as part of the Blog Tour for Alone in Paris by Ashley Early via Fantastic Fiction Book Club. Alone in Paris gives the reader a nice trip through the streets of Paris near the Eiffel Tower and though I only recall a specific hotel that I sat at the day after the attack on the nightclub a couple of years ago, I remember the feeling of being on the streets of Paris in the early morning when there was hardly anyone out and in the late evening when there was not as much traffic. These are all things Taylor, the protagonist in the story cherished when she left the place she was staying. Taylor is a 17 year old girl who is alone on the streets of Paris and the reader does not know why (outside of the blurb on the back of the book) for quite some time. We are slowly told the story through flashbacks, nightmares, memories and finally when Taylor trusts someone, Nathan, to tell him.

The story of how Taylor and Nathan met is something that should be experienced through reading the book so I will not spoil that for anyone, but, I will say that it is told through a series of meetings that develop into a friendship and eventually a sweet loving relationship. Taylor is alone on the streets of Paris and there is a phrase that keeps rolling through her mind that strikes me "I am alone". She felt so alone even when she was with Nathan. She did not seem to realize when she was no longer alone. One of the things that drives the reader to keep reading is to see when Taylor realizes she is no longer alone, to witness that maybe she is alone because she has withdrawn from society. I have to wonder if that is how a lot of people end up alone. They feel alone so they continue to pull back until they literally are alone where no one can reach them emotionally and physically. Alone in Paris also gives a glimpse into how some teens might end up on the street, maybe not necessarily in Paris, but, nonetheless, living in the streets. Taylor did manage to make a semblance of a life where she was safer than a lot of people, especially teens, living on the streets. In a sense she had a home and managed to keep it to herself. This part of the story, along with Taylor's vivid pain and loss is something that the reader feels deeply. Once Taylor finds Nathan, or the other way around really, the reader hopes for something to happen for them that actually is not very feasible given their age. But, one can still hope and Alone in Paris finds a realistic way of giving that to the reader. I have a few favorite quotes, some of which may not mean much to a reader if they have not read the surrounding scene to get the context, but, they still can glean some meaning.

"I'm not drowning. I have to remind myself that I'm still alive; that I survived. I have to remind myself that it happened, but, that it is isn't happening."

"I'm here. I'm okay."

Both quotes are reminders that once you come through something even if the memories are there you came through it and can move forward. Definitely something to remember when in the midst of a storm.

Ashley Earley is a 20-year-old author that is working toward her B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. When she’s not writing, she’s posting on her blog, reading, obsessing over a book character, or spending time with friends. Her obsession with books started at the age of twelve, before developing into a love for writing at the age of fourteen, when she wrote her first novel.

Her Thriller/Suspense short story, Chasing Hair of Gold, won first place in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards.

You can visit her at www.ashleyearley.com.