PARIS FOR ONE AND OTHER STORIES by Jojo Moyes

Rating: 4 / 5

PARIS FOR ONE & OTHER STORIES by Jojo Moyes was one of the books I picked off my shelf for the recent #buzzwordathon hosted by @booksandlala which focusing on books with numbers in their title. Since I didn’t have a short story collection going at the time, I decided to throw a buzz word appropriate collection in even though I didn’t anticipate finishing it during the week. Once I got going in this collection I found myself just blasting through it so did in fact finish it before the readathon was over.

PARIS FOR ONE is probably best classified as a novella at around 150 pages at the start of the book. Nell is a woman who lives her life by the rules and she’s never been to Paris. On an impulse she books a weekend away with her boyfriend, but he fails to show up and she winds up traveling on her own. This is definitely not her comfort zone but Nell slowly comes around to taking advantage of her non-refundable ticket to see what Paris has to offer. I found Nell to be a charming character and the story has humor, romance and travel and it was a fun and easy read. It reads much like a coming of age story for Nell, even if she is in her mid-twenties.

The remainder of the book is made up of short stories from a woman being robbed in a jewelry store with unexpected outcomes to a woman learning the power that comes from feeling good in a pair of super expensive and gorgeous heals that circumstances force her to try out for a day. These were perfect little stories to pick up to read one or two before bedtime.

This was an impulse add to a Book Outlet order this year so it seemed only fitting to make it an impulse read as well. Overall I found this to be a great collection and I’m glad that #buzzwordathon pushed me to pick it up off my shelf.