Paris for One is a collection of novella/short stories written by JoJo Moyes. As usual, JoJo’s characterisation is good, and running through the book is a theme of lessons learned, relationships & re-evaluation. Gentle, yet clever and often thought provoking.

Although not in the same league as the full length novels as you don’t really form the same level of relationships with the characters, fans of JoJo’s books will undoubtedly enjoy this collection, although some stories definitely stand head and shoulders above others. I wasn’t particularly taken with ‘Holdups’, or ‘Thirteen days with John C’, but I loved ‘Margot’ and ‘The Christmas List’ and thought that ‘Between the Tweets’ was very clever. From other reviews I’ve read, people differ greatly in their choice of favourite, so it’s very much down to the reader preference. It’s worth reading them all just to see which one stands out for you.

For me it was ‘Honeymoon in Paris’. It’s a good few years since I’ve read ‘The Girl You Left Behind’ and I absolutely loved it, so It was lovely to catch up with Eduardo and Sophie spend a few days in their new marriage and the timeslip theme with a modern couple is really clever. Nell, the protagonist in the titular novella reminded me a lot of Louisa from ‘Be Before You’ so if you liked that, you’ll probably like her too.

This is a nice collection of stories from a great author. Perfect for dipping into on a hot beach somewhere, or on a train on a rainy day.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in return for an honest review

3.5/5