I didn't like Clare; she was too pedantic about everything, not just the proper way to make coffee, but other topics too. It felt like she thought herself better people. It got her into an amusing conversation with Frenchman Eduardo who claims that most people in America decide what they like by the brand name (package not contents), where Clare argues that Americans care about the quality and he must be thinking about Europeans who believe aristocracy at face value. Amusing mainly for what was not said: that Americans are not exactly know for their good tastes and that the French killed their aristocracy.

In any case, it made the story drag: 150 pages in and we've just gone to bed on day one. But the book completely lost out on getting more than two stars when Clare learned from dr. Foo about Annabelle's medical condition. Doctors should not discuss their patients with strangers. An employer, even a caring one, falls in the category stranger.