“I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through or what living like this every day must feel like. But I know you deserve your daydreams. You deserve to find your Gene Kelly, Peaches. Please don’t let it take that.”

♡Synopsis♡

Evie O’Shea fled Tallow, Massachusetts, a long time ago, escaping her manipulative mother, the shame of her endometriosis diagnosis, and her feelings for a certain boy-next-door. She’s since built a life in Paris. Well, she’s built something. She has an incredible, supportive best friend, a decent part-time job with bosses who understand and respect her body’s limitations, and a relatively successful Parisian food/lifestyle blog, L’Evie en Rosé. According to her mother, the one thing she’s missing is a man in her life, but endometriosis proves a worthy foe in her search for love, so Evie accepted spinsterhood a long time ago. But her brother Caleb is getting married, and Evie’s mother is hellbent on Evie being escorted by a suitable date over 6’0” tall. Evie is panicking, considering skipping the wedding altogether to escape her mother’s unrealistic expectations, but ultimately settles on a much more complicated solution, one that will (hopefully) appease everyone. Enter Tallow’s Wonder Boy.

A strong hand grips my shoulder, righting my stance before I topple to the ground.
“Easy there, Peaches,” A rough baritone voice says behind me.
A nostalgic shiver terrorizes my spine. Only one person calls me Peaches.
The bane of my existence.
Salt in the wound.
Liam Kelly.

Liam Kelly grew up next door to the O’Sheas, assuming Caleb and Nana O’Shea as his own family. Once a nihilistic pain in Evie’s ass, Liam is now all grown up, more mature, and drop-dead gorgeous. Like, so hot that Evie literally runs into a pole. When he crashes into Evie’s perfect Parisian paradise, she hatches the perfect plan to keep her mother at bay during the wedding—she’ll bring Liam as her date, but they’ll have to convince her that they truly fell for each other in the City of Love. Liam, as selfless as he’s never been, proposes that they go on a few practice dates in Paris to work on their incomprehensibly strange dynamic.

“So you’re serious about this? You really think you can play the tortured lover part?”
“I wouldn’t worry about me.”

As the dates progress and lines blur further than they ever have, feelings arise that Evie’s disease ruled out long ago, and she soon learns that heating pads and canned cheese can’t assuage this fire she’s feeling down there.

♡My Thoughts♡

This is such a stunning debut novel by Torie Jean. It was so beautifully written that I felt transported to the bustling streets of Paris. Granted, I’ve never been to Paris, so maybe I should say I felt like I was watching a movie that's set in Paris. Either way, I’ve never read such decadent descriptions of food in my life. There is something so divine about how she writes about pain au chocolat, specifically. I also loved the way she incorporated music throughout the story. Paris has such a distinct sound in my mind, and I felt like Torie really nailed that here. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never seen any (not one) of the movies talked about in this book, but perhaps I’ve been convinced to give them a try. The imagery of both Paris and New England is so outstanding that I found myself tabbing pages just for the vivid pictures Torie painted, which is something I’ve never done before. If nothing else, read this book because of the writing. I promise it won’t disappoint you.

Let me tell y’all, I SCREAMED when I found out that Evie is tall. I seriously read the words “five-foot-ten stature” and had a party. It can get very annoying, as an incredibly tall woman, to constantly read about minuscule women with mammoth men. It doesn’t always bother me, but I grow weary of reading book after book describing characteristics that are the complete opposite of how I look. Evie made me feel validated in a way that I don’t often find in contemporary romance books. I can only imagine how people with endometriosis felt reading this book because it really was such a wonderful, meaningful learning experience for me. I knew next to nothing about endometriosis before this book, which is my own fault, but I’m so glad I had the opportunity to learn so much from someone who has dealt with this for most of her life.

Evie is such a complicated character. She waffles between what she wants and what she thinks she deserves. I see a lot of myself in her. I deprive myself of love because it’s always been easier to hurt myself than let others hurt me later when things I have no control over inevitably emerge in the relationship. I totally understand Evie’s actions and that's why it's so hard for me to read about it. It also makes me feel guilty when I want to scream and her and shake her shoulders. But I love her so, so much. She and I are best friends if you didn’t know. She deserves so much more than she gives herself credit for. And I suppose I do too.

Evie’s mother is such a fucked up character, that she rivals Deborah Rose on the I Disguise My Manipulations As Love scale. For the longest time, I never thought I’d find a character as calculated and evil as her, but Caroline O’Shea seriously gives her a run for her money. I can’t tell you how many expletives I wrote in the margins every time she had any dialogue. It’s baffling to me that anyone would so blatantly dismiss their daughter’s chronic illness, but unfortunately, having grown up in the South, I can believe it. I’ve met my fair share of shove-it-under-the-rug mothers. Caroline is redeemed a little bit towards the end, unlike Deborah Rose, but I’m proud of Evie’s ability to stand up for herself. I really was so close to throwing my book across the room every time I saw Caroline’s name on the page, but then I remembered that would ruin my beautiful signed copy.

Liam, on the other hand, is one of the best book boyfriends to ever exist. Yeah, I said it. He’s kind, caring, understanding, thoughtful, funny, sexy. Need I say more? They just don’t make men like him. I can’t say much other than that because I don’t want to spoil, but just know that there’s a reason I’ve saved him a special place in my cold, dead heart.

♡The Playlist♡
♪ you broke me first – Tate McRae
♪ tolerate it – Taylor Swift
♪ Hard Feelings/Loveless – Lorde
♪ Liability – Lorde
♪ Fix You – Coldplay
♪ Falling In Love – Cigarettes After Sex
♪ La Vie en rose – Édith Piaf