3 stars
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Kisses and Croissants follows Mia during her summer abroad in Paris at a prestigious ballet program. Mia intends to focus on nothing but ballet during her stay in Paris, but the city, a family legend, and a cute French boy derail those plans. If you like novels set in Europe and cute summer romances, give this book a try!
I enjoyed the book. In theory, it’s everything I love in a contemporary: sweet romance, European tourism, and the forming of a strong female friendship. The synopsis even calls it “a book in the vein of Love & Gelato”—one of my all-time favorite books, but something about Kisses and Croissants just fell flat for. I never got into it. There’s nothing I can pinpoint as inherently bad about the book. The friendships were well-written, the romance cheesy in the best way, but the plot dragged. The pacing was often too slow.
In the first two chapters, it seemed as if Mia couldn’t take three steps across the room without a pirouette or some other ballet move. It felt tedious and a bit obnoxious, but after the second-ish chapter Mia moved like a normal person, so it wasn’t a big issue with the book.
Louis felt a little bland and underdeveloped for the love interest. A little too much like a cookie cutter cliché. I usually completely forgot that Lucy and Anouk existed until they’d pop back in. They were pretty two-dimensional characters. Audrey, however, felt really well developed to me, and I loved watching the friendship between her and Mia form. It might be my favorite part of the novel.
Overall, it’s a decent book. It’s just a little slow and missing that little oomph that takes a good book and makes it great.