Nicolas Barreau

Running a small art cinema that eschews commercial practices in favor of creative and inspirational films, Alain Bonnard plucks up the courage to speak with a beautiful regular who disappears when the theater catches the attention of a famous American director. By the author of The Ingredients of Love. Original.

One Evening in Paris

Briar's Reviews

Looking for a contemporary romance novel that pulls at your heart string and has a pinch of mystery? One Evening In Paris by Nicholas Barreau fits the bill!

Alain Bonnard owns a small, art cinema in Paris. He inherited it from his Uncle, and it's a hidden gem in Paris. It's an old school cinema - no popcorn, no soda pop, no big Hollywood movies - just art films. It's a nostalgia, dreamy place, and for him it becomes a real life dream. A woman in a red coat keeps attending, and Alain finally builds up the courage to ask her up. They go on a wonderful date, but then suddenly she's gone. While he's looking for his true love, he meets a famous film doctor and his leading lady. They want to borrow his cinema for a shoot, and how could he turn that down? But is this movie coming to town and his mystery girl a coincidence? Alain will find out as he works to find his true love.

This book was incredibly sweet. It's an artsy book with lots of heart and shows the love of cinema. This book is marketed as a romance, but I find the romance is a bit of a side plot to the contemporary fiction side of this story. Despite this issue, I think Nicolas Barreau wrote romance beautifully. I find romances written by men don't always have the female gaze in mind, but Nicolas did. This hopeless romantic ideal felt like reading an old 40s film (but the polite, cute ones).

Overall, this is a magical contemporary fiction book with just enough romance. I highly recommend picking this book up to spice up your reading list in 2023 and onwards.

Four out of five stars.