Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop

i needed something beautiful romantic and sappy but not holiday themed and this was the perfect fix. i loved everything from the predictions/clairvoyance to even the romance. roselle lim does a phenomenal job of writing a rich cast of characters with intertwining stories and also the food/location descriptions transport you into the world like no other. intensely excited for what she has in store next!

Vanessa sets off for Paris to learn the secrets of fortune-telling from her aunt Evelyn. Vanessa hates it that she has been born with this ability, but she has finally come to accept that she needs to learn from her aunt how to control it. She falls instantly in love with a man in Paris, but a sad part of her fortune-telling heritage is an inability to keep a relationship, her aunt tells her. Vanessa soon learns that it is a failed relationship that drove Evelyn from Paris long ago, and that the man Evelyn loved is still in Paris.

SOME SPOILERS BELOW:

All the loose ends and difficulties are tied up and quickly resolved by the end of the book, though often the author uses methods that really make no sense (A car accident changes Vanessa's gift from fortune-telling to matchmaking? A gambler stops gambling quickly and easily? Evelyn goes back to Paris...and why? What has changed?) But, hey, it's a romance and it's a fantasy and, most of all, it's set in Paris, and all of this gives the author leeway to do whatever she feels like.

This sounded like a fun, easy read. The problem was this book couldn't decide what it was supposed to be. A romance? Family drama? Magical realism? Food centered story? It was all too much and as such the story suffered. No one part was able to establish any footing. Instead it felt like a series of story fragments and events that just followed one after the other. And the ending felt too “tie it up with a happy rainbow”. There were some glimmers of good story telling - I enjoyed Vanessa's relationship with Evelyn - but it was covered up by all the over the top foodie meal descriptions. And I'm never a fan of insta-love stories (never mind the taking back the guy with the huge gambling problem because he might go to counseling). Basically, while it wasn't bad, it could have been a whole lot better.