From Goodreads: In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.
When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.
Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.
When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.
Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.
Thoughts: Hmmm, what to say? It's not that I didn't like this book, I just think I'm not the target audience. I'm all for anything that gets young people reading, and these paranormal teenage fiction seem to fit the bill for many young girls out there, but there are a few issues for me.
In many of these books the girls seem to have body image issues. Despite friends and family and their new love interest saying they are pretty, attractive, beautiful, nearly all of them describe themselves as plain or not attractive in some way. Meanwhile their male love interests are all gorgeous, movie star, flawless types - physically and mentally. It does make me wonder what message we are sending the girls who are reading these books and what expectations we are giving them about the relationships they are likely to have. Then again, if it gets the reading...
Plum's book is well written - the idea is original (not your normal vampires/ werewolves etc) and the choice to set it in France rather America gave a nice change of scenery. The story flows well and the characters, while a little formulaic, are fleshed out nicely. But, in the end, at 41 I think I'm just a little too old to be get any real enjoyment out of it. I'm pretty sure I would have loved it at 16, but at this stage in my life it left me feeling...empty.
