Books Read: Cathy Kelly - It Started with Paris

It all started with Paris. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, a young man proposes to his girlfriend, cheered on by delighted tourists. In that second, everything changes, not just for the happy couple, but for the family and friends awaiting their return in Bridgeport, Ireland... 

Leila's been nursing a badly broken heart since her love-rat husband just upped and left her one morning, but she's determined to put on a brave face for the bride. 

Vonnie, a widow and exceptional cake-maker, is just daring to let love back into her life, although someone seems determined to stop it. 

And Grace, a divorced head teacher, finds the impending wedding of her son means that she's spending more time with her ex-husband. After all those years apart, is it possible she's made a mistake?

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It Started With Paris begins with a prologue which sees a nervous Michael planning a romantic proposal to his girlfriend Katy at the top of the Eiffel Tower but the rest of the drama takes place once they return home to Ireland and share their news with their family and friends.

Once the main story begins Michael and Katy are actually in the background and it's Michael's mother Grace, Katy's best friend Leila and cake-maker Vonnie who feature heavily although there are a lot of secondary characters to get to grips with too. Out of these three featured characters my personal favourite I would say is Leila and it was her story I was most interested in reading.  It was clear to see that she was still struggling to come to terms with the failure of her short marriage and then she had other family issues to cope with but at the same time she wanted to be there to support her best friend at this happy time in her life.

I don't normally mind reading multi character stories but for me there were a few too many secondary characters for my liking so as the story jumped back and forth I had to quickly recap as to who they were connected to.  But that aside it was otherwise an enjoyable family drama showing the intricacies of modern day families, especially those with second partners and step families, as well as dealing with some serious themes throughout in a sensitive manner.

I'd say that It Started With Paris is definitely Cathy Kelly back to her best and I look forward to seeing what she has in store for us next.

I received a copy of this eBook to review from the publisher via NetGalley.