Emma's Review: An American Wife in Paris by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

“If I go back to Paris, it would be my third time there as an undercover agent...” Kitty murmured. “I ask myself, how many chances does one person get?”

Paris, 1941. When Kitty is asked to return to Paris as an undercover agent, she knows the mission is her most dangerous yet. But she has been fighting the Nazis for too long to stop now. And her role within the Resistance has already cost her friends, family and now – almost – her own marriage.

Because while she and Edgar are more in love than ever, his role as an undercover Nazi means it is safer if they are no longer married. And while signing the divorce papers is a formality that breaks her heart, Kitty knows that she and Edgar will find a way to be together when the war is finally over…

More determined than ever to undermine the Nazi regime, Kitty has nothing left to lose. From secretly supplying Prisoner of War camps with essential items, to moving refugees across borders to safety, she will stop at nothing to play her part in bringing the war to a close, even if it means risking her own life.

But when Edgar goes missing, Kitty’s world stops. As she begins a desperate search for her beloved husband, she hears from her contacts that he has been killed. But Kitty feels strongly in her heart that, somewhere out there, Edgar is still alive. And she knows she must risk everything to rescue the man she loves, no matter what…

Book Link: Kindle 

Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of An American in Paris to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.

An American Wife in Paris is the second book in The Diplomat’s Wife series by Chrystyna Lucyk Berger and being 100% honest and up front I do think it’s best if you read book one before starting this new book. It will provide you with the backstory to all the characters and how they find themselves in the position they are in when we meet up with them again. When reading the first half or so of the book I viewed it as if I was new to the series and to be honest I think it would come across quite confusing for new readers. I feel you would have to read too much between the lines to figure out what was relevant from the previous book. I think a brief note before the story actually started would be beneficial for people who picked this book up without realising that it was a sequel. Again, as with the previous book, I found this story heavy with detail with an awful lot going and you do need to keep your concentration to make sure who is who and what is actually happening in terms of Kitty and those around her and what is occurring in relation to the war as a whole. Pushing all this aside An American Wife in Paris is a very good read and a worthy successor to The American Wife. Kitty is an astounding character who goes from strength to strength in this book as she lurches from one crisis to another but her devotion and loyalty to the cause are never to be under estimated.

The story is split into three sections and within each Kitty, the main female protagonist, takes on several personas and characters. She is like a shape shifter and so deftly able to alter her appearance, her personality and her roles whenever that is required which is quite often given the line of work that she is engaging in. Work which only grows more dangerous the further the war develops and to say that this book was packed full of tension, unease and suspicion would be an understatement. Kitty is living in a world of conflict and she can never rest on her laurels until justice has been fought and won. Knowing that she can’t be with her husband, Edgar, is killing her and any time they can snatch together is very brief but this only serves to make her more determined to do any resistance work required of her and no one could say that she doesn’t throw herself into the thick of things. In fact, there are times you would love to be able to say to her slow down a bit, you are going too fast and are too eager as I was nervous that she was being a bit rash and hasty and the worst would befall her.

Both Edgar and Kitty are working undercover. I won’t say anymore regarding Edgar because to do so would give away too much for those who may not have read book one but suffice to say he appears as if one thing and he is perhaps another. The issue of whom to trust rears its ugly head time and time again. Suspicion, having faith and belief in people and having the courage to listen to your instincts and stick to your convictions are some of the themes explored throughout the book. For reasons I won’t go into Edgar and Kitty are leading separate lives although the love, longing and devotion that Kitty has for her husband radiate from every page through all her actions and words. She is so devoted and dogged and you can see that every minute spent away from him is excruciating for her and I think that’s why she is determined to throw herself into the thick of things working undercover for the British. She sees all her roles and tasks as ultimately helping Edgar and she wishes the war to come to an end sooner rather than later. ’Everyone recognises evil when they see it. That is, if they are not evil themselves. We’re here to hunt down the animals’. 

 

Events from the previous book do also have a forbearing on Kitty and there is guilt eating away at her. Guilt that she didn’t do enough and may perhaps have been at fault for the loss of someone who was so very dear to her. This shame/responsibility weighs heavily on her and when things get very bad when she is deep in France undercover working for the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E) you would have thought that she would have questioned what have I got myself into? But she wasn’t like that at all. Yes, she has regrets but she is determined to atone for what she believed she did. ’If we do nothing, than we are complicit’ and no way was Kitty standing by and doing nothing especially as she knew how deep Edgar was getting himself into things. Really, Kitty was a woman ahead of her time and her strength and ability to shift between different lives and worlds was remarkable. I loved how Kitty threw caution to the wind and began working as an undercover agent with the S.O.E. Alongside her group she risked everything to get people to safety along the French escape line. They secreted materials and transported them right under the noses of the Germans, all of which helped them in their resistance work. They may have been a small cog in a much bigger wheel but every little bit helps as they say.

Throughout each section, I found that there were a lot of characters introduced and I didn’t know should I be focusing my attention on them as in will they have a bigger role to play or were they just passing by? I suppose this in a way kept me on my toes guessing how things were going to eventually work out. One of the main elements in the book which I found quite surprising was how the Americans were given evidence of what was going on in the concentration camps long before they were liberated yet they refused to believe what was going on. It completely blew my mind because if they had taken things more seriously at that stage then my god the outcome could have been so different for so many that perished needlessly in the most inhumane and barbaric of ways.

The blurb suggests Kitty’s world stops when Edgar goes missing and in a way I found this misleading because this only occurs in the last quarter of the book if even that. I was reading through the book and kept expecting this to happen with every new chapter and it didn’t and to be honest when it did occur it was just too little too late to make as dramatic an impact as I think it could have. Although that very final line and how it came about threw up a whole load of questions and I was left with wanting more and asking why did it have to end. A cliffhanger it sure was and it certainly whetted my appetite for book number three, The American Wife’s Secret, which is to be published in October.Yes, I may have found book two a bit of a mixed bag which got better in the later half but I wouldn’t have missed on Kitty’s story as she is proving to be a feisty woman who is brave, courageous and makes for a gripping character. Let’s see do things work out for her in book three or is much more trouble, strife and danger in store for her.