Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop

I really enjoyed Lim's first book, and liked this one even more. Lim writes magical realism focused on modern families from the Chinese diaspora, with lots of focus on food (OMG THE FOOD). Vanessa was born with the gift of prophecy, which she considers more of a curse. After ruining her cousin's wedding, she decides she needs to get it under control and goes to Paris who take lessons from her aunt and help her set up her new tea shop, and ends up learning how to take control of her own fate and find her happiness. There's so much going on in this book, and it was just cozy, magical, romantic, and charming. The meddling aunties are also hilarious!

I absolutely loved Roselle Lim's debut novel and her second book did not disappoint. This is a light, magical book about finding your own way (despite family or so-called destiny). family, and is a bit of a love letter to Paris as well.

Vanessa Yu has a gift she does not want - she can see the future, and the predictions come out unexpectedly and uncontrollably. She's spent her life fighting the gift (and avoiding the bottoms of teacups) and the result of all this avoidance is becoming unbearable. Oh, and her relationships are a disaster - even a trip to a matchmaker doesn't end the way she or her family expects. A revered auntie who shares her gift invites her to Paris to try to master the gift. Vanessa goes, but she balks at the show more so-called rules that apply to fortune tellers and tries to carve her own path,

I loved the interactions with her aunties in this book. They are loud, noisy, in your business - and foremost, loving and supportive. Her Aunt Evelyn is a bit of a mystery to Vanessa, and one that she unravels while she lives in Paris.

There is a romantic interest in the story, but I don't know that I would label this a romance. In fact, the romance is the one element that, in the end, I was less than happy with, but I'll leave that to you to decide.

If you are looking for a novel to escape in, Lim's novel catches the magic of Paris beautifully. The sights, and goodness, the FOOD. Her descriptions will sweep you away.

*I was provided an advanced copy from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. show less

Adorbs. Classic romance with a teensy bit of magic on the side. You already know how this book goes, so if it's your thing, it's your thing. I wanted to smash heads together by the end, because what the heck that relationship really was a whirlwind, but that's my usual reaction to romance. Even despite my curmudgeonly attitude, I found enough enjoyment here that I picked up another romcom, so there's that.

Not quite two and a half stars. This book was almost parodic in its levels of rom-com-ness, right down to the uncreative, stupid title that the author probably slapped on at the last minute. Vanessa doesn't own the tea shop. Her aunt does. Vanessa travels to Paris for a little while. I liked the thread of magical realism throughout the book, even if it took a sharp turn to an adult woman having a psychic power more befitting of a teenage girl. Vanessa blushes and bites her lip a lot, which again, is a specific rom-com trope I find useless and annoying. No disrespect meant to people with actual medical conditions related to uncontrollable blushing or lip-biting. That is not what was presented in the book. Her aunt winks so often, I show more wondered if it was an uncontrolled facial tic.

The cliches were soothing for the first twenty pages, but quickly stacked up on one another and became annoying. The book is much longer than twenty pages. Everyone was heterosexually paired up, especially unrealistically quickly and in unconvincing ways. Vanessa fell in love faster than a Disney princess. Subtle melodrama ran an undercurrent to the main stuff. The chapters were increasingly short and frequent, which was annoying as it made the book seem even longer. The book could have been a hundred pages shorter and lost nothing.

I was not a fan of the book's unfortunate implication that love could solve racism and save a new business. Vanessa sobbed over Marc when various things were mildly inconvenient, and I was deeply unimpressed. You've known him what, a little over a week? She reminded me a lot of a teenager several times throughout the book. After the seventy percent mark, I didn't care about the story anymore. I stayed for the descriptions, though. The descriptions of everything, especially the food, were vivid and rich. I started to get a little hungry, and I hate both Italian and French food. I'm still exploring Vietnamese food. So far I'm a fan, and the book gave me ideas.

I enjoyed looking up the paintings and some of the buildings. The descriptions and placement of butterflies through the novel was awesome; cliche in a sweet way that I pardoned.

A quick note: A book that explores the consequences realistically, as it were, of having psychic powers around predicting people's deaths is the book "When" by Victoria Laurie. The protagonist is a teenage girl who faces consequences involving police officers, and it is handled in a -much- more mature and relatively realistic way than people automatically believing her and freaking out. show less

I am so conflicted. I liked the food and general descriptions of Paris and family shenanigans in this book, just as I did the author's last book. But again, I found something missing here. Or rather, I found the book ultimately not that exciting.
3 stars because I truly enjoyed the main conflict of the character against her gift and it's eventual resolution.

I picked up this book because I loved the first one. It was nice to meet new characters in this book. It had some of the same type of charm as the first book. However, I did miss the humor and the close emotional connection I experienced with all of the characters in the first book.

Vanessa was a good lead character. On one hand it would be cool to have her ability but on the other hand; it can become a burden. Thus I felt for Vanessa. She really was just trying to live her life. The location of Paris was nice. As I was reading this book, I could picture everything playing out in my mind.

My overall feelings about this book was middle of the road. There were moments that I was really digging this book and other moments where I found show more myself skimming it. Yet, I do look forward to seeing what the next book is like. I hope it is like the first one. show less

(note I won an advance copy from Book Riot but it does not influence my review)
I really enjoyed this book and found it as sweet as a dessert from one of the many
pâtisseries visited in this story.
Food, family, culture, romance and a whole lot of magic made this a fantastic way to escape.
Roselle Lim is such a romantic writer, I felt as though I was in a French Film (think Amelie, Love me if you Dare)I was right beside Vanessa walking the streets of Paris and even San Fran (although I haven't left my home in 5 months- thanks Covid) .

Suggest if you're a fan of Alice Hoffman a la The Rules of Magic. Not heavy, a quick fun romantic magical read

Beautiful Cover Art Vikki Chu