Book Review: I See London I See France

Rating: 4/5

From Goodreads: I see London, I see France, I see Sydney’s underpants.

Nineteen-year-old Sydney has the perfect summer mapped out. She’s spending the next four and half weeks traveling through Europe with her childhood best friend, Leela. Their plans include Eiffel-Tower selfies, eating cocco gelato, and making out with très hot strangers. Her plans do not include Leela’s cheating ex-boyfriend showing up on the flight to London, falling for the cheating ex-boyfriend’s très hot friend, monitoring her mother’s spiraling mental health via texts, or feeling like the rope in a friendship tug-of-war. 

As Sydney zigzags through Amsterdam, Switzerland, Italy, and France, she must learn when to hold on, when to keep moving, and when to jump into the Riviera…wearing only her polka-dot underpants.

This book was so much fun!  As a busy college student, an escape to the other side of the world was just what I needed.  

This book is all about Sydney, a girl who has just finished her freshman year of college.  She still lives at home so she can take care of her mother who is agoraphobic.  But when her best friend Leela needs someone to travel the world with her, Sydney for the first time sets off on her own, and goes on an adventure across Europe.

This book was a really fun read.  It's super light and fluffy, but has some more substantive themes as well, such as Sydney dealing with the mother's illness, divorce, and friendship troubles.  It is definitely a more mature novel than I was expecting from the lighthearted cover and description, but I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to teens 16 and up.  

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was Sarah Mlynowski's accurate portrayal of the ups and downs of friendships, and that fights can and do happen.  Just because you fight with someone doesn't mean you don't have a good friendship, and Sarah illustrates this perfectly in this novel.  

I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a fun adventure to Europe without actually paying for the trip to Europe!  It was so vividly described, I almost felt like I was there.  It was so much fun!

~ Charlotte

What I'm Reading and Life Update

Hi guys!

So as many of you know, as well as a reader, I'm also getting my bachelor's degree in Viola Performance and working as a professional musician.  So yes -- there has been a severe lack of posts and reading, but there has also been a lot of homework and practicing.

But I am reading!  I'm reading a really wonderful book right now whenever I get time (I actually had a gig with a TON of downtime yesterday which I brought it for and got to spend a lot of time reading it and getting paid as well - perks of being a musician!)  Right now I'm reading I See London I See France -- and yes, I will be finishing and reviewing it soon!

This book is so much fun and making me want to travel!  It's a great escape from all of the craziness of getting a degree in music and still trying to gig and teach.  So far, I totally recommend it!