i wanted to love this book for its beautiful cover and belle époque setting, but sadly the characters and worldbuilding felt very surface level and in the end the book was difficult to finish. i hope the author improves and is able to one day write a stunning story that transports readers to paris, as this would be an amazing addition to the historical romance genre, but sadly this book isn’t it.

Beautiful writing and setting! If you need a trip to Paris read this. I would have rated it higher but I did not like the characters. If you're someone that wants to like or connect to characters maybe skip this one.

Unfortunately this ended up being a DNF for me, I just couldn't get into it. I do love historical romance and liked the setting though, so I would like to revisit this at some point.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc. 🫶🏻

Paris felt like it came alive in the pages of this story, and the cover?! Amazing! It's a great book, fun to read, and made me want to book the first flight to France.

The beginning did not hook me and I think that is why it took me so long to get into. Once I did I enjoyed the characters as I do enjoy historical romances.

The pacing was a little slow for me which is why it took so long for me to get into but I enjoyed the setting of the book immensely.

(Actual: 3.5⭐, rounded up) This was cute! I don't read much historical fiction but, when I do, I typically do steer toward romances and found this one to be quite sweet, with a gorgeous cover to boot. I loved how atmospheric the writing was and how Paris felt like it was its own character. I found our FMC, Charlotte, to be endearing and easy to root for— she was portrayed as being very independent and strong-willed without being too OTT/OOC (especially in consideration of the time period in which this book is set in (~1900s). I do think though that the pacing could have been tighter and that the author could have delved deeper when it came to the exploration of the themes/practices/ideals people had during this era; while, again, I found this book to be cute, it also felt very surface level/basic in terms of its plot and social commentary. Overall still a good debut!

Thank you NetGalley, the author Melinda Copp and the publisher for the free copy. I give this review voluntarily. Love and the Downfall of Society is a nice romance set in Paris. Charlotte is a young woman from Vernon whose story was a success and she was able to come to Paris. While she tries to succeed in writing, she meets Antoine. The story is nice and Charlotte's struggle as an author to earn money is realistic. It is nice love story. I think ending is not so realistic and could have ended differently. There is some spice, actually very limited part is spicy, as it is a romance novel, though I don't really like spice. Overall, I think if you like to read a heart warming romance novel with the glory of Paris, this is your novel to read. Thanks again for the copy.

I was really excited to read this book (I really liked the cover) but to be frank, I was bored the entire time. The world building was fine, the plot was fine, everything about this book was fine, just nothing stood out or stuck with me. It is by no means a bad book but I would have loved if it had more PIZAZZ!

This is a fun story about an aristocrat who needs to be married and a broke writer. The two keep running into each other and with every meeting their attraction grows. BUT they can’t be together due to their varying circumstances. But while the world shifts and modernizes around them, are Charolette or Antoine willing to give their life up to be with the other.

Let's start out with the positives- this book was easy to read and well written.
Unfortunately, I didn't like either of the main characters- Antoine was entitled, disrespectful, and misogynistic, while Charlotte was a wishy-washy pushover.
Antoine spends so much time with Charlotte knowing that she doesn't want to be a mistress, and yet continues to go after her with the assumption that she would change her mind. I did not like that this was the way that their relationship started. Antoine completely discounted everything she wanted, and he "got the girl anyway". If the book had ended with them not together, I think that would've been a better fit for the story that was told. I think that this plot would've been a better fit for a women's fiction book- one that showcases how there weren't always happy endings for women in this time.
The side characters were the only ones I liked, but we didn't spend a whole lot of time with them.
To end on a positive note- I feel like this story had a lot of potential to be good: the idea of a country woman coming to town to make her living as a writer and meeting an aristocrat whose family wants him to marry a woman of status. I just feel like it wasn't executed in a way that I enjoyed.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I give it 3 stars. It didn’t wow me by any means, I wish there had been more character growth but it was entertaining enough and I was curious about how the characters were going to handle their hurdles. The last third of the book, especially the last 50 pages, felt rushed, but wrapped everything up nicely.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and Tiny Piano Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the idea, unfortunately I feel like the execution could've been better. The pacing of the story was all over the place, at first it everything happened too fast, then too slow, I feel like everything between Charlotte and Antoine was rushed and they didn't really have the time to get to know each other and fully develop their relationship. I also feel like the ending was extremely anticlimactic. I would have loved it if the book could've given more time to Charlotte's relationship with her housemates, it would've made her housemate's betrayal far more relevant to the story. The writing style was at time a bit too modern in the word choices and that kind of took away from the setting in my opinion. All in all, it's not too bad, it's a quick and easy read.

A very lovely and interesting historical romancde set in Paris.
Charlotte an independent strong woman with a strong voice, who is a writter.
Antoine a sweet charming, but also oblivious young man.
The characters felt authentic for that time and their dynamic in their interaction and growing relationship felt very genuine.
A sweet couple and story.
Totally recommend to anyone who wants a darling historical romance.

A fun low angst romance with an amazing sense of place. The setting was the real star in this novel and I would love to see the author write more romances in this time and place.

This book is different from any other historical romance I've read! I adored the setting so much. Copp describes Paris in 1901 with such detail and just the perfect amount of whimsy. It made me wish I was able to time travel!

Charlotte was clever, independent, and fierce. I'm glad she never gave in to Antoine and never forgot her dreams—no matter how fanciful she may have thought they were. She was the best part about this book.

Antoine wasn't a super unique character. A Vicomte who wanted to make his parents happy by marrying an aristocratic woman. However, he falls in love with the provincial Charlotte and asks her to be his mistress. He wants the best of both worlds. Luckily, Charlotte is stubborn, and smart, and she refuses his offer. I was a bit annoyed with Antoine near the end of the book because it seemed to be taking forever for him to come to his senses. Although, he made up for it with his grovelling efforts.

I know this book is meant to be a series and I was a bit confused because it was obvious that the girls living at Madame's are going to be the heroines. Yet, none of them were particularly well defined. They all seemed to have similar personality traits and we didn't learn much about them, nor did they seem all that interesting. Not falling in love with the side characters makes it hard to get excited for the future books in the series.

I will say, I thoroughly judged this book by its cover, because, c'mon... it's GORGEOUS! And although I found it lacking in some areas, Charlotte was an enjoyable heroine and the setting was wonderful. I think if the book were a bit longer, I would've been able to fall in love with all the characters.

Read if you love:
- historical romance
- forbidden love
- friends to lovers
- fate
- slow burn
- boy obsessed

Thank you so much to Melinda Copp and NetGalley for the ARC! Congrats on the release. :)

@thelovelibraryy on Instagram for more recs, reviews, and edits

Where do I begin with this? I feel like sobbing. This was such a beautiful book. Imagine a situationship turned long term loyal relationship but in 1900. Like literally the beauty of this is INCONCEIVABLE. Melina Copp the woman that you are!

I really appreciated what the author was doing here – the Belle Époque is a very romantic setting for a book and one that's generally underutilised in English-language romance. That being said, unfortunately I didn't finish the book as there were a lot of elements which felt anachronistic (the dialogue in places is very modern), and I have to admit that I didn't really get the sense that the characters felt very French. It felt as though the story was set in France, but didn't have culturally French characters. I'm sure that for those who read purely for the romance plot, this would be a great read.

I really lived the heroine. Author did a really good job showing her as a working girl and the whole boarding house was such a fun aspect of the book. The risk to the hero was established so well but very quickly the hero was portrayed like a spoiled rich boy and I could not get past that.

A cute and funny story set in Paris between an upcoming writer and an aristocrat. Had me giggling and I can't wait for the next one!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Tiny Piano Press for this arc! I adored this book! It had me hooked from the beginning! It gave phenomenal commentary on the state of Parisian society in the early 1900s with the separation of classes that is still very relevant today. This commentary paired very well with the romance. Charlotte and Antoine’s story is one for the books! I loved the pacing of the book as well. I went into this without much expectations and was pleasantly surprised!