Lucie is a French aspiring lawyer with a secret dream of becoming a tailor. She’s in London, working long hours at her former classmates’ startup while attending a marketing class at university to join the law society and network. With little time for a social life, Lucie’s focus is solely on her career until she’s paired with Marius, a charming business student, for a class project. As they spend more time together, Lucie starts questioning if there’s more to life than just work.

The characters are endearing and their growing friendship, which eventually blossoms into romance, is heartwarming. Lucie struggles with insecurities from her childhood, often retreating into herself, but Marius helps her come out of her shell. Her passion for tailored clothes adds a fun dimension to her character, and readers can’t help but root for her to pursue her true calling.

Marius, on the other hand, is groomed to take over his father’s company, who is about to launch a political campaign for Prime Minister. Despite his privileged background, Marius is warm, kind, and hopeful, a refreshing contrast to the cynicism around him. He believes in the goodness of people, even in a world full of political manipulation and elitism.

The relationship between Lucie and Marius unfolds slowly, developing naturally as they learn more about each other. This sweet, angst-free novel is a lovely exploration of self-discovery, love, and the balance between ambition and following one’s true passions. Overall I thought it was fine. I wish there was a little more romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book opened up a feeling of whimsy and nostalgia for me. It felt very nice to have a book with a little more innocence after reading some quite adult books recently.
That said its not immature in its writing. But you could tell it had a ribbon of younger tropes wrapped around it.
And it's very coming of age and non judgemental. A few slipped in thinking points and life lessons.
By giving Lucie a passed with brings her a loss of self and insecurities. And Marius being very different in background and place in society but no less puzzled with life's reasons. It brings a definite sense of learning to be who you are and where the places you in the world. Rather than trying to figure out how to be someone to fit.
There were little tells to why Lucie came to be and feel how she was. And it was really well written. Because so many people are being warped by their passed at the moment. Or struggling to know who to be in a wolrd where life isn't real(social media I'm looking at you) . Or how to be brave enough to show up as you are and go for what you want...

Where to even begin? There was so much I loved about this.
Lucie is so feminine and does not hold back telling other women that they are beautiful. It’s such a breath of fresh air and so supportive. Even when you think a rival is introduced who wants to start something with her, she immediately shuts it down, yet never puts this other woman down, remaining kind to her and describing her in a positive light.

Marius is unusually popular and surrounded by people who want to be with him for his high position in society (reminded me of Simon from Bridgerton) and Lucie absolutely doesn’t care about him aside from their project… at first. She acknowledges that he is handsome but mistakenly assumes he is much younger than her given how he is a student and she recently graduated, so she doesn’t even entertain the thought. This allows their relationship to grow into a friendship which slowly progresses into something more. Their attraction is very emotional. Marius is very self-aware of his privileges and I just love that. It’s very different from the trope of the grumpy, stuck-up or mean rich protagonist.

Lucie and Marius are very different, yet also very similar, both wanting to be something other than they are set to become and both wanting someone to really see them. Lucie’s past, which explains her insecure and no-fun workaholic personality, is revealed incrementally and you get hints here and there but if you blink, you’ll miss them. It sometimes feels like reading a mystery with some foreshadowing before the big reveal. Marius helps her figure things out and understand why she sees herself and the world the way she does, and it’s honestly great character growth. Only once she starts loving herself does she start falling for him. There’s an overarching theme of figuring out where to fit in this world and finding yourself, a bit like a coming of age story for early-20’s adults. Lucie is constantly in situations where she is out of place: a new country with a different culture, a course full of younger people with vastly different priorities and mindsets, and a world of wealthy upper-class people. Only when she is with Marius does she feel a sense of belonging.

It’s an easy read with a strong focus on dialogue and the best part is that there was no third-act breakup so it remained sweet and stress-free throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I requested this book because I love London and jump at the chance to read any books set in this magical city. That said, this book was not for me. I suspect it's just a matter of not being in the intended audience but I imagine that if I were, it would be an enjoyable read

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5 rounded up.

I did not vibe with this book. It was not for me.

I found the writing to be very immature sounding, almost like a YA Wattpad story that I would've read in the sixth or seventh grade.

And all of the characters were so unlikable to me. I found Lucie, our FMC, to be annoying and almost a pick-me. She was trying too hard and felt like she had main character syndrome (which is weird to say because she literally is the main character, but you know what I mean). And all of the guys in this book gave me the ick. Especially the love interest.

This bummed me out because the synopsis sounded so fun and easy. The execution was just not it for me. Sorry. I can see the potential here but I think a few more drafts need to happen for this to live up to its full potential.

This was super short and quick to read though, so that's a plus. But I did have to skim the last 20% because I was that icked-out by the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Lucie is a French prospective lawyer with a secret wish to become a tailor. She’s in London working all hours at her former classmates’ new start up while attending a marketing class at university for the purposes of joining the school’s law society and networking events. She’s a hard worker with very little time for a social life. When a class project requires her to team up with Marius, a charming business student, she begins to wonder if there’s more to life than working all the time.

Both Lucie and Marius were very sweet, likable characters. It was lovely to watch their friendship unfold into something more. Lucie has a lot of insecurities that date back from her childhood. She’s often reticent, but Marius pulls her out of her shell. Her obsession with tailored clothes leads to fun moments, and you can’t help but root for her to follow her true passion.

Marius is being groomed to take over his father’s company once his father begins his political campaign for Prime Minister. What I most appreciated about him was that he was not cynical and cold, but rather warm and kind. He sees the best in people despite growing up in a world full of illusions and groveling aristocrats looking to garner favor with his father.

I really enjoyed the slow burn of their relationship. It unfolded naturally both learning more about each other the more they spent time together. Overall this is a sweet, angst free novel.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!

This was a good one! I really enjoyed this book. I had a hard time putting this one down. I really enjoyed the writing style and the characters chemistry was great. This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last!