Fly Me To Paris by Helga Jensen

I really enjoyed Helga Jensen’s second novel – A Scandinavian Summer – and was very excited to read her latest novel, this time taking the readers to France for an adventure. The main character here is Penny, who has just turned fifty. How I love books with women in around my age, that’s always a big plus point for me. It means I can relate to them much more than a twenty-something.

The cover of Fly Me To Paris is really beautiful and I was also pleased to find it was a novel of 283 pages. I mean, I love long books too, but there’s definitely a place for books this size as sometimes a big pile of books with over 400 pages each can be a bit daunting. I knew I could probably read this book over a couple of days. The chapters are an ideal length too.

Penny is working in a posh kids’ clothing boutique in Cardiff and has a boyfriend called Geraint, who is fifty-one. While seemingly reasonably happy on the outside, she does wish she’d had a child and a pet – neither of which Geraint wants. But Penny does voluntary work at a dog shelter, which helps a bit.

Then Geraint drops a bombshell and Penny’s life is turned upside down! But can she turn it around and make it into a new start for herself? Can she finally fulfil a dream to travel the world?

I loved Penny straight away, she’s got a vulnerability about her, she’s not perfect and she knows it. She hasn’t had the life she really hoped for, but she’s made the best of it and has tried to find happiness.

The book is an easy read – which is a compliment. I got into the story immediately and wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen to lovely Penny and I was there by her side all the way, wishing for her to get the happy ending she deserves.

It was very well-paced throughout, nothing felt rushed or too slow. The novel felt very well-researched, but this is explained at the end in Helga’s letter, where she talks about being cabin crew herself in the past. The authenticity really shone through. I enjoyed finding out how they are trained, not something I really knew much about, being scared of flying. I loved the camaraderie between the trainees too. There’s a good amount of humour in the book too, it made me smile a lot.

I also really liked how the romance was sprinkled through the book. It was just the right balance and felt like it was natural, not forced. There were plenty of twists, they certainly never had an easy journey and there was a lot of “Will they, won’t they?” to bump up the tension.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book. I adore Helga’s writing, it’s so approachable and real, you feel you know the characters and the whole things just pops out of the page and into your heart. I’m already looking forward to her next book!

BLURB

Fly Me to Paris

Penny is not living her best life.

Her job is far from thrilling and her long-term boyfriend shows no sign of wanting to commit.

She has just turned fifty and is going nowhere.

Wanting a new start, Penny applies for a job as cabin crew, to find out if she can push herself out of her comfort zone.

Her new job brings the adventure she craves, even if she does keep bumping into impossibly handsome but deeply annoying pilot, Matt Garcia.

Stuck in Paris on an unscheduled stopover, the chemistry between them grows. But the path of love never did fly smooth, as Matt’s past threatens to come between them.

Beside which, Penny is not looking for love. But what if love finds her?

A romantic, uplifting and inspirational read all about taking chances later in life – fans of Milly Johnson and Sandy Barker will love this!

Purchase Links

AMZ: amzn.to/3Hg0JZF

Apple: bit.ly/3HhDbUo

Waterstones: bit.ly/3XkXAgQ

Hive: bit.ly/3WpKYDM

Author Bio –

Helga Jensen is an award-winning British/Danish best-selling author and journalist. Her debut novel was a winning entry in the 2017 Montegrappa First Fiction competition at Dubai’s Emirates Literary Festival. Her debut was also a contender for the coveted 2021 Joan Hessayon Award for new writers. Helga’s second romantic comedy, A Scandinavian Summer, went straight to number one on the Amazon Kindle charts for Danish travel on its publication day. Helga holds a BA Hons in English Literature and Creative Writing, along with a Creative Writing MA from Bath Spa University. She is currently working on a PhD.