Publisher and Publication Date: Portobello Books Ltd. 2014.
Genre: Historical fiction.
Pages: 279.
Format: Paperback.
Source: I received this book in a drawing from the Words and Peace blog.
Audience: Readers of historical fiction with a setting in France.
Rating: 1 star or poor.

Link for the book @ Amazon

Summary:

Paris, France.

Octavio is the only child of parents who own a bakery. The name of the bakery is Notre-Dame Bakery. It is located in the eighth district of Paris.
Isabeau is a young woman who works on restoring art work.
The story begins before World War I in the early years of the 20th century.
Octavio’s father was a soldier during the war. His father returns a shattered person of who he was.
Through a chance encounter, Octavio and Isabeau meet.

My Thoughts:

I finished reading this book on July 21. If I had not taken notes on the book, I’d not remember much about the story; and this explains the main reason why I have given 1 star or poor as a rating of this book. The book is not memorable. The book is not developed-not in the storyline nor the characters. The book fell flat for me.

Other reasons why this book didn’t work for me:
1. There are no chapters. Nothing but the bare space of where a chapter would be located.
2. The romantic encounter is located further along in the book than I’d like.
3. The experience of war, and the PTSD Octavio’s father endured is not developed. It is set off to the side like a prop on a stage.
4. The story reminds me of a novella-short story.
5. The book itself has several pages of blank spaces. The space is where the chapter heading is usually located or at the end of that chapter. Blank, unused, wasted space is not good. It causes the visual learning style reader (me) to be bored.