Confessions of a Paris Party Girl by Vicki Lesage

I’ve just been chatting over a cup of coffee to Vicki Lesage about her first few years in Paris. At least that what it seems like reading her book Confessions of a Paris Party Girl. (Or should that be over several glasses of vino?).

Vicki begins her adventure in Paris optimistically: “The hardwood floors were old and creaky – or in my eyes, authentic and beautiful. The shower didn’t have a curtain, which simply provided a better view of the wooden sauna-like walls of the bathroom. The antique sofa was uncomfortable, which ensured I didn’t waste time lounging around when I could be exploring Paris. ”

Soon the foggy haze of illusion lifts and Vicki is thrown into reality. There is no doubting that she remains delighted with her decision to move to Paris (readily available baguettes, endless glasses of wine and beautiful landmarks certainly help) but between French bureaucracy, struggling with language misunderstandings and some strange characters Vicki is on the proverbial see saw. To her credit she never loses hope and remains steadfastly in love with her chosen city.

Vicki copes with everything Paris and its people throw at her. She has the rare ability to not only laugh at herself but to publicly share both funny and embarrassing (but still amusing to the reader) episodes in her very entertaining and fun book.

Being friendless in a new city doesn’t daunt her but she does have some hiccups along the way to finally find a group of friends that she can party with on a regular basis.

Although she has several ongoing jobs from back home as a web designer she realises that she still needs to earn an income from a job in France. (It’s a bureaucracy thing as well as a need for cold hard cash to fund the partying.) At first she finds a baby sitting job and then eventually gets a full time job.

Her story is certainly is never dull and boring.

My one and only criticism? There is a little spoiler towards the end of the story. I use spoiler in the sense that something lets you know what is going to happen not that the whole thing is spoilt. (I confess that I didn’t take much notice of the chapter titles – I needed to keep reading Vicki’s story to bother with that.) It’s only a teensy one but gave me the answer to something that kept me page turning – would she marry Mika?

My rating 4*