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Caroline Sommers finds herself suddenly alone with her kids when her husband of 15 years walks out in a huff She begins to wonder what happened to the happy fulfilled women she was before she married and before she became a stay at home homeschooling mom to three She remembers feeling most alive when she was traveling and impulsively sells her minivan after all it was bought with an inheritance from her grandmother and packs up Jack Maggie and Henry at travels to Europe As she shepherds her kids to London to Scotland then to Paris and Provence she finds herself wondering Should she chose love or lust in the arms of a European man she meets in Scotland Should she try to rekindle the unrequited love of an older Frenchman she met while in Provence 16 years ago as a college student Or should she give the father of her children and the man she truly loved once a second chance Paulita Kincer gives voice to many of our concerns as wives and mothers She does it with humor and insight into Caroline and Scott s life She touches on the importance of taking care of yourself but knowing that the needs of your children are first 238 can totally relate to Caroline Husband has had enough so you do the best you can to make your life the best you can only you drift back to your past To do this you have to say I have had enough too and flee and as you travel you think that what you had before is what you want now Caroline also had to think of her children that she had taken off on and adventure too Travels men and deep thinking This book took me on an adventure too and to places that I could relate too It gave me food for thought Thank you Paulita for an amazing read 238 The main character Caroline is 100% devoted to her three young children and when her husband Scott walks out claiming he s had enough she has to decide what it is she wants for her future Years of marriage and parenting have left her feeling like she s lost her way but she s not one to wallow in her misery She sells her minivan packs their bags and crosses the Atlantic taking the children to London Ever the home educator they sightsee from London to Tintagel Castle to Loch Ness to Paris before her emotions and exhaustion catch up with her It is with friends in Aix en Provence where she finds some peace and the strength to decide what fires her passion is it Scott her work a holic husband is it Jean Marc the sexy Frenchman she first met in her early twenties is it dark and mysterious Gustave from the shores of Loch Ness or is she happy just to be a Mother I knew what decision I wanted her to make but Paulita made me wait and sweat it out right to the end of the book. Paulita s writing went straight to my head I felt every emotion Caroline was feeling so much so this book affected my mood even when I wasn t reading it This book has a great story line moved along at a nice pace and with some added interest as it jumped back and forward from the present to her time in Aix en Provence as a nanny in the late 1990 s This is a book I will read again and I hope Paulita is busy working on her next novel 238 Caroline is at a crossroads in her life Her husband Scott walked out the door She s raising their three children Caroline realizes that she s lost her passion for life It seems that everyone around her has something they are interested in Something that drives them Yet when she looks at her life she s lost the aspect that makes her an individual not just a wife and mother She loves being a mom and she home schools her three children But she wants . One thing that she always loved in the past was travel So Caroline decides to jump in head first She sells the family minivan and whisks her three kids to Europe She and the kids go on a quest. I could relate with Caroline on some aspects I love to travel And there are times when everyday life gets to me Laundry dishes cleaning the cat litter box chores are never ending When I travel I feel alive exhilarated and passionate However I ve never traveled with three kids I was curious about this part of the story. Kincer pulled me into the story right from the start I felt for Caroline I cheered for her And at times I wanted to talk some sense into her And the children are wonderful characters The youngest Henry won me over completely As Caroline traveled through England and then France I felt I was along the trip with them The descriptions and short history lessons made the story come alive for me. As the story progressed so did Caroline She started off beaten and slowly but surely she came into her own The evolution of Caroline as a woman is fascinating and inspiring But can she discover what she was looking for I won t spoil it for you But I will say read the book to find out Who knows you may learn something about yourself 238 Just like in her previous novel The Summer of France Paulita Kincer has the knack to pull you along with her characters into a challenging and refreshing adventure In I See London I See France you follow Caroline Super busy with her kids and her own requirements to have everything as perfect as she can without any support from her work alcoholic husband one day she really has enough and decides to reconnect with her past and her love of travel hoping to discover new outside and inner landscapes where she could really enjoy life to the full again She takes her kids with her and here we go to Europe to London Scotland and then to France Paris and Provence. I really enjoyed themy full review is here 238 
This would not have been a book I would have normally have chosen for a read but this was recommended by a friend as being very good. So I gave it a go and was bowled over by the surprises I found on the way I too was soon traveling with Caroline but in a different way This book brought many vulnerabilities desires past and present and feelings encountered to the surface The reading style was easy and light and I delighted in its free and frank feelings about life marriage children and how I could personally connect with the author. I cried real tears in Scotland and with the Gustave experience Here was a woman who was not afraid to say what we all need emotional intimacy with a human being soft and warm Who recognised the person of worth not an object of productivity a machine a housewife a mother The loss of identity can be a place where many women can fall into The need to belong and to feel that she above all was important and worthy touched my heart to the core The connection of this in the story was a real high point in the novel for me. The time lapses back and forth within the book I was not sure whether that worked or not but by the end of the novel I could see why the author decided upon this structure of writing. I was very impressed and loved the ride the journey took me on The end was quite abrupt and left a bit of a vacuum for me when it stated it was a purely fiction book with the conclusion acknowledgements It felt so real I wanted it to be all so very real. comThere were so many aspects of this book that I fell in love with First I identified with the main character I also have a terrible passion for traveling but have not been able to do much traveling lately Just like Caroline I am absorbed with taking care of my family and put my needs behind I lived vicariously through Caroline and her story I sympathized and empathized with her and her need to re establish herself as a woman mom and wife I loved the very human and real interactions that these characters had with one another They felt like real people living real lives and I was witnessing them on their journey I found the authors writing style to be so engaging that I lost track of time and delved into Caroline and her family s world That this story takes place in France was the icing on the cake I ve visited France many years ago and plan to go back The author s vivid descriptions made me feel like I was back in France and seeing it all again Aside from relating to Caroline and her station in life I thought that she was such a great character She was complex and imperfect and very human Aspect of this story felt like Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Wild by Cherly Strayed Just like these women Caroline had to find herself and her way There definitely many bumps in the road but she was ultimately able to achieve her identity I highly recommend this book to really anyone Anyone that loves to travel or anyone that has had the yearning to find explore and find I wanted to hug Caroline and cry with her This was a fantastic adventure filled with laughter sadness and fulfillment 238 After a ten year marriage to Scott Caroline is stunned when he simply walks out after an argument An argument that didn t seem that horrific when looking back on it So she is sure that he ll cool off and come back. But he doesn t come back and after sharing her feelings and frustrations with a friend in her former home town in Michigan she comes to a decision One that will alter her life for the foreseeable future. She sells her minivan the one she bought with her grandmother s inheritance and takes the plunge to try and find her passion What does she want in life and how can she reclaim that zest for living she recalls from her younger years How did her domestic servitude take over her life and squelch all of the love and lust she once felt Following along as Caroline tours Europe with her three children ages 9 7 and 5 we can feel like we re part of the journey We see London Scotland Paris and Provence through Caroline s eyes as she brings us the story from her first person perspective We also see what her life looked like back in her younger days as she flashes back to 1996 when she first visited Provence living as an au pair in her student days And we revisit her unrequited lust for an old flame. What will Caroline discover as she reclaims her life Will her newly rediscovered writing help her work out her own issues And once she has found her passion can she sort out the rest of her life Will she realize that she must rescue herself instead of looking to a man to do so As I immersed myself in I See London I See France I could totally relate to how Caroline felt submerged into a life that just happened to her seemingly without her consent Her choices seemed very impulsive but sometimes when a woman feels as though her life has been taken over by outside forces spontaneity is the appropriate response Perhaps the only choice I really liked how she confronted the uncomfortable issues enough to acknowledge her own complicity in her subjugation and face what she needed to do to change things A book I recommend to all women who must figure out how to realize their own potential Five stars 238 This is the first book I ve read by this author Paulita Kincer I really enjoyed reading it When her husband of a dozen years walks out in a huff Caroline Sommers walks out too to Europe with her kids after impulsively selling her minivan for travel money Caroline was tired of being the perfect wife so an idea begins to form She decides to escape to Europe to rediscover herself. While shepherding her kids from London to Scotland then Paris on to Aix enProvence in Southern France she meets the unrequited love of a Frenchman Jean Marc from her college days Now she finds herself at a crossroads Does she choose love or lust in the arms of a European man or should she try again with the father of her children and the man she truly loved once I liked this book because it was like taking my own European vacation Paulita s descriptions of the towns and places visited drew me right into the story with such lovely mental images of each place visited So much so that after I read what she said about each place I would go to Youtube and visit each place for a few minutes and hours in some cases The first visit was to London England then onto a visit to Castle Tintagel in Cornwall England via Youtube Next it was onto Loch Ness Scotland A big thrill was the walking tour I took in Paris France and Monet s Garden via Youtube What a lovely garden that is After Paris we headed to Southern France to the village of Aix en Provence where I took another walking tour via Youtube I took a glider tour of Mont St Victoire France again via Youtube My last visit via Youtube was Camargue France These last few days have been like a mini vacation to Europe from my easy chair If you have visited any of these places it will bring back many fond memories I m sure I loved this book it was like a travel guide to all these interesting places but never boring as we followed along with Caroline and her kids on their European adventures Did she reconcile with her husband or did the Frenchman win her heart I guess you will have to read the book to find the answer I enjoyed it enough to award it 5 stars This book is part of my Kindle library 238 I think I enjoyed this story mainly because I wanted to have the courage that Caroline showed chucking it all in and heading to Europe to just travel and escape the reality of a situation at home that feels untenable Looking for a fresh start yet unwilling to leave it all behind she packs up her children and returns to a time when her dreams were fresh and potential was limitless searching for answers to questions she hadn t realized existed until recently There is a saying that life is what happens when you are busy concentrating on something else and Caroline is really a woman who epitomizes this phrase With a marriage that is from her husband s perspective not working and three children under 10 the daily challenges to get through a day often overtakes personal dreams and plans made when we were younger Getting to visit Scotland London Paris and Provence with Caroline as she shows the cities and countries off to her children brings a new and modern feel to those areas With her retracing of her steps from her au pair days we also are treated to a look back on her experiences and feelings from those years What develops is a richly detailed tapestry full of layers and potential as Caroline has a choice to make and the lure of the sort of man she once thought she wanted may just tilt her decisions While I often wondered at just how she managed to pack kids and head off to Europe with a loosely defined itinerary I also was able to see that perhaps Caroline was much passive in her life waiting for decisions to be made for her instead of making those choices During her trek she had the opportunity and took the chance to confront that passive approach to life allowing herself to be subjugated and last in the equation While not always comfortable her growth and willingness to take accountability for the situation she is in as well as the steps needed to make a change that will decide the next decade of her life was the perfect climax point for her story and made the ending all that satisfying I received an eBook copy from the author for purpose of honest review for a stop with France Book Tours I was not compensated for this review all conclusions are my own responsibility 238
| I See London, I See France By Paulita Kincer |
| English |
| 238 |
| Paperback |