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Finding Monsieur Right

3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 · rating details · 129 ratings · 29 reviews

A tale of two cities, t wo girls, a nd a life-altering swap offers frothy escapist delight

Daisy has just landed the perfect job: spending a year in Paris writing about fashion. Swapping homes with French student Isabelle seems like the perfect arrangement. Sensible and studious Isabelle, however, finds London bewilderingbut all her assumptions about crazy English guys ar

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Paperback, 402 pages

Published January 21st 2010 by Ebury Press

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Mar 05, 2013 Jane rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book to read for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's been a while since I have read a chick-lit book, and secondly, I needed a Z author for my A-Z Challenge. So when I saw this book with it's lovely cover, I decided to give it a go.

The story follows two young women; Daisy and Isabelle, who decide to swap homes for a year. Daisy lives in London and works in fashion, while Isabelle is a French academic, living in Paris. Their personalities are completely different; Daisy is portrayed...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Jane rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed

Take two cities: London and Paris.

Take two girls: Daisy, a fashion PR who has landed her dream job writing a Paris fashion blog, and Isabelle, a French student needing to come to London to further her literary research.

Mix them together: Daisy answers Isabelle’s advertisement for a flat-swap and the pair exchange homes for a year.

And so you have Meeting Monsieur Right: a lovely confection, light as air.

The story switches between the two girls as they adapt to new cultures and lifestyles, and it...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Coral rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

I brought this book mainly because i liked the cover, but upon reading the back I thought it sounded really good. I wasn’t disappointed. :)

On the back of the book it says:
A TALE OF TWO CITIES,
TWO GIRLS
AND A LIFE-ALTERING SWAP...
Daisy’s just landed the perfect job:
Spending a year in Paris writing about fashion.
Swapping homes with French student Isabelle
Seems like the perfect arrangement.
Studious Isabelle, however, finds London bewildering.
But all her assumptions about crazy English guys are
Overt...more

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Mar 11, 2010 Maria rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won this book in the giveaways. On the whole I liked it, and for a debut novel I would say it's very good.
Daisy, an English fashion writer, and Isabelle, a French academic, swap flats for a year, and at the same time they seem to swap friends and lifestyles.
My issues with the book started on page 1 of the first Chapter, where there is a whole email written in French. As this is an English language book, I would have liked a translation. There are also sentences in French scattered throughout t...more I won this book in the giveaways. On the whole I liked it, and for a debut novel I would say it's very good.
Daisy, an English fashion writer, and Isabelle, a French academic, swap flats for a year, and at the same time they seem to swap friends and lifestyles.
My issues with the book started on page 1 of the first Chapter, where there is a whole email written in French. As this is an English language book, I would have liked a translation. There are also sentences in French scattered throughout the book, with no translation, which could leave the reader feeling lost.
By about page 200, I was getting bored and almost stopped reading the book. I was having a hard time dealing with the stilted humour and the one dimensional, unoriginal, stereotypical characters. For example, Chrissie, the over-the-top gay fashion designer, and Jules, the depressed Goth. Perhaps a better skilled comedy writer could have pulled these off, but comedy is not easy to write, and in this case most of the book reads like a bad BBC sitcom.
Also, at one point in the novel (probably because the author has not accounted for the passing of time clearly enough) there seemed to quite a lot of bed-hopping, which left me feeling a bit nauseous.

By now, you are probably thinking I didn't like the book, but that's not true. I'm pleased to say, that as the book progresses the quality of the writing does get better, and you can even get used to the odd characters. They grow on you.

On the plus side, there was a good storyline, which kept me interested. I was intrigued by the story about the writer Meredith Quince, who had written a lost, unpublished book, which Isabelle was trying to find. I loved the Epilogue, which in my opinion, was the best part of the book. If I was reviewing that on its own, I would give it 5 stars; it is very romantic and a lovely ending to the book.
All in all, I would say 'Finding Monsieur Right' is quite entertaining, and if you can get past the first half of the book, there's lots to like about the novel.

(less)

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Mar 05, 2010 Hayley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, read-2010, not-in-my-possession-anymore, actual-book

I won this novel in a First Reads giveaway; I'd only just started entering these giveaways so was really excited to win one. I'd not heard of this novel or the author until I read the info on the contest but I love hearing about new authors. I started reading this as soon as it arrived and finished it the following day. I did find it a little difficult to get into but once I'd read the first two chapters and learnt a little about Isabelle and Daisy I was hooked; this book was unputdownable. It's...more

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Mar 03, 2010 Jacqui rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: chick lit fans

Recommended to Jacqui by: won it as a giveaway

I was lucky to win this book as a goodreads giveaway and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Muriel Zagha says that the book is loosely based on her own experiences of working as an academic and as a fashion PR. Like Isa belle she is a french expat in London. The book alternates between fun loving Daisy an English fashion PR in Paris and Isabella a French academic in London and how they interact with each others groups of friend.

Muriel builds the characters really well you can see them coming to life on the...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Leah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2009, for-review

Daisy Keen is a British fashion lover, who dreams of going to Paris. Isabelle Papillon is a young French student desperate to go to England to research Meredith Quince, an author Isabelle believes wrote a secret novel that wasn’t made available to the public domain. After Isabelle places an ad in a newspaper, the girls’ dreams come true and Daisy finds herself in Paris and Isabelle finds herself in London. As both girls come to terms with living in a strange country and learning a new culture, w...more Daisy Keen is a British fashion lover, who dreams of going to Paris. Isabelle Papillon is a young French student desperate to go to England to research Meredith Quince, an author Isabelle believes wrote a secret novel that wasn’t made available to the public domain. After Isabelle places an ad in a newspaper, the girls’ dreams come true and Daisy finds herself in Paris and Isabelle finds herself in London. As both girls come to terms with living in a strange country and learning a new culture, will they manage to suceed in their dreams? Will Isabelle find Meredith Quince’s secret book and will Daisy manage to find love?

Finding Monsieur Right is Muriel Zagha’s debut novel and came to my attention whilst I was browsing Amazon one day. I love books set in foreign countries and even more so books that have life-swap-type plots. I was looking forward to reading the book and finally managed to get my hands on a copy. I loved the cover when I first saw it and I was eager to start reading the book.

The Prologue of the book is very intriguing and it drew me in immediately. The Prologue is only three pages long but I adored it. I thought it was a fast-paced start to the book and I was intrigued to find out why Daisy was on top of a building and why Isabelle was rushing around Paris on a scooter. The book then takes a bit of a turn – the fast-paced and enjoyable start to the book doesn’t continue but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book; it was a bit of a let-down after such a frantic start but I did still enjoy reading the book.

The book is told in third-person from both Daisy and Isabelle’s perspectives and each chapter alternates between Daisy and Isabelle without fail. It was an interesting way to read the book as the change in perspective between both girls was quite outstanding. Daisy and Isabelle are nothing alike; Daisy is fun-loving and adores fashion whereas Isabelle is studious and a bit uptight about things. It made their house-swap interesting as I could see Isabelle’s shock when she first came upon Daisy’s room. Their character dyamics were incredibly different but having two such contrasting personalities made the book all the better.

As far as the characters in the book go, I loved Isabelle. Yes she was uptight and studious but I really quite liked her. Each time Isabelle’s chapter came to a close, I was desperate to read about her again. I thought Daisy was OK, I struggled to understand totally why she was so desperate to go to Paris as there didn’t seem to be a sufficient explanation. I liked Daisy though, I thought her chapters were shorter than Isabelle’s and so were easier to get through. I didn’t like many of the supporting characters. The French contingent irritated me. I couldn’t stand Isabelle’s boyfriend Clothaire. He was a chauvinisitic pig and always patronised Isabelle. Isabelle’s friends weren’t much better bar Marie-Laure. I quite liked the London contingent, Jules and Chrissie, Daisy’s best friends and Isabelle’s temporary flat-mates. Chrissie was a bit over-the-top constantly stressing his words, which got on my nerves but apart from that I really liked him. I quite liked Tom Quince, Meredith Quince’s newphew, he seemed really nice and so so different from the awful Clothaire.

The Quince mystery was an intriguing part of the book and is what kept the book flowing. I thought the conclusion to the mystery was OK but I thought it all ended rather abruplty. Isabelle’s part of the story ends so quickly, it really surprised me. I would have liked an extra chapter to conclude Isabelle’s story. It was concluded satisfactorily but she could still have had an extra chapter. Another problem I had with the book was how slow the whole book moved along. Nothing truly happens in the book and it is rather slow-paced. Saying that, though, I did find myself ploughing through the book quite quickly. The main thing that ruined the book for me was the writing. Muriel has lived in England for 20 years (as per the interview in the back of the book) so I wouldn’t have expected her writing to be so stilted. Some of the time her sentences didn’t make sense and they were written in such a way that it felt as if Muriel was writing it as if she’d only just learnt English rather than having spoken it for roughly 20 years. I can appreciate the fact English isn’t her first language and I do think her editor could have picked up on those wrong-sounding sentences and corrected them. It would have let the book flow a bit better.

Finding Monsieur Right is an enjoyable enough read and I did enjoy reading the book, I just had a bit of a problem with the writing of the book. The back of the book describes it as charming and I certainly felt it was a charming read. I liked the feel of the fish-out-of-water tale and it was hugely appealing. The book is really enjoyable and I loved the descriptions of Paris. Finding Monsieur Right is well worth a read and for all I’ve said I did enjoy it.(less)

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Mar 21, 2010 I Read rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, love

This book actually surpassed my expectations! The blurb enticed me to enter the giveaway (English-French relations are always interesting, plus I have a bit of both in my heritage and have visited the two cities involved), but as I often find chick-lit somewhat ‘a bit of fluff with no real plot’, I was prepared to have my hopes crushed, but no! There was substance to the story, things I didn’t see coming and most importantly it was well written.

I always feel that if one misses the characters’ na...more This book actually surpassed my expectations! The blurb enticed me to enter the giveaway (English-French relations are always interesting, plus I have a bit of both in my heritage and have visited the two cities involved), but as I often find chick-lit somewhat ‘a bit of fluff with no real plot’, I was prepared to have my hopes crushed, but no! There was substance to the story, things I didn’t see coming and most importantly it was well written.

I always feel that if one misses the characters’ names, but can still identify the speaker purely from what they are saying, then the author has defined them well and this was the case while I was reading ‘Finding Monsieur Right’. Also, the details surrounding the cast were all thought out to fit with each personality correctly. I grew to love and loathe the various people included in the pages, which is definitely important concerning the reader’s involvement.

It’s always nice to gain an insight into different worlds through reading. This book provided that for me and knowing that the author had real experience to draw on gave the text credibility.

The bilingual aspect was done perfectly and added to the experience – just enough French to give the cultural feel, but not so much that things become confused or the reader weary. Plus, all credit to Zagha, because the English was flawless and I would never have guessed (without knowing) that it was her second language.

The technique of short chapters, alternating between the two countries, giving small bites of each girl’s life (plots separate, yet still connected) was very favourable, because it meant the story remained fresh the whole way through. I usually find it difficult to sit solidly for a long time with a book, but didn’t find this to be the case with ‘Finding Monsieur Right’ which I put down to the construction, ease of reading and incentives incorporated within to continue on.

The only slight negative in my opinion was the very last realisation Daisy had, which I thought was a little cheesy and improbable. However, this is a very minor and personal qualm, so all in all, a brilliant, relaxing read.

** I received this free of charge through Goodreads First-Reads **

(less)

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Sep 13, 2010 Tahmina added it

This was an absolute waste of my time, I still can't believe I read it to the end, thinking that it wold improve with time. Nope! The characters were weird and unlikeable, the plot pointless and extremely rushed. Why does Daisy all of a sudden find love in the last what ..2 pages of the book with a guy we(as a reader) don't even remember the name of let alone any other distinguishable characteristics.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone thinking that this will be a cute chick flick. This book ca...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Stacey rated it 3 of 5 stars

A fun and frivolous novel set simultaneously in Paris and London, following two girls who have swapped flats for a year. Although it isn't ultimately all that original within the chick-lit genre, I did enjoy this book a lot and am encouraged to read Zagha's other work in future.

Foremost, I enjoyed the author's writing style. Both Isabelle and Daisy had distinctive personalities and voices, and the content doesn't take itself or its plot too seriously. In fact, it zips along at quite a speed with...more

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Apr 14, 2010 Lindsay (Little Reader Library) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I received this book through the First Reads offers, my first ever, so thank you goodreads.

I really enjoyed it! It is an easy, warm-hearted read, but it has got soul. I suppose it could be classified as 'chick lit', but it is intelligent and and has got more to it than that. The premise is a house swap for a year, with Daisy going form London to Paris, and Isabelle vice versa. Daisy is a fashion lover and Isabelle a chic student. The story covers the experiences they have, mainly governed by th...more

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Oct 03, 2010 Bayansa rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: couldn-t-finish, fiction

such a waste of time ! Silly and boring are the two words in my head right now to describe this novel! beside ,, how could you compare this novel with Sophie Kinsella's novels.. there's no comparison ,, i can describe Sophie's novels with the word "Delicious", while for this one it's like something tasteless . :( i'm pretty disappointed.
what is it that i didn't find in this novel ,, i didn't find the funny side in it ,, i'm pretty sure that i read some lines where i can see she's trying to be a...more

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Jun 20, 2010 Annie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really loved this one - lovely characters, breakneck speed, some fascinating ideas (fashion and the academic, the shy Goth, the wonderful search for the lost work of Meredith Quince, Raoul and his models, Savage's fashion show...). Chick lit at its very best, and a perfect one for everyone's holidays...

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Jan 23, 2010 Ella Parkett rated it 5 of 5 stars

I like stories set in Paris anyway but this novel offers a fairly unfamiliar perspective on the city and Parisians - there's a great scene set in the catacombs (I didn't even know these existed). There's also a brilliant mystery subplot featuring the Quince Society and the works of a famous Thirties detective novelist (including Death of a Lady Ventriloquist!) - very Dorothy L. Sayers (a favourite of mine). It's funny, touching and, in places, pretty raunchy too - an interesting and satisfying m...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Leonel rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book read and sounded very British, which is what I loved most about it.

http://luhathoughts.blogspot.com/2013...

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Jul 22, 2012 Margaret rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a great summer read: easygoing, fun. Of course, we know how it will end, but it was so fun to read about Paris and a little about London.

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Feb 07, 2011 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: english, romance

I won't start describing the content. The first 200-250 pages were so boring. You can't imagine. And there's so many French words. Even whole e-mails in French. The end was good, though. I would never have dreamt what happened there, but it was still reasonable to do it this way. Nice book, but less French in future, please.. And more action from the beginning... If I read a romance, I'd like the romance to start very early, not only in the last half of the book

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Dec 21, 2010 Curlywurly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: modern, fiction

Had its funny moments.

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Jul 14, 2012 Russeller rated it 3 of 5 stars

Utter fluff.

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Jun 10, 2010 Jirinka (sony08) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, read-in-2010

9/10. This was my first First Reads win and I loved it. First couple of chapters was hard to get into but as you get to know the two characters of French academic Isabelle and English fashion lover Daisy, you start to love the book. The too girls swap flats, friends and countries for a whole year. And with that the hunt for Mr Right begins.

The whole concept was great and the ending even thought expected was brilliantly written.

Will look out for Muriel's novels in the future.

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Mar 14, 2012 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-ebook, romance-chick-lit

A nice and entertaining read, light and pleasant, quick-paced, with likeable characters, but... There was something missing however... Was it the abrupt and not very well-made ending? Or was it the lack of any plausibility whatsoever? The concept is actually really promising, but the book itself somewhat lacking in places. It could have been a really awesome novel - and it really did have the potential to be - but unfortunately, it only gets as far as 3 stars for me.

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Mar 16, 2010 Layla rated it 3 of 5 stars

A good book overall, light reading. Some funny lines and a nice relaxing, romantic read. A bit too much of "Everybody gets a happy ending", but the suspense was built for each romance well. Good descriptive writing of Paris and UK.

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Feb 03, 2012 Julia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: womens-fic-chick-lit-romance

Light but highly entertainning read and I really enjoyed the French bits.

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Sep 02, 2010 Pamela Todd rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit, romance, read-in-2010

With two female leads, both of which get in trouble with the opposite of sex, you can guarantee this is an interesting read!

Neither woman held any particular sway with me, as I was fairly fond of both. I did, however, favour one romance over the other, but was not disappointed when it wasn't their chapter!

A must read for any lover of chick-lit, though this is perhaps more then high end than a fun romp.

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Apr 28, 2013 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

I like the story and twists, though predictable.

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Mar 21, 2010 Mhairi Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really enjoyed this book - fun characters and a well written story. Perfect book for sitting on the beach with a cocktail or two!

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Aug 23, 2010 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

SUCH a sweet book about a life swap between a fashion-crazed woman in London and a very studious Parisian. Really lovely summer read.

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May 12, 2012 Steffi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-on-my-blog, challenge-2012-sparen

Meine Gedanken zum Buch: http://semaiv.wordpress.com/2012/04/3....

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May 17, 2013 Eloise Coleen ❤ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: done-reading

May 05, 2013 Amelia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013

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