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Seven Letters from Paris
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Twenty years, seven letters, and one long-lost love of a lifetime
At age 40, Samantha Verant's life is falling apart-she's jobless, in debt, and feeling stuck... until she stumbles upon seven old love letters from Jean-Luc, the sexy Frenchman she'd met in Paris when she was 19. With a quick Google search, she finds him, and both are quick to realize that the passion they fe ...more
At age 40, Samantha Verant's life is falling apart-she's jobless, in debt, and feeling stuck... until she stumbles upon seven old love letters from Jean-Luc, the sexy Frenchman she'd met in Paris when she was 19. With a quick Google search, she finds him, and both are quick to realize that the passion they fe ...more
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Paperback, 254 pages
Published
October 7th 2014
by Sourcebooks
(first published October 2014)
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Having recently gone through a rough patch in my life that was the emotional equivalent of taking a hot iron to the face, this book's sweet, fluffy silliness was some welcome reprieve. I read it in one sitting, on a plane from Halifax to Glasgow. My somewhat poor experience with it could probably be blamed in part on my excruciating restless leg and nearly thirty hours without a wink of sleep. Well, actually, that's not true. I got about six minutes of shut-eye lying down in the car. It was a tr
...more
At the age of 20, Samantha and her friend are travelling through Europe during a college break. They've spent two weeks in Paris and on their very last night in the city, they meet two young, good-looking Frenchmen. In particular, Samantha has a very strong connection with Jean-Luc, the man she meets. They spend the next 24 unforgettable sleepless hours exploring the city with the men, and despite pleas from the men to change plans and stay longer in Paris, the girls depart for Nice.
Samantha ret ...more
Samantha ret ...more
This is a lovely modern fairytale come true about a disillusioned American woman and her French prince. At 39 Samantha Verant made the brave decision to leave her loveless marriage and return, jobless and in debt to live with her parents.
Twenty years before, Sam and her best friend Tracey had met two handsome Frenchmen in Paris and spent a memorable twenty four hours with them before leaving to travel on to the South of France and the rest of their European holiday. After returning to her Unive ...more
Twenty years before, Sam and her best friend Tracey had met two handsome Frenchmen in Paris and spent a memorable twenty four hours with them before leaving to travel on to the South of France and the rest of their European holiday. After returning to her Unive ...more
I need to preface this review with the disclaimer that I'm not romantic. I suspect I once was but am now a washed-up middle-aged cynic. Or something.
And although I label myself a tad impulsive and irresponsible. I'm probably possibly not. So - the notion of travelling halfway around the world to reunite with someone you knew for 24hrs twenty years before is something I struggled with. A lot.
I can't say it's not realistic - as it actually happened in Samantha Verant’s memoir, ' Seven Letters From ...more
And although I label myself a tad impulsive and irresponsible. I'm probably possibly not. So - the notion of travelling halfway around the world to reunite with someone you knew for 24hrs twenty years before is something I struggled with. A lot.
I can't say it's not realistic - as it actually happened in Samantha Verant’s memoir, ' Seven Letters From ...more
“When I let go of anger, guilt, and fear, I finally let love in. For once, my entire life jumped onto the right track, and it was cruising along, moving full speed ahead.”
I loved this..it was so cute and fun but had its heavy moments. A nonfiction fairy tale really along with its bumps in the road. I love most of all what it really stands for: life is too short, let go of whatever baggage or ghosts you have haunting you from the past and never be afraid to just start over.
I loved this..it was so cute and fun but had its heavy moments. A nonfiction fairy tale really along with its bumps in the road. I love most of all what it really stands for: life is too short, let go of whatever baggage or ghosts you have haunting you from the past and never be afraid to just start over.
Oct 12, 2014
Marianne
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
borrowed-copy-returned
Seven Letters from Paris is a memoir by an American woman now living in south-western France, Samantha Verant. Moaning to her closest friend Tracey about her life’s latest terrible turns (jobless, deep in debt and her marriage on the rocks), Samantha Platt, almost forty, is reminded about a European holiday twenty years earlier, and a chance encounter with a Frenchman, Jean Luc Verant. She digs out the seven letters he sent her from Paris. And what letters they were: full of romance and promise.
...more
I have just finished a wonderful 72 hours in the company of Samantha Vérant and her touching Seven Letters from Paris. Written from the heart, with sometimes startling honesty, Seven Letters tells the story of how Samantha met her husband, and then didn't—for twenty years. Culminating with a pair of fairy-tale weddings in France and California, her experience teaches us the reality of love at first sight, and the imperative to believe it when you see it. Seven Letters from Paris is a beautiful s
...more
In 1989, Samantha Platt, a nineteen year old American arts student, was traveling through Europe with her best friend, Tracey, when, on their second to last day in Paris they met two handsome young Frenchman, Jean-Luc and Patrick. Though their time together was brief, Samantha and Jean-Luc both admitted to feeling a strong connection, and though Samantha chose to continue their planned journey leaving Jean-Luc behind, she did so with no small amount of regret.
Twenty odd years later, Samantha has ...more
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This should have been titled, "Seven Letters from Paris: A Fairy Tale." I guess I am not very romantic, but if this is based on a true story, it is being retold through VERY rose colored glasses. Sam is the most beautiful and beguiling California girl God ever created. She meets Jean-Luc, the most handsome and perfect and romantic Frenchman, while traveling in France. They spend 24 hours together, after which Jean-Luc was besotted with this princess for life. She returns home and he pines for he
...more
Reading Seven Letters from Paris is like traveling to France with a good friend -- the journey revolves around laughter and angst, food and wine, new and cherished connections. Throughout this memoir, I commiserated, I laughed, I cheered our brave heroine on.
Samantha Verant is a women who had the courage to take a chance in life; she took the proverbial lemons and made French-pressed lemonade. Her witty writing is in a similar vein as Peter Mayle, in A Year in Provence (Mayle also endorsed the b ...more
Samantha Verant is a women who had the courage to take a chance in life; she took the proverbial lemons and made French-pressed lemonade. Her witty writing is in a similar vein as Peter Mayle, in A Year in Provence (Mayle also endorsed the b ...more
VERDICT: Seven Letters From Paris is a lively and very inspiring memoir witnessing to the fact that sometimes, life has better things in store for you than the best of fiction could make you dream of. French food and culture will also help! Perfect for all lovers of France and readers who need to be reminded that the sun always shines behind the clouds, how dark they may be.
my full review is here:
http://wordsandpeace.com/2014/10/13/b... ...more
my full review is here:
http://wordsandpeace.com/2014/10/13/b... ...more
What's not to love? Girl meets Frenchman on the last evening of her first time in Paris when she is 19 and he is 26. They are smitten with each other, but she has to leave the next day. The chemistry is there, but she doesn't see him again for twenty years, after digging out seven very fabulously romantic love letters he wrote to her to which she never responded. The rest, as they say, is history. A great read on a snowy day.
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” ...more
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” ...more
Jun 05, 2020
Patty
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
2020,
france,
memory,
friendship,
letters,
women-writers,
marriage,
husband-and-wife,
2020-non-fiction,
non-fiction
”My God, what an idiot I’d been. Punctuated with passion, Jean-Luc’s letters still heated my soul twenty years later. So why hadn’t I written him back in 1989?
In March, I finished reading Paris Was Ours (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). In my review I mentioned that I really liked reading about Paris and that is why this book caught my attention. I was looking through the library catalog for a different book and this one came up also. So I checked it out. How bad could a book be about ...more
In March, I finished reading Paris Was Ours (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). In my review I mentioned that I really liked reading about Paris and that is why this book caught my attention. I was looking through the library catalog for a different book and this one came up also. So I checked it out. How bad could a book be about ...more
Reading my blog you are fully aware of my preference to tragic, painful love stories. I know, terrible. You might call me a cynic when it comes to love, but deep down inside there is hope, hope in happily ever after, happenstance, love at first sight…all the saccharine wants we all dream of in matters of the heart.
Vérant successfully turned this cynic into her biggest fan. Seven Letters From Paris is a beautiful love story. The best part of this story, it’s a love story involving not just one lo ...more
Vérant successfully turned this cynic into her biggest fan. Seven Letters From Paris is a beautiful love story. The best part of this story, it’s a love story involving not just one lo ...more
I've known about this book for some time but reading the pre-publication version was something else. Sam's done a great job telling the story of how she met her husband, or should I say, she met him in Paris, then left to go back to the US. He wrote seven truly romantic letters to her after she went back, the stuff you dream of receiving, but she ignored him for twenty years, until she finally came to her senses and sent him an apology. To his credit, he wrote back and they picked up where they'
...more
I almost never read fiction by people I know. With that being said, I almost do not know Samantha Verant, the author of Seven Letters From Paris. We met via Internet a few years ago. She is beautiful {I have seen pictures}, well spoken and has a delightful sense of humor.
The ARC of Seven Letters arrived in the mail. I was not expecting it. I sat down and started reading, finishing the book within 48 hours. It was that wonderful, captivating and honest. I could not put it down.
Samantha gives an ...more
The ARC of Seven Letters arrived in the mail. I was not expecting it. I sat down and started reading, finishing the book within 48 hours. It was that wonderful, captivating and honest. I could not put it down.
Samantha gives an ...more
This is such a beautifully written, honest story about overcoming the immense loss that is divorce and moving on to find true love. Samantha’s willingness to open her heart to someone she’d met so long ago and then share their incredible story in her memoir has certainly given me hope and has warmed my heart. Samantha’s love story with Jean-Luc really is a fairy-tale come true, but not without its own challenges of course! The financial stress after divorce, the paperwork insanity of getting mar
...more
We want the happy ending, don’t we? Sam did. She was at the end of her marriage, had slipped past forty with no children, and found her career had tanked. While she was sorting through her things, she ran across seven old letters. Sam opened them and she remembered the romance of her life, a man she met in Paris when she was young, a man who had sent her seven letters, seven letters she had never answered. She decided to answer them now, twenty years later. A fairy tale of a book.
This is a modern love story, beautifully told. In the telling Samantha is honest, funny, real, which captured me and held me rapt from beginning to end. Samantha takes you on an exhilarating ride as she and Jean~Luc find a way to make their love story happen. The beautiful settings in both the US and France enhance the love story. A warm, positive, delightful real life romantic memoir. Thanks Samantha for telling your story.
A great memoir of love lost and then found again. We can't but cheer for Samantha and her dashing French prince. It's the kind of romance we all dream of. What a wonderful way to pay homage to one's relationship. Told with insight, humour and from the heart. A feel good love story that leaves one uplifted. Proof that good things come to those who wait.
This book was a quick, easy read, but left me really unsettled. Let's just imagine for a moment that your daughter, sister or close friend went through the following events in the span of a few months:
- Was laid off from their job and then had a prolonged period of unemployment
- Experienced a traumatic divorce
- Had to move back in with their parents because they couldn't support themselves
- Lost a beloved pet
- Had to declare bankruptcy
- Had a cancer scare
Let's also imagine that this friend/ sist ...more
- Was laid off from their job and then had a prolonged period of unemployment
- Experienced a traumatic divorce
- Had to move back in with their parents because they couldn't support themselves
- Lost a beloved pet
- Had to declare bankruptcy
- Had a cancer scare
Let's also imagine that this friend/ sist ...more
This memoir is a beautiful love story, with heartbreak and happy ever after, that reads more like a fairytale romance than the real life it is.
When life doesn’t go to plan, what girl doesn’t dream of having her own real life ‘Pretty Woman’ fairytale moment? At the end of an unhappy marriage that has left her deep in debt, Samantha finds seven love letters tucked away in the bottom of a storage box. These love letters are 20 years old and despite her never having replied at the time, offer her a ...more
When life doesn’t go to plan, what girl doesn’t dream of having her own real life ‘Pretty Woman’ fairytale moment? At the end of an unhappy marriage that has left her deep in debt, Samantha finds seven love letters tucked away in the bottom of a storage box. These love letters are 20 years old and despite her never having replied at the time, offer her a ...more
This is a memoir written by 40 year old Samantha as she finds herself in a loveless marriage, with no job or money and a pile of debts. Samantha finds seven love letters from a holiday romance in France some 20 years earlier and decides to track down her Frenchman Jean-Luc.
Just like a fairytale Samantha the American Princess and Jean-Luc the French frog find each other again and fall in love and with each page turned you are taken on their whirlwind romance together. Of course this is a real lif ...more
Just like a fairytale Samantha the American Princess and Jean-Luc the French frog find each other again and fall in love and with each page turned you are taken on their whirlwind romance together. Of course this is a real lif ...more
Samantha is the friend anyone with a French rail pass would love to travel with: she’s carefree and fun--yet she’s determinated to stick to the itinerary. Too bad the stop in Paris wasn’t scheduled for longer—to include more time with the gorgeous Frenchman she met in the bistro!
You’ll tear up reading this inspiring love story set in Paris and the South of France. And you’ll giggle and cheer as the Franco-American lovers reunite in time to conquer French bureaucracy--and even bankruptcy—in order ...more
You’ll tear up reading this inspiring love story set in Paris and the South of France. And you’ll giggle and cheer as the Franco-American lovers reunite in time to conquer French bureaucracy--and even bankruptcy—in order ...more
**This is a preview review**
Verant's memoir gives us hope. Her true story of finding her long lost love after 20 years gives cynics like me a warm feeling (yes, apparently it is possible!) If this had been a novel, I would have been skeptical, yet Verant's true story isn't all slush and mush; it's very real, enough for all of us to be able to see a little of ourselves in each situation she finds herself in.
Far from a self-help book, I would recommend this to anyone who feels they need to know th ...more
Verant's memoir gives us hope. Her true story of finding her long lost love after 20 years gives cynics like me a warm feeling (yes, apparently it is possible!) If this had been a novel, I would have been skeptical, yet Verant's true story isn't all slush and mush; it's very real, enough for all of us to be able to see a little of ourselves in each situation she finds herself in.
Far from a self-help book, I would recommend this to anyone who feels they need to know th ...more
This was a diverting and honest read which was written by someone who doesn't write for a living. It wasn't a change your life book but not all books need to be that kind of book, some books just need to be 'good'. Good in the way that books remind you about other people's lives and the choices that they make. That their choices aren't necessarily the same choices you might make and that life isn't the same for everyone. Something to think about.
I'd pass this one on to any library patron who was ...more
I'd pass this one on to any library patron who was ...more
I stayed up all night reading this book. It was such a pleasure to accompany Vérant on this journey from divorce, to shacking up with her parents, to daring to dream about the one who got away--and what a one! This book is not only entertaining and heartwarming. It's also a big vote for being brave, slightly crazy, and completely authentic, taking big risks that when they pay off, can turn a person's life around and rescue it from being a dream deferred. Even--especially--in midlife. Three cheer
...more
I liked how this wasn't your traditional love story. You'd think with an American girl meeting and falling in love with a Frenchman that it'd be a walking cliche, but then she dumps him and doesn't reconnect until 20 years later. I quickly became absorbed in her story--why did she dump him, how had it all started, and how would it end up? I enjoyed reading about her path to happiness, and of course a handsome French guy and the inherent romance of France never hurts!
A lovely quick read for a fall day or fun on the beach. I'm always a sucker for a happy ending. Samantha's story is heartfelt and touching. In many ways I was left with a feeling to go live my fullest life ever. Thank you Samantha for having the courage to share your story!
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Samantha Vérant is a travel addict, a self-professed oenophile, and a determined, if occasionally unconventional, French chef. Over the years, she’s visited many different countries, lived in many places, and worked many jobs— always on the search for the one thing that truly excited her. Then, one day, she found everything she’s been looking for: a passion for the written word and true love. Writ ...more
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