I loved this. I couldn't put it down. It was such an escapism. It made me sad as I miss travel but happy as I enjoyed it.

A very enjoyable light hearted read that transports the reader across Europe with a little adventure in Paris along the way. I loved the characters and how the story came together.
Definitely a glass of wine and bar of chocolate feel good book.

Uncoupling sweet and easy coming-of-age novel, and the perfect mini escape to Paris. Hannah is on a train to Amsterdam with her boyfriend Si, when the carriages separate and she accidentally ends up in Paris. Alone, without a ticket or passport, and only €20 in her pocket, she is forced to stay in the City of Love with fellow traveller, Léo.

I like Hannah as a protagonist, but she's not the most interesting or complex character. There's nothing about her personality that makes her a memorable voice. However, Hannah's passion for photography adds a nice dynamic and gives her an ambition or something to live for. That makes her more of an enjoyable narrator in the book.

Her development is the most compelling aspect of the novel. She's overly reliant on her boyfriend, insecure about her talent, cares too much about the opinions of others, and always compares herself to others. A lot of her anxieties are extremely relatable, and I think that's what makes her likeable. Naturally, as a reader you want to see her achieve something great. Hannah steadily comes to the realisation that she’s an intelligent, independent, and valued human, and that’s really lovely to read. I also quite like that it takes a disaster like being stuck in Paris with a handsome stranger to realise you want more from life.

Léo seems like a nice character, but there wasn’t much to him either. It was difficult to connect with him as so much is revealed about Hannah in comparison to him. I definitely feel as though his personality or backstory could be fleshed out a little more, which would in turn contribute to the romance.

Sadly, despite the likeable characters, I didn't find the plot that exciting. It has its entertaining moments, but overall I was tempted to skip chapters to get to the best bits. A good portion of the book is spent building an establishing Hannah's background, relationships, and mindset, but then nothing really happens with it. Yes, she discovers more about herself, but other than that... there wasn't much going on. It doesn’t pace well or move smoothly, a lot of moments feel very standstill. Even the conflict was anticlimactic.

Still, Uncoupling is a lovely debut. It’s relaxing to read, with likable characters and plenty of Parisian magic.

I whizzed through this book in 2 days: it's such a lovely story of coming out of one's comfort zone and opening up to chances that can and sometimes should be taken. The main characters felt real and imperfect and this gave the whole story a "this can happen to you" feeling. I loved the Paris scenes, I felt like being there again - escaping from the harsh reality of the Covid-crisis for a couple of days. Though I have to admit the timeline of the story is unrealistic: anybody who's been to Paris before is perfectly aware that visiting a police station, 2 cafes (including waiting for the Parisian waiters at any stage of your order), visiting a home, sightseeing in various parts of Paris, plus taking in the view and conversing in slow motion is totally impossible in 5 hours or so - regardless whether you travel by "moto" or not. Nonetheless, I absolutely loved this story.

One star is for books I didn't finish. I made up to 20%, by then she had bumped into the French guy with his enorm luggage four times and still the story hasn't really started. Not for me...

I cannot find this book on Goodreads so cannot post a link to a review as the Amazon page does not allow reviews as yet because it doesn't release until next year.

I enjoyed this story but probably because a similar thing happened to me and a friend when we were 18. We were stranded in Paris and met a French boy who let us stay at his parents home and showed us around Paris! Reading the parts of the story set in Paris gave me a lovely feeling remembering my time there.

I found the writing style easy to get into and read the book in one sitting. It's a debut novel, so it's not perfect. I felt like Leo's character needed fleshing out more. I also found the ending very, very abrupt. I was shocked at how it just ended. I know it was a kind of happy ending but it left it feeling like it was a continuation book and that we need to read book 2 for the conclusion.

I was disappointed that the kiss they share was barely described. I felt they had chemistry throughout the day in Paris but would have preferred if Leo had kissed her before she left Amsterdam.

For a debut novel, I was impressed though and really enjoyed it other than the abrupt ending and a few niggles here and there but hopefully the author will take notes from the ARC's and make some changes before publication?