Long and Short Reviews

Let Them Eat Cake by Kathy Pratt
Awe-Struck E-Books
Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal
Full Length, Sensual
Review by Verbena

Anna Mulligan's first trip to France is supposed to give her a chance to research her genealogy. Instead, it turns into an opportunity for romance and adventure both in present day and in 18th century France. She is transported back in time by a mysterious fog surrounding the Hameau de la Reine at Versailles. She discovers the name of her ancestor when the inhabitants of the hamlet, including Queen Marie-Antoinette and Geoffroi Andrieux, mistake her for that ancestor. Here she finds love with Geoffroi Andrieux, the ancestor of Dr. Jeff Andrews--the present day doctor she's loved from afar. Could Geoffroi be Jeff?

A unique peek at the French Revolution told by a time traveler!

♥ ♥ ♥

This story has been woven like a fine tapestry. Plot, events, settings, characters all are seamlessly integrated into a whole. I felt like it was written just for me because it incorporates all of the things I like in a romantic novel.

The events of the story begin and end in Paris and it’s environs. You, the reader are treated to the real Paris. The smells, the sights and the feelings are wonderfully described. The Paris Metro becomes clear to you with the aroma of crepes hanging in the air. The architecture of the Basilica of Sacre-Couer of Montmatre is there before your eyes as plain as can be. The Emile Caudeau square is vivid with the umbrellas of the artists painting as they do for the tourists. You will experience the trip up the Arc De Triomphe and the view of Paris laid out before you. But mostly the story will take place in the PetiteTrianon of Marie Antoinette. There the village will bustle as it once did with villagers dedicated to the Queen. They are growing food and raising poultry and hunting just as they did in her time.

And you will meet the Queen and perhaps formulate a different view of her then you received from the history books. She doesn’t appear as a heartless monster deliberately starving peasants yet the difference between the court and the peasants of France at the time of the Revolution are not ignored. The main characters: Dr. Jeff Andrew and an ICU nurse named Anna Mulligan, are on a tour offered by the California hospital where they both work. You feel the immediate attraction between the two yet they have worked together for a while but never connected. They both have admired and desired each other from afar. Jeff’s two sisters are with him and it’s a while before Anna finds out that they are his sisters. Then the hope that she nourishes for the two of them comes alive. The found passion and love will make you remember finding your own soul-mate. I know it did for me. Both have an ancestral history that they want to find out more about. Anna somehow finds herself drifting into a fog and time-travels back into the life at Petite Trianon. I adore time travel stories. They really speak to me and this one is perfect. Anna finds that she is Anne-Marie Toussant, her own ancestor. And lives out three months in history with her lover Geoffroi Andrieux. Yes, you guessed it, Jeff Andrews. They have been in love through time and space. Simply gives me chills. You will love it.

The author skillfully merges both ages into one and there are times when you don’t know whether it’s present or past that is speaking. Best of all the unknown ending that was blocked out by the revolt on Versailles is happily found.

Comments:

Date: Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 1:03 PM

Your Name: Susan Hatzenbuhler
Your Comment: I lived in France and this book brings it all back....and then some!

Date: Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 11:30 AM

Your Name: Jane S.
Your Comment: Sounds interesting - like something I\'d like. I haven\'t read anything I don\'t think by Kathy Pratt