Paris, My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate)

I read the reviews of others on this book and quite frankly, I cannot understand some of the very mean spirited ones and some of the even more mean spirited comments to them.While this book is not Jane Austen, it is still a delightful book. I found it to be a very easy and breazy read. It was short and SWEET(pun intended). This book is filled with detailed descriptions of desserts and the stores they came from. I found myself going online to look up many of the places and desserts while reading Paris My Sweet. I also started craving many of the sweets. I have taken cooking lessons in New York and loved it! Now I would love to take cooking classes in Paris too.Amy Thomas loves New York City as much as she does Paris. I love New York City too. I do not live there anymore, but I totally understand how Amy feels about New York. I think it is one of the greatest cultural centers in America. There is always something going on, things to do, places to go and great places to eat. I appreciate the comparisions of the two cities in the book. I appreciate Amy Thomas's honesty about the people in France and how she felt very lonely at times because of it. It is not something that I haven't heard before. Never the less Amy Thomas was still able to enjoy the country she fell in love with as a college student. Miss Thomas made me want to get on a plane straight away and head for France.One of the reasons I enjoyed Paris My Sweet is because Amy Thomas did something that I have dreamed about doing since I was a teenager. I admire any woman who moves to another country by herself leaving her family and friends behind. It can be scary, but mostly I see it as a wonderful adventure. I did not think the author should have been upset because her friends were getting married and having babies. Moving to France to live and work is equally exciting. Not to mention all the trips you can make to other Eurpoean countries while you are living in France. I would be happy about my friends getting married and having children, and even happier about me living in France. And if things did not turn out as expected in France I would have explored another country over there to move to. Maybe Miss Thomas would have found love and romance in England? Spain? Switzerland? Italy?I would love to get an update on Amy Thomas now. Does she have a boyfriend now? Would she move to Paris for good?It was a pleasure for me to review this book on my blog. The only books that I reveiw on my blog are the ones I like.Amy Thomas, thank you very much for writing this book. I appreciate it even if some people didn't. I think a lot of people do appreciate it as much as I do. Please give us an update on how your life is going now Miss Thomas.

Oh I was constantly baking Trader Joe's chocolate croissants, and mini-croissants just to maintain while I read this book! I also was writing down everything in a book, planning my next trip back to Paris. OMG! What a wonderfully tasty book! If you are on a diet, you have to pass this one by. It'll kill you.Having been to Paris and New York several times, I loved every minute of rediscovering my favorite sweets hangouts and learning about new ones. Add a minor plot to the mix and it's a dessert lovers and travel lovers dream book.Now, I have to get my body back up to Napa, CA to get authentic croissants from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery so I can feel like I'm in France again. Dang girl, you really know how to write about food!

I don't think I've read a book with more tips that I've bookmarked for another trip back to Paris!!!Thanks!

This book was a breath of fresh air from a writer who shared her growth experience of working in Paris for two years while back in New York all of her peers were marrying, settling down, and having babies. I can certainly relate to her wanderlust, and when you couple it with the exhaustive research she did sampling sweets from one quartier to the next throughout Paris, there's just no beating this obvious confection of a book. So happy to have shared this writer's experiences in the City of Light and Dark Chocolate!

This book is a throwaway, by a 36-year old woman who writes like a high-schooler, spending most of the book whining about her job, and whining about not having a date. She knows nothing about Paris, can't speak French, and has no particular area of expertise or insight. She does not have a cooking school degree, and is not interested in history or art or popular culture. She went to the Louvre ONCE, when her parents visited, and all she could say was that the paintings were "the size of Alabama trailer homes". She is not an investigative reporter. This is not an in-depth review of pastry shops or bakeries. About a third of the way in, you want to throw the book in the trash. I can see why she was unable to make friends with the French, whom she found tedious. This book was a complete waste of time written by an airhead who is a "Sex & the City" wannabee. What a bore. For more useful and interesting books, check out Dorie Greenspan or David Lebovitz or Patricia Wells.  Paris Sweets: Great Desserts From the City's Best Pastry Shops

I've never been to Paris, but it didn't matter ... I could envision the scenes and places vividly. When she talked about bread and 'boulangeries'- I searched for a boulangerie in my area in Gauteng, South Africa. I found this French Patisserie, drove 30 km and bought a sourdough bread. It was deeeelicious!!! I'm a big sweet tooth person ... so all this talk of truffles, macaroons, cupcakes ... it had my salivated!!!! I then searched for a chocolatier in my area, found one and bought 4 different truffle chocolates. And ate them all! This is really a fabulous book and I absolutely adored it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Francophile that I am, and having spent untold wonderful times in Paris, I still found much to enjoy in this book. I always keep a list (on my phone) of new places to go/see the next time I'm there, and was able to add quite a few places to that list from her well-written, yummy sounding descriptions. In fact, I stopped reading frequently to look places up...then found the list at the end of the book! (My bad -- should have looked at the table of contents!)But there's the other side...the whining, spoiled child. There was enough good information offered that I plugged my way on through, but my overall ennui with her disagreeable nature brought my rating way, way down. I kept waiting & hoping for her to actually grow from the experience & share what she had learned.

Amy Thomas beschreibt in diesem Buch ihre Zeit in Paris: als sie die Gelegenheit bekommt, in Paris bei Louis Vuitton zu arbeiten, ergreift sie die Gelegenheit beim Schopf: Paris ist ihre Traumstadt, seit sie einmal ein Monat dort gelebt hat. Es fällt ihr zwar schwer, NY hinter sich zu lassen, hat sie doch viele Freunde dort; doch die meisten sind gerade dabei, eine Familie zu gründen (Amy ist Ende 30) oder haben schon eine, nur Amy führt noch irgendwie das Leben eines Teenies.......Amy beschreibt in diesem Buch ihre Anfangsmonate in Paris, ihre Einsamkeit, ihr Hin- und Hergerissensein zwischen NY und Paris, zwei unterschiedlichen Welten. Es dauert, bis sie in Paris auch Freunde hat und sich ein wenig zu Hause fühlen kann.Das ist im Grunde der Inhalt, gibt also nicht wirklich viel her. Der Rest des Buches ist gefüllt mit Beschreibungen diverser Süßspeisen (sie als "Schokoholic" zu bezeichnen, ist wohl noch untertrieben, kennt sie doch jede Patisserie, Boulangerie oder Cafe in Paris bzw. die sweet Hot-Spots in NY) und der Geschäfte, in denen sie sich gerne aufhält. Jegliche Art von Dessert, Kuchen etc. wird beschrieben, wo man sie am besten bekommt, warum sie sie mag etc.........obwohl ich selbst mindestens genauso verrückt nach süßen Dingen bin, hat mich das doch irgendwie gelangweilt und ich hätte lieber mehr von ihrem Leben erfahren......doch da die Monate in Paris anscheinend nicht so viel an "action" hergeben, werden eben die Süßspeisen beschrieben.Es ist also im Grunde kein Buch mit wirklicher Handlung, kein typischer "Chick-Lit" Roman, als der er erscheint. Gut. Wegen der Handlung sollte man dieses Buch also auf gar keinen Fall kaufen, da gibt es wesentlich bessere, die in Paris spielen. Wer, so wie ich, aber auch total auf Süßspeisen und Schoko steht, wird diesem Buch doch einiges abgewinnen können. Wer vor einer Reise nach NY oder Paris steht, wird sicherlich mit den Angaben zu den Patisserien etc. einiges anfangen können. Am Ende des Buches findet sich auch noch eine genaue Aufstellung der Läden, div. Standorte etc. in NY und Paris.......Ich möchte heuer nach Paris ------ der Grund, warum ich das Buch gelesen habe. Einen Stern musste ich mindestens vergeben, der zweite Stern ist für die Tipps, der dritte für den doch recht netten Schreibstil.........mehr konnte ich nicht vergeben, und muss gestehen, dass ich mich auch manchmal ein wenig fadisiert habe - und das zwischen all den Cupcakes, Macarons, Baba rhums, Eclairs oder was auch immer.....Also nur für Reisende zu empfehlen, die absolut nach Schokolade verrückt sind........

It is very sweet book :) Maybe there is not a lot of adventures but you can walk the streets of Paris and visit amazing sweet places on it s map. The author writes addresses from NYC too so we can visit both cities and make a sweet trip.

A great book for every Paris and chocolate lover!

great travel and life of a professional female book. good sweets source guide for paris and new york city included.

I read this book while in Paris... it's wonderfully evocative, and a fabulous guide to the best bread and pastry!