Maude Laurent is a spirited sixteen year-old orphan who grew up in a small, provincial town in the North of France with a passion for piano and a beautiful voice. One day in Paris, she is discovered by an American music producer who takes her to New York to live with him and his close-knit family while producing her first album, with help from teen pop star, Matt. Maude will dive into a new fascinating world discovering New York City, music, family, love and the truth about her past.
Born in France, raised partly in the United States and in France, Anna grew up loving stories in French and English.
Anna is the author of “A French Girl in New York” that garnered millions of reads on Wattpad. She currently lives in the beautiful city of Paris. And when not in France, Anna enjoys writing in libraries all over the world.
*4.5* forgot to write a review when I read it in March, so here: it was SO FUN and CUTE 💗🤭 super easy to binge, I devoured this so fast!!
I talked about it a lot in my "MIDYEAR BOOK FREAKOUT TAG" video on my YouTube channel 🥰 Check it out for my full review and thoughts! (so excited for book 2) https://youtu.be/6MoI47L9dpM?si=0QhsP...
I really liked this book. It was wonderful. A French Girl in New York had everything from music to love to paparazzi, and to success. I believe that this book had a lot to do with George Benard Shaws popular quote, "Life isn't about finding yourself, its about creating yourself." And the main character (Who, most of you can tell, is the "French Girl" as stated in the title) does what the quote says. She creates herself. This book is also very informative. It tells you about many of the classical operas and classical songs and artists. Other than music, this book enlightens you with the knowledge of France, New York, and Nigeria. This fantasy fiction book is more that just a story with few informational parts in it. It advises you to do the right thing, and to not keep things close to your heart. The book advises you to show the world what you can do. A French Girl in New York also tells you that you can be yourself, And no matter how many hardships you go through, there is always a path to greatness.
This wasn't a terrible read per se. It's an interesting story line and the characters were pretty good, but it didn't completely succeed in engaging me. I will continue because I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories, but I do hope they improve.
One of my main criticisms with this book was the romance between Matt and Maude. I didn't feel it. The chemistry isn't really there and Matt just magically starts to fall in love with Maude. Little explanation is given and the progression doesn't feel natural.
Also despite being a virtuoso, I find it extremely unbelievable that Maude was able to progress so far on her own in only five years to the point where she is this unique talent in the world. One could argue that she is like Mozart, but Mozart had instructors, one of whom was his father.
Anyways, I don't not-recommend this, but you probably have better things to read; let's put it that way.
This book is so freaking cute! I couldn't get enough of it honestly. While I will be the first to admit that it's not heavy reading, there is something about it that takes it out of the fluff category. The author's knowledge and research about the different instruments in the book really impressed me. I also enjoyed the fact that Maude was Black. I'm sorry, but reading about a young girl with brown skin who was intelligent, classically trained, hard working, and witty is a refreshing thing. I adored Maude, and she is the kind of character that will have young girls wanting to be like her. She's sweet but strong, and I can't wait to follow her journey. I do think the plot was a little predictable at times, but it tends to go with the genre.
One complaint that I have is that I wish someone had really taken the time to edit this book. It's my understanding that is a published book, so I am surprised by the amount of mistakes that I found. I forgave them because the story is so darn cute, but I expect better from the next one.
⇒ thought the cover was cute and from what i can remember now, the synopsis sounded interesting! going to start this later today
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꒰🎤꒱𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒕
➵maude loves opera and dreams of becoming a singer. one day when she goes viral in paris, she suddenly is whisked away to new york city to become a music artist. she has to write three hitting singles in six months or she's sent back to paris with her unloving foster family.
⇒ it was a nice concept and the cinderella theme was a nice touch! besides that, i wasn't too invested in maude's story. i wanted more challenges and more of it being hard to pick between options. a little more of everything. i didn't understand the relationship between maude and matt because there was zero chemistry and she hated him for half the story. then suddenly, she likes him? it was very confusing, but also why are you holding a grudge against someone for spilling coffee on you by mistake? the plot was also kind of predictable.
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꒰🥐꒱𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔
➵𝗺𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲: i couldn't connect with her because i felt like she didn't have any personality. she is obsessed with opera music and it was nice to see her explore other genres of music. she can hold a grudge over the stupidest things and won't even befriend someone because of the spilled coffee.
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꒰🎤꒱𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔
➵all of the characters were really bland and didn't get a lot of chance to show any personality. the baldwins were alright, but i didn't love them. maude's foster family were jerks. matt and thomas were terrible love interests because there was no chemistry between them and maude. all the characters just seemed very underdeveloped.
⇒the rest of the characters i didn't talk about weren't memorable enough to be mentioned by name. i just remember lindsey existing and i don't even remember why nobody liked her. none of the characters will be memorable for me.
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꒰🥐꒱𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒔:
➵𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀: extremely disappointed
⇒to be fair, i feel like this book is geared towards younger audiences and not someone who typically reads very complex stories. to me, this story lacked in everything i enjoy in a book and i don't think i'll be finishing the series because i don't think it'll get any better for me.
Let’s get the first thing out of the way: this book is basically pure and utter fluff, with as much as nutritional value as cotton candy. And I’m not faulting this for being fluff; I do like brain candy novels. And I see why this book is really popular (aside from being a free Amazon bestseller, although that may have something to do with it)—it’s a simple story with a generally relatable character, and as I said, the literary equivalent of cotton candy.
So. Why the two stars? Because, literary fluff or not, I still think that this a book that could have benefited from a few more drafts and a beta pool. It’s not eye-gouging terrible, but I think that this really needed a lot more work before being released into the wild.
A lot of the reason I didn’t love this book is mainly because of the prose and the dialogue. Nobody in this book talks like real people, real teenagers would talk. There’s maybe a handful of lines that do sound somewhat authentic, but for most of the book it just rang false or trying too hard for me. Especially when the dialogue was between characters like the Baldwins, people who should be more comfortable speaking with one another, and it just felt so forced to me. Ditto for Adams’s prose style, especially in how she stops to info-dump the reader instead of working it into the prose more effortlessly. It does feel like it’s very targeted to a much younger audience than YA or even as a middle grade novel, which really doesn’t work given the age of the characters. (Actually, I was describing this to a friend of mine, who said, “Is this supposed to be a Disney Channel movie for tweens?” which…is kind of a very apt description.)
It also doesn’t help much that the characters and settings are incredibly one-note. The characters aren’t outright terrible, but there’s really no growth or development to any of them except whenever it concerns romance. Like Maude, for example. She really doesn’t change very much throughout the book aside from growing a spine in front of her foster parents, but that’s not because of the experience she’s gone through; it’s more due to the fact that she has a bargaining chip. Matt doesn’t have much of character growth aside from “Wow, I really do love Maude!” (I will say this, I did like the fact that the guy we’re supposed to be rooting for romantically is the big superstar, and not the downtrodden underdog. Sorry, I was expecting for Thomas to be the more desirable of the two.) And then you have characters like Lindsey and the Rucherts. Lindsey…look, I just have learned to accept the bitchy blonde girl archetype. I hate it, but I bite my lip and move on. The Rucherts I have a much bigger issue with. Given what we find out later on about Maude’s parents, I really don’t understand why they treat her this way, aside from “Well, we need antagonists and this is a Cinderella story after all!”
Also, the portrayal of France in this book bothered me. It read to me more as being “Being in the countryside stuffed with Francophiles” rather than being in France. Some of it does make sense to me, like Maude overly romanticizing Paris because she’s never been to a big city, but it comes off as so stereotyped that I’m kinda waiting for Bernadette Peters and the entire city to start bursting out into song. (It’s also amusing that there’s this loving description of the Eiffel Tower and how all of Paris loves it since the day it was built, and you know that it would have been torn down if there wasn’t a practical use for the Tower? Yeah.) And the same goes for the New York scenes as well. Again, I get that this is a book that really emphasizes the glamour against Maude’s upbringing, but at times, it doesn’t ring true to me.
So. The music aspect. When the only realistic thing that I can see with this is Maude writing her own lyrics, and that they read like something a sixteen year old girl would write. They also read along the lines of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” rather than something that Lorde or Taylor Swift would write. (And considering that Rebecca Black didn’t write that song, and I’m not particularly a fan of the latter two…yeah. Also coming from someone who has a lot of bad pop music.) I would also like to not that an untrained pop singer, with only five weeks’ work would not get the leading role in an opera (even a somewhat quickly produced production), much less singers who have been training for longer, but in popular music genres. My aforementioned friend, who while not professional, did sing opera for a number of years, and I asked her about this, and she may have ranted at me. As she said, “Just because you can reach those notes does not mean you can sing them in a production.” I do like that there is an emphasis on Maude’s classical background, and that plays into her musical style, but classical and operatic are two different types of music and no.
I also have to mention this, because this is what really had me headwalling: the record company Maude signs with, Soulville, does not have lawyers because the head, James Baldwin (no, really) does not like lawyers at all, and in fact, gets upset that one of his daughters wants to study law. Given that one of the plot threads in this is that a rival singer steals a song Maude and her love interest Matt are working on, this makes NO SENSE whatsoever. And it’s not even the fact of the copyright plot thread, it’s also because as an industry, Soulville would need lawyers to draw up their contracts and handle other accounts and especially since so much of their talent are apparently minors. And it’s not just the Baldwin family who hates lawyers, but it’s stated very clearly that Mssr. Ruchert is a lawyer, and it’s beaten into the ground that he is a horrible person who has abused Maude and so clearly all lawyers are evil. If it were something like James didn’t like getting too involved with the legal side, because lawsuits (and especially one with a doubtful story like Maude’s) take up a lot of time and money. (And for the record, the SAME THING happens in Full Moon o Sagashite, but they say outright “Yeah, there’s no way we can prove that the rival stole your lyrics.”)
(And also, the superstar love interest is professionally known as Matt. Not by his full name, not by a stage name, just MATT. Look, if I said, “The number one pop superstar in the world, Justin” would I be referring to Timberlake or Bieber? Yeah.)
As for the various plot developments, I didn’t hate them…but I wasn’t going “OMG OMG” and I wasn’t really surprised by some of them. And as I said, this is really not that terrible of a book, but it does read like one that’s very much in progress and needed more work or tightening up. I can see why it’s popular—not only in sales, but in ratings—but it just doesn’t work for me on the same level.
I remember reading this book on Wattpad about a year ago. I found it quite amazing back then, but didn't know of the existence of Goodreads, so yeah. I was rather bored yesterday and could not find any good new books, so I decided to reread this one. I think I liked it even better this time. "A french Girl in New York" is, no doubt, a wonderful story, and Anna is, no doubt, a wonderful writer. I loved Matt's tour of NYC and Mrs. Bonnin's gossiping. I loved the french influences and how the Baldwins breath music. Above all, I love how Maude grows in the story. She meets so many obstacles, and still manages to conquer them with her head held high.
Anna's writing style is not easy, but still, it is not very hard to read. She manages to let you feel, smell and hear New York. I gave this story four stars because, even though I find it amazing, I never had the desire to scream and jump up and down because of the tension. (but yes, I did scream when BbnB came on the radio for the first time) "A French Girl in New York" is absolutely worth a read, let me tell you that!
P.S.: This is my first ever review, sorry if there are grammatical errors and stuff.
Very enjoyable story. This is a great YA modern day Cinderella story. Maude is living with her foster family where she was raised since she was a baby. She goes to Paris for a day with school and a music producer from New York hears her sing. She is soon signed on a record label and heads to New York for six months. She immediately fits in with the producer's family and immediately makes friends. I really enjoyed the characters, and how they interacted. I recommend this series and I can't wait to see what happens next with Maude and her new found family.
Loved the book.... It was very interesting an had me hooked from the beginning! Seriously I was up till gone 12 am reading the book.... I would have been up later if my mum hadnt told me to get some sleep ;)!
My fav bit was where Matt first meets Maude! I loved the way that maude started to shout at him in french! That was hilarious!
Mr and Ms Rutchell were well.....very awful, and I found myself hating them more as I continued to read. How could they hide so much from Maude? But sadly this reality wasnt abnormal! That is another thing that I like the realism in the story! I think many people can connect to it.
I think this book was very enjoyable for a quick read. It definitely could have been a lot better in a lot of areas but if you read it as what it is; A fun lighthearted musical rom-com then you will without a doubt like it very much. It was definitely cringe-worthy and had an enormous amount of fluff but it was a pretty good read.
I was born and raised in the north of France and moved to the US after graduating high school so, in a way I could relate to Maude's experience (I wish my English was as good as hers when I first got here).
I loved how the relationships between the characters evolved and how Maude's passion for music is presented throughout the book.
I would recommend this book and I will try to get the second volume. See, what Maude is up to this time.
A French Girl in New York is a pretty good YA-celebrity story... if you like that sort of thing. However, the author needs a good editor. The writing reads like it was translated by someone who was relatively fluent in English, but didn't quite grasp the nuances of the language. The punctuation could use a bit of help.
The chain of unusually good luck after a lifetime of bad isn't uncommon to the genre, so it didn't stand out for me.
A French girl in New York is an adorable story of a small town French girl who is spotted in a moment of luck on the day trip of a life time to Paris. Maude is a musician who thought her life was destined to be almost a slave to her foster family but has big dreams. Her lucky break comes in the form of James a producer from New York and he whisks her away to New York were she can work hard to become the musician she dreams. I thought the plot was really sweet, it was an easy read which often made you feel cosy inside. It was a traditional plot which made it predictable at times but that made for the cute read. It also manages to beautifully describe to wonderful cities and this was a big factor which made me like this book.
Maude is a character with real growth, she appears determined from the beginning of the story but her own character grows with this determination. She learns to be herself and how to remain trusting but also work within a competitive industry. All in all, she was a well-rounded character who I really enjoyed. Matt was a classic bad boy character, he is distant from his emotions and keeps himself shut off and yet he becomes a really loyal character and again his good character development followed its cliché but classic reading.
"A French Girl in New York" is a wonderful story of a girl who succeeds in spite of hardship and a series of obstacles. It is a fascinating adventure that made me want to travel. Matt and Maude's relationship is funny and romantic, because Matt is disoncerted by Maude's behavior towards him.I love the Baldwin family especially Ben. It's too bad we don't get to see him too often. I also think Lindsey's personality should be more developed. But I'll be waiting impatiently for the next book about Maude's adventures in the Big Apple.
Gostei muito deste livro porque acho uma leitura super interessante, em especial para uma faixa etária mais juvenil. Diria que é uma leitura que talvez não satisfaça qualquer tipo de leitor, na medida que é a típica história de conquistar sonhos e viver o primeiro amor adolescente. Estão a ver a vibe da ''Hannah Montana''? Diria que o público alvo é o mesmo desta série.
A parte importante e que me fez gostar tanto deste livro é a representatividade cultural com as imensas referências à cultura e aos costumes nigerianos e também em relação aos afro-americanos, bem como as várias referências musicais.
A autora traz-nos um ''retelling'' da Cinderela bastante giro, com uma personagem principal negra com raízes nigerianas e eu acho maravilhoso e necessário. Todos gostamos de nos sentir representados e de nos identificarmos com as personagens das nossas leituras, por isso, ainda bem que este livro e outros semelhantes existem. Se existe diversidade no mundo real, ela também deve existir no mundo da ficção, para todas as idades e públicos.
A Maude é então uma miúda que inicialmente parece tímida e temerosa, mas que em poucas páginas nos mostra que afinal é corajosa e tem imensa garra. Acompanhamos na sua jornada na luta pelo seu sonho, a sua mudança de França para os Estados Unidos, as suas relações de amizade, familiares e amorosas sob as tropes ''enenmies to friends to lovers'', ''love triangle'' e ''found family''.
Há também uma parte de suspense, sobre os pais da Maude, que nos faz querer ler mais e mais, para descobrir o que se passou com eles.
This was a very cute read. I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved the songs the most, there were a lot of great songs that were written in this book.
Maude: I really liked Maude's character. I like how she never backs down from a challenge, and is just a very nice character to read about.
Matt: Matt is a cutie, he made me smile a lot as I read. Our took so long for him and Maude. Throughout the entire book, the always new they had feelings for each other but I was just so surprised how long it took them to finally admit it.
Overall, this was a cute read. I would reread this book when I have nothing else at hand because it is a book you would like to read when you just want to relax and read for awhile.
A French Girl in New York is sort of like a modern Cinderella story. Maude is taken from a horrible life in France to a wonderful life of music in New York. I enjoyed this story, but it did get a little bogged down at times. Maude is a strong character that has made up her mind to make something of her life. She stumbles but with the help of her friends and her NY family, she tries again. There is a sweet surprise at the end. This author is new to me and I look forward to reading more from her.
This book wasn't as entertaining as expected. It lacked imagery. This book really disappointed me and I wanted to have a better experience. For instance,the start of this book had an disappointing start. The author could've used more detail. This was a huge waste of time. Not reccomended.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The romance wasn't nice. The business practices were stupid. The necessary suspension of disbelief was extremely high.
A French Girl in New York does nothing new it’s the same old drudgery that you’d expect from a rags to rich YA novel. The writing isn’t egregious however it becomes quite dull towards the end of the book. Having dead parents doesn’t make a character interesting. This book is filled to the brim with nothing characters and that’s what made it so hard for me to read towards the end. I can’t even begin to fathom what the next books in the series will be about I feel like one book was enough to tell this story. For some reason there would be variations in the space between words in my copy of the book did anyone else have this problem? Also the twist of Victoria Baldwin being Maude’s aunt is just terrible Maude and the Baldwin’s were already family this element was unlikely and unnecessary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I don't know why I'm writing so many reviews lately. I just get so excited after reading all these books and I want to share ALL THE THOUGHTS.
As I mentioned in one of my status updates while reading, I downloaded this book for free on my Kindle after reading a glowing review from one of my friends. I liked the concept, and it wasn't going to cost me any money, so what did I have to lose? I know that's probably not the best way to go into reading a book, but A French Girl in New York was so, so much better than I was expecting.
I'll start with Maude. She's a fantastic character, and I was surprised by the amount of growth she goes through over the course of the novel. I'll admit I was expecting most of the characters to be static (i.e. no change takes place) and the book to be more plot-driven, but I'm not complaining. It was great to watch Maude as she went through the ups and downs of her new life and learned how to love and trust others.
As a side note, the Cinderella parallels were played very well. They weren't overbearing in the sense that many books are ("ARE YOU GETTING THE METAPHOR YET???") which was a huge relief. It's always nice when an author recognizes her readers' intelligence.
The other characters were also amazing. Most of the secondary characters were well developed and were not cliches (the exception being Lindsey, but all things considered, it could've been worse). I didn't really care for Matt at first, but he grew on me as the story went on, and not in a "Oh my gosh he's so adorable I wanna date him" way. There was a lot more to him than I first thought, and that was gradually revealed to me [the reader] throughout the book. It served both the story and Matt's character very well.
Minor Spoiler:
The only complaint I have about this book is that some parts of the writing style bothered me. At some parts, I had trouble following the point of view, and there were a few instances where the description and language was a little too flowery. However, that did not detract from the content of the story in any way and I still wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested.
It has yet to cease to amaze me that so much incredible free content is available on iBook. Seriously, getting an iPhone is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Not only do I have my music, but I can also read a myriad of books without lugging them all around in my purse. I continually browse the iBook store for what's new, and I'm rarely disappointed. For the most part, I know what I like and what to avoid, which results in spectacular finds like A French Girl in New York.
Just the title hooked me immediately. I'm obsessed with living in NYC, and I love France. What could go wrong? Nothing! The first installment of the French Girl series is a genuinely warm-heated Cinderella tale that one cannot help but keep reading. Maude Laurent has not has an easy life living with her foster family in a small, provincial town in the North of France, but she is not willing to let that slow her down. She is blessed with a beautiful singing voice and a talent for piano, both which help her get discovered by a talent scout in a Parisian cafe. Adams does not undermine Maude's suffering, but she also does not over dramatize it. Maude rarely if ever ventures into woe-is-me territory, which keeps the novel light. The descriptions of both Paris and New York are so captivating that I get the urge to book a ticket to both places immediately. I loved Maude's relationship with the Baldwins, and the twist at the end was a nice touch if not a little too sugary. Despite cover appearances, plenty of drama occurs. There's mean girls, boys who break your heart, and cute songwriters. Ah, the songs! I loved all the lyrics. Props to Anna Adams or whoever wrote them (if she didn't) on that! It really made me want to be able to buy Maude's singles.
I really do not have any major concerns plot or character wise. Unlike many free publications, it was well-edited, leaving me with no small migraines due to grammar and punctuation mistakes. The only tiny thing that bugged me was some of Maude's backstory with her foster parents. Even in the end, I couldn't figure out their indifference or at least her foster father's. It didn't really make much sense, but seeing as it wasn't a huge storyline I'm not worrying about it.
I totally recommend A French Girl in New York! I can't wait to download the next one!
I just finished reading this book. I have to be honest I read a couple of chapters and I stopped because my impression of this book at that point was another Cinderella story. I decided to pick it up again and give it a second chance I am glad I did this story was sad at the beginning but later turn in a lovely story about a young girl that was mistreated by her foster parents and in her sadness and loneliness she discovered the love for music.
When she starts learning how to play she would play the piano and sing every chance she got to escape from her reality and began to dream big and as soon as she was eighteen she would run away.
Maude than took a risk. She lied to Her foster dad just so she can go to Paris with her teacher and classmates. Where little did she know her life would change and not only that she would also learn about her past.
Este livro é sobre uma adolescente chamada Maude Laurent que vive numa cidade francesa pequena Maude vive uma espécie de vida de Cinderela. É órfã, tratada como empregada doméstica e ama numa casa com dois gémeos de quem deveria cuidar, e pais adotivos que realmente não parecem importar-se com ela.. #CinderelaKindOfWay No meio de todo este trabalho, Maude passa algum tempo na biblioteca da cidade a praticar piano e canto.
Quando faz uma visita de estudo a Paris, Maude é filmada por um influencer quando é desafiada por este, num café. O video torna-se viral. e o talento de Maude é descoberto e recebe algumas propostas que a levam a Nova Iorque.
Um romance young adult que se lê bem e rápido e muito fofi.
A French Girl in New York is such a good book. It has descriptive language and follows all he way to the end. It really inspired me to become a musician. The author made me feel like I was really there. There is no part of this book I would change. The strengths of this book are the fact that it includes so much descriptive language and that readers can easily get hooked. I would definitely recommend this book to other classmates, especially if you are interested in becoming a musician. I loved this book so much I instantly bought the next book in the series. It is defiantly worth reading.
This was almost a Cinderella story in that regard, but with more grit, spirit, and determination. I liked Maude. She was humble and self-sacrificing, but also fierce and strong. This was a sweet contemporary, almost exactly what I was craving. As a performer, I found the reality/luck aspect a little thick, but that didn't take away my enjoyment of the book. Of course there was a cute love triangle, to be expected, but it played out well. The familial & career conflicts made a great backbone to the plot.