I never write reviews but after reading this book I feel so annoyed and disappointed that I feel compelled to.
I was initially on board with the premise: a young woman, a bit naive and sheltered, quits her degrading job and runs off to Paris for a bit of well-deserved adventure. But as I read on I felt increasingly confused as to why certain characters, subplots, and other choices ever made the final edit. I'm not sure how best to organize my thoughts so I'll just list them out as they come to me.
1. What exactly was the plot? What was the point? First we're led to believe it's about Molly, Malcolm and the Missing Disc, but that gets solved about half way through. Then it seems it might be about her relationship with Fabrice and learning about love, but that doesn't quite work out, either. Her relationship with her father was peripheral and unimportant until about halfway through, so it's hard to say that that was the main point of the story. It was really just a slapdash series of random appointments with no clear inciting incident or resolution. This kind of sequential narrative might be palatable if the main character learns something about the world or themselves over the course of their adventures, but that never really happened so it all seems a bit pointless.
2. Some things were a little too convenient. She meets a girl named Alicia who suddenly and without reason is willing to act as her best friend, shower her with fabulous clothes and do massive favors. Then she runs into her long lost father, a wonderfully kind family man, who just so happens to work in the medical field and was invited to her former employer's event in Paris. Fabrice's father Armand is a stand-in therapist for Molly and has a perfect job offer for her in London. Her mother just shows up in France...okay...All stories need a couple coincidences, sure, but it was too much for my taste.
3. Malcolm's chapters seemed really pointless. If he was significant enough to have several chapters told from his point of view, I would assume that eventually he and Molly would again cross paths, be forced to come to some kind of reconciliation, develop a hate-to-love relationship, SOMETHING. But those chapters basically served no purpose because after the handcuff incident, he doesn't show up again. The author certainly missed an opportunity for a confrontation between Molly and Malcolm.
4. The praise on the front cover compared the main character to Elle Woods and Bridget Jones, which was such an insult. Elle Woods is initially considered vapid by those around her but with hard-work and determination is able to prove to everyone and herself that she is strong, capable, intelligent, and worthy, and still maintains her "bounce and sparkle" throughout her trials and tribulations. Bridget Jones is a complete mess of course, but that's what makes her easy to relate to. She reflects on her screw-ups, admits her flaws, and stands up for herself, charming and witty all the while. Molly, on the other hand, was frustratingly naive, self-righteous, unfunny, and experienced almost no growth. I understand that maybe she (as well as Malcolm) were purposely written in such a way as to seem ridiculous to the reader (like Bridget or Rebecca Bloomwood from the Shopaholic series), but it's only funny if the characters are eventually faced with the truth/consequences of their actions and learn something, otherwise they continue to be ridiculous. That kind of realization seemed to barely happen for Molly, not at all for Malcolm.
4. We get it! Molly is an English major! She likes literature! This was one of the points that contributed to Molly seeming ridiculous: constantly quoting famous works to herself and others. It would have been nice if she had come to realize something, anything, meaningful about higher education, her favorite author, her beliefs, etc. Instead, she's a pretentious know-it-all to the end.
5. Molly came off as very shallow due to her "relationship" with Fabrice. He was a liar, a thief, an adulterer, spoiled, and out of touch, but Molly was willing to look past all of that because he was a gorgeous French artist. When he openly acts ashamed of her in front of friends and dumps her at the cafe, she just takes it. Another missed opportunity for an important confrontation. At the last second, Fabrice inexplicably changes his mind and tries to win her back. In the end she does turn down his invitation to stay longer in Paris, but only barely, and she does so grudgingly, and reminisces about him while on the train home, all undercutting her statement that she's "worth more." Doesn't really seem like she believed herself on that one.
6. Molly's relationship to her mother was a bit baffling. She spends a lot of time making it clear that her mother is a bit odd but lovable. Then she guiltily recounts two instances where she, Molly, purposefully hurt her mother because, well, she can. She feels guilty for her actions because she knows that all her mother has ever done is love and support her. However, when we finally meet her mother, she is describes as being selfish, air-headed, embarrassing, and we're supposed to somehow feel sorry for self-absorbed, mopey Molly? After the revelation about her father and how her mother didn't want him involved, I can understand feeling sorry for Molly in that situation, but again, that conflict never came to a head: no confrontation between Molly and her mother about her birth father, no heartfelt acknowledgement that they both must learn to be independent from each other after being just "Molly and Mom" for 21 years.
7. The writing was cheesy, and lazy in some parts. Cheesy example: something hardly funny would happen and Molly and Alicia would be slapping their thighs, gasping for breath, crying from laughing. Lazy: a chapter would end and the next would begin, skipping over some events that it seemed the author just couldn't be bothered to describe or would just summarize in a single sentence, which left me feeling disoriented and wondering why perfectly relevant bits kept being left out or lazily summarized.
I'm sure there's more I could add but I just can't exhaust any more of my energy thinking about this unsatisfying book. Obviously, I did not enjoy this reading experience and look forward to removing this book from my collection.