city of love series
foreign editions
Kissed in Paris
About the book (City of Love, Book 2)
When event planner Chloe Turner wakes up penniless and without a passport in the Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris, she only has a few fleeting memories of Claude, the suave French man who convinced her to have that extra glass of wine…before taking all of her possessions and slipping out the door. As the overly organized, go-to gal for her drama queen younger sisters, her anxiety-ridden father, and her needy clients, Chloe is normally prepared for every disaster that comes her way. But with her wedding to her straitlaced, lawyer fiancé back in DC only days away and a French con-man on the loose with her engagement ring, this is one catastrophe she never could have planned for.
As Chloe tries to figure out a way home, she runs into an even bigger problem: the police are after her due to suspicious activity now tied to her bank account. Chloe’s only hope at retrieving her passport and clearing her name lies in the hands of Julien, a rugged, undercover agent who has secrets of his own.
As Chloe follows this mysterious, and—although she doesn’t want to admit it—sexy French man on a wild chase through the sun-kissed countryside of France, she discovers a magical world she never knew existed. And she can’t help but wonder if the perfectly ordered life she’s built for herself back home is really what she wants after all…
inspiration for KISSED in paris
If you’ve ever seen the movie French Kiss starring Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline, then you know where the seed of inspiration came from for this book! I loved the idea of the unsuspecting American woman being taken by a French conman, but I wanted to do something very different with that premise. I wanted to weave in more mystery, intrigue, romance, and a bit of a chase!
In the case of Chloe Turner, I wanted to create a character who was very different from Charlotte, the leading lady in my first novel, Sleeping with Paris. Where Charlotte is bold and spontaneous and spicy, Chloe is reserved, organized, and uptight. I see myself as more of a Charlotte in life, but I do have some of Chloe’s characteristics as well—I am always overly-prepared for everything. When I pack for a trip, it takes days. Chloe is like this too—her family calls her “Just-in-Case Chloe” because she always has everything ready to go, just in case; I can identify. Chloe is a rule-follower, as am I (to some extent).
So I decided to take this organized, uptight rule-follower, and throw her into a wild situation in Paris: waking up to find that all of her belongings—passport and engagement ring included—had been stolen, and the only man she can trust to help her is a mysterious and sexy undercover cop who leads her on a wild goose chase around France. I knew it would take a situation this insane to shake up Chloe’s world and get her out of her head, so that she could finally begin to live from her heart.
The head vs. heart struggle is a big one for me—should I do the rational thing that seems to make sense on the outside, or should I follow my heart and do the thing that would make me truly happy, no matter what anyone else thinks? We all have to answer this question at different points throughout our lives, and I hope that in reading Chloe’s journey through France to find her missing ring and passport—and ultimately herself—that my readers will take a look into their own hearts and see what parts of themselves have been missing. Perhaps reading Chloe’s story will give you the courage to go find it.