A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable

    I cannot recommend this book. 

All too often I end up reading books that I don't feel I can recommend on this blog. You know, when you are a reader, you run into the really good ones as well as the really not-so-good ones. And generally I don't post the not-so-good ones at all. But I feel kind of conflicted about that: To me this blog should be about good books that one could recommend to anyone. You've probably noticed that from time to time I do post books that I cannot fully recommend as "good books"--sometimes I overlook the yucky stuff if I really like the book (I know, I know.). But there are quite a number of books that I don't post because I can't recommend them at all as "good books". But! I do think it's useful to post reviews of books that I don't recommend--negative reviews can be just as useful as positive reviews, don't you think? I know that when I look up product (or book) reviews I read a bunch of the positive stuff, but I also make sure to read a lot of the negative reviews too. It helps me get what I hope is a balanced perspective. SO, from now on I'll post books that I've read and wished I hadn't, I'll post books I read and liked but can't wholly recommend, and I'll post books that I started but couldn't finish because they were objectionable to me. And, of course, I'll continue to post the books that are unobjectionable--some better than others, of course, but all "clean".

     This book falls in the "books that I've read and wished I hadn't" category.

    The premise of this book was a good one: April Vogt, Continental furniture specialist and employee of Sotheby's New York auction house, is summoned to Paris to evaluate an apartment full of valuable furniture and artwork.  On her first day in the apartment, April also discovers the journal of the apartment's owner--renowned courtesan Marthe de Florian. She (April) begins to read it to establish provenance for the many valuable pieces in the apartment (especially the life-size painting of our courtesan), but quickly becomes fascinated with Marthe and her story.

     Sounds good, doesn't it? But it was really just a series of sad and dirty stories. April's husband cheats on her. She cheats on him (with a guy who is cheating on his girlfriend). Marthe sleeps with everyone and schemes in every way she can think of to get money. It was a book full of amoral people and distasteful choices. No happy endings here. A very "modern" book. I was disappointed.  Give it a pass if you prefer your stories uplifting and clean.

Sex: Yup. No titillating scenes, though. This wasn't a romance.

Bad language: yup.