I see London, I see France, I see Sydney’s underpants.
Nineteen-year-old Sydney has the perfect summer mapped out. She’s spending the next four and a half weeks traveling through Europe with her childhood best friend, Leela. Their plans include Eiffel-Tower selfies, eating cocco gelato, and making out with très hot strangers. Her plans do not include Leela’s cheating ex-boyfriend showing up on the flight to London, falling for the cheating ex-boyfriend’s très hot friend, monitoring her mother’s spiraling mental health via texts, or feeling like the rope in a friendship tug-of-war.
As Sydney zigzags through Amsterdam, Switzerland, Italy and France, she must learn when to hold on, when to keep moving, and when to jump into the Riviera … wearing only her polka-dot underpants.
I See London, I See France Review
We all know by now that I love contemporary books. When combined with travel, it’s usually a book that I’ll love. Heading into this book, I had really high hopes. But it ultimately fell a little flat.
I See London, I See France follows Sydney as she travels in Europe with her best friend. Some chaotic moments occur, but there’s also cute boys and great travel experiences!
Sarah Mlynowski has so much travel knowledge and puts a lot of detail into the book. It toally makes you feel like you’re travelling alongside the characters, which is great. It certainly gives me wanderlust!
One of the biggest reasons why I didn’t love this book is because of the characters. I just wasn’t overly invested. I wanted to love them, but they were just okay.
Sydney did start to grow on me though. I wasn’t a huge fan of her at the start of the book but as the book continued, I started to understand her character – especially her humour. Jackson is an enjoyable character at times and I enjoyed his relationship with Sydney. But major milestones of their relationship needed more detail.
On the other hand, I just really don’t like Leela. Her friendship with Sydney is just annoying and in general, I was just bothered by her. I think the characters are just okay in this book.
Another thing that fell flat to me is the ending. It feels super rushed – almost like it was done in three pages instead of a natural progression.
While I See London, I See France isn’t the book I hoped it would be, I’m glad I read it. The travel alone makes for an enjoyable experience. Overall, it wasn’t a waste of time, I just wish I got more out of it.
However, I do see myself trying out more books by Sarah Mlynowski in the future! We’ll see if I enjoy them a bit more!
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Favourite Quote
I’m like Edward sniffing out Bella. I’m a vampire. I can smell him in any room.
About the Author
Sarah was born in Montreal, Canada. After graduating with an honors degree in English literature from McGill University, she moved to Toronto to work for Harlequin Enterprises. While she never met Fabio, she used her romance publishing experiences to fuel her first novel Milkrun. Sarah’s books have been translated into twenty-nine languages and optioned to Hollywood. She now lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.
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