Review: Finding Paris by Joy Preble

Let’s pretend that your sister leaves you at a diner without your wallet/phone/car at three in the morning. She didn’t leave you all alone. She couldn’t possibly be that mean. No, she left you with a dude you just met and a very cryptic note telling you that you have to find her. What would you do? Would you call 911? Borrow a cellphone to call your parents? Or would you let that stranger-dude help you solve your sister’s crazy scavenger hunt? I’ll give you a second to guess what our beloved main character, Leo, ends up doing. Did you guess the nonsensical/irrational/unsafe option? Good job. Now, Leo is not immune from the dangers of the world. She knows trusting a complete stranger to drive her around in the middle of the night is not safe. She even questions his motives and the like. This doesn’t stop her from trusting him, though. Her doubts don’t even stop her from taking him to her house. HER HOUSE. Because that’s what smart, young women do.

Call me old-fashioned but I think there’s something wrong here.  I’m not even buying the she-doesn’t-have-anybody-else-in-the-world-but-the-handsome-stranger crap because I don’t have a lot of friends, but I still wouldn’t get in a stranger’s car OR go on a road trip with said stranger because who does that? Seriously?

But wait! It gets better. Our beloved Leo is soooo concerned about her sister’s wellbeing that she still manages to think about kissing that random dude she just met. Because people think about making out when their loved ones are missing and/or in danger. Insta-love for the win. I don’t know if you can tell but I’m a bit angry.

The big reveal is slightly shocking, but at that point of the book I was more annoyed than intrigued. Is it heartbreaking? Sure, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. It doesn’t explain why her sister used the worst way to handle a delicate problem or why she chose to create such a big commotion when she could’ve handled it in a more grown-up way. I don’t even feel bad for not feeling bad. My range of emotions goes from angry to very angry because of this book so don’t blame me.

I guess something kept me reading until the end. Masochism, perhaps?  I wish I had a physical copy so I could throw it at that guy that keeps trying to sell me cable. Now THAT is an appropriate way to handle a stranger.