Carole's Monday. The black swan of Paris

Author: Karen Robards

Title: The Black Swan of Paris

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Format: ebook

Pages: 480

Published: June 30th 2020 

Where I Got It: Borrowed from the library

Summary: 

Paris, 1944

Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and a smokescreen. An unwilling darling of the Nazis, the chanteuse’s position of privilege allows her to go undetected as an ally to the resistance.

When her estranged mother, Lillian de Rocheford, is captured by Nazis, Genevieve knows it won’t be long before the Gestapo succeeds in torturing information out of Lillian that will derail the upcoming allied invasion. The resistance movement is tasked with silencing her by any means necessary—including assassination. But Genevieve refuses to let her mother become yet one more victim of the war. Reuniting with her long-lost sister, she must find a way to navigate the perilous cross-currents of Occupied France undetected—and in time to save Lillian’s life

Review:

I wanted to read this last year when I first heard about it. Gotta love spies and WWII and sticking it to the Nazis. It's my turn to pick for book club so I decided to make everyone read this one ;) hehehehe.

Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and a smokescreen. She is an unwilling darling of the Nazis, but this gives her access to information to give to the resistance. When her estranged mother, Lillian de Rocheford, is captured by the Nazis for being a spy herself. Genevieve knows she doesn't have long to save her mother before the Gestapo succeeds in getting vital information out of Lillian. The resistance movement is tasked with saving or killing Lillian themselves. Teaming up with her estranged sister they must find a way to save their mother. 

My goodness, I felt so bad for Genevieve. Poor thing has had a bad time. Losing her child....losing her folks.....being forced to smile and flirt with nasty Nazis....and now it is up to her to face her past and save her mom.

We did have a romance here between our heroine and Max. They work together and had a fling a while back, but they find themselves falling for each other again. Honestly, I'm glad the romance didn't take over the story. Our main focus is Genevieve and her mission. I didn't like Max at all until near the end. I couldn't get over how he used her and dragged her into this crappy spy world. He does get better and actually proves himself. 

Now, I did struggle to get into this story. It took me until about chapter 4 or chapter 5 to really get into this. I'll admit I was confused by our characters. Who is who and what was really going on. It was a slow take-off, but once things got going I literally finished in just a couple of sittings then. So be patient with this...it takes a minute. 

I was on the edge of my seat for sure. I had NO idea what was going to happen!! ARE they even going to save Lillian? How? When? Who is going to survive!!?? Gah. I had to read this as fast as possible to find out. 

In the end, it took me a bit to really get into the story. It was a slow take-off, but then I couldn't put it down. I had to know what was going to happen. I enjoyed this and I hope it is made into a movie one day. If you are looking for a good WWII tale with spies and a sprinkle of romance. I'll stamp this with 4 stars.