Book Review | VANESSA YU’S MAGICAL PARIS TEA SHOP by Roselle Lim

Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim
Publication: August 4, 2020
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Romance, Magical Realism
Rating: ★★★★

Become enamored with the splendor of Paris in this heartwarming and delightful story about writing one’s own destiny and finding love along the way.

Vanessa Yu never wanted to see people’s fortunes—or misfortunes—in tea leaves. -Goodreads

VANESSA YU’S MAGICAL PARIS TEA SHOP is my first taste of Roselle Lim, and I am pleased by her simple, charming writing style. I am sorry that it took me a few tries before I finally dipped myself into reading this. The extravagance in its contents is a bit overwhelming for me to fully digest, given the current pandemic and the limitations of travel. All the same, Lim executed a delightful story filled with familial love, hope, and redemption.

Vanessa Yu never wanted to be a clairvoyant. It brought her nothing but frustration, embarrassment, and migraines.  She cannot even get a decent date because of her gift. She is desperate to gain control over it. So, off to Paris, she goes with her Aunt Evelyn to get her long-overdue clairvoyance lessons.

This marrying of East and West is adorable. On the one hand, Lim dealt us with the family and values that are snug and protective. On the other, she showed us a vast world that is both challenging and captivating. Indeed, postcards and textbooks cannot give Paris justice. One has to experience it in its real glory. However, Lim offered the next best thing. She brought Paris to life by displaying its culture -food, fashion, art, and people. And her description is nothing less of scrumptious. One cannot help but fall in love.

In the center of all the clairvoyance, cultures, and challenges is a young woman finding her way into herself and love.

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About the Author:

Roselle Lim was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada as a child. She lived in north Scarborough in a diverse, Asian neighborhood.

She found her love of writing by listening to her lola (paternal grandmother's) stories about Filipino folktales. Growing up in a household where Chinese superstition mingled with Filipino Catholicism, she devoured books about mythology, which shaped the fantasies in her novels.

An artist by nature, she considers writing as "painting with words."

*August Romance
*Thanks to Berkley and Edelweiss for the galley in exchange for this unbiased review.
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