Whitney Curry is primed to have an epic semester abroad. She’s created the perfectitinerary and many, many to-do lists after collecting every detail possible about Paris, France. Thus, she anticipates a grand adventure filled with vintage boutiques, her idol Josephine Baker’s old stomping grounds, and endless plays sure to inspire the ones she writes and—ahem—directs!
But all is not as she imagined when she’s dropped off at her prestigious new Parisian lycée. A fish out of water, Whitney struggles to juggle schoolwork, homesickness, and mastering the French language. Luckily, she lives for the drama. Literally.
Cue French tutor Thierry Magnon, a grumpy yet très handsome soccer star, who’s determined to show Whitney the real Paris. Is this type-A theater nerd ready to see how lessons on the City of Lights can turn into lessons on love?
But all is not as she imagined when she’s dropped off at her prestigious new Parisian lycée. A fish out of water, Whitney struggles to juggle schoolwork, homesickness, and mastering the French language. Luckily, she lives for the drama. Literally.
Cue French tutor Thierry Magnon, a grumpy yet très handsome soccer star, who’s determined to show Whitney the real Paris. Is this type-A theater nerd ready to see how lessons on the City of Lights can turn into lessons on love?
Title: Love Requires Chocolate (Love in Translation)
Author: Ravynn K. Stringield
Publisher: Random House Children's
Expected Publication Date: August 20, 2025
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
When I read the description of this book, it reminded me of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I loved that book so I dove into this one with pretty high expectations.
The idea of high school kids studying abroad for a semester is not really one I'm familiar with. College, yes. High school, not really. But I went with it because it wasn't the first time I'd seen this theme and I'm sure it does happen. And for it to happen in the city of Paris, and while I'm watching the Olympics take place! How fortuitous.
I loved the idea of a book set in France. I've spent a bit of time in Paris and in the French countryside, as well as other famous towns in France, and I just didn't feel like I was in France during this story at all. I wanted to truly feel like I was in France, experiencing the culture, seeing the sites, feeling the magic of the city of Paris, but I just didn't feel it. Nor could I envision it.
Unfortunately, I had a really hard time connecting with an of the characters in this book. Whitney Curry came across to me as a little bit too worried about how she looked to be honest. I did love the idea of her exploring a person of color, especially a lady, who leant much to the entertainment community. But there was so much focus on what Whitney, or anyone else around her, was wearing. I just didn't understand the point of that. I really wanted to see Whitney grow and change but she remained consistent throughout with her personality. Kind of flighty, and a little self-absorbed. Don't get me wrong, I know teens can be like this, but I needed her to grow during the story while she learned about things in Paris and I just didn't see it happen.
As for the romantic love interest, I didn't feel the chemistry there at all. It just never grew and developed to feel real. I enjoy a good enemy to lovers story, which this sort of started out as. Or maybe a close proximity story line where the characters find things in common as they get to know each other and an attraction ensues. But that's not what was presented here. We went from Thierry, the male main character, being annoyed at having to teach Whitney French, to him wanting to spend all his time with her. There was no in-between. Speaking of learning French, when did that happen? Whitney mentions it but we never really see it happening. The two are always just out and about exploring Paris. I thought she was there for school? When did he go to school? It just seemed like this story would have been better suited to happen during the Summer at a program rather than during the school year.
And, while the plot revolves around her play she's creating to showcase the entertainer, you don't really see much of that happening. You do see her lists and what she wants to experience while in Paris. I am a sucker for a list, but they were parsed throughout the book with long bullet pointed sentences I only ended up scanning because after a while, I was bored with reading list.
Finally, her relationship with her roommates. I didn't see it. They never bonded. Did she try? Maybe a bit. But she was more focused on her lists, on Thierry, and on her play than to worry about cultivating relationships with the two girls with whom she shared a space. Having lived with two roommates my first year of college, I can tell you those were the most important relationships I had for the first few months while I was finding my bearings. But she doesn't seem to care enough to truly put herself out there to get to know them citing she feels like they possibly don't like her.
The pacing for me was a bit slow. And I didn't truly feel like I needed to know what happened. Mostly I just wanted to be done with it. And when it did end, it was very anticlimactic. There was no intensity drawing me to the end.
Was the story cute? Sure. Will young teens enjoy it? Possibly. I just think it's missing too many elements to make for the story it was meant to be. I don't see other books by this author so it seems it's her first and maybe in the future her stories will grow. The bones are there, but the execution was lacking.
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