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The Room on Rue Amélie Kristin Harmel Books

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The Room on Rue Amélie Kristin Harmel Books

I read about a third of this clichéd, inane, flat-as-a-fritter romance and deleted it from my Kindle for fear it might infect far better books waiting to be read.

However, I read quite enough to say that the writing is turgid and formulaic romance fluff—Marcel and his endlessly chiseled/carved cheeks and shocks of dark hair and eyebrows, etc., is barf-inducing, and reeks of adolescent fantasies. As a “romantic” persona or haunted hero he’s as exciting as tofu. The main character, Ruby, is dumb and uninteresting, and her endless hand-wringing and doubts and all the other millimeter-deep emotions that plague her—and me—from start to finish make her singularly annoying. Then there is Charlotte, the eleven-year-old Jewish girl who is not only obligatory for these types of books but who also does not speak or act like a young girl. Besides, in that era most French Jews in and out of Paris did not give their children names like “Charlotte.” For that matter, neither did most non-Jewish Parisians.

What really bothered me most was the utterly risible depiction of the French Resistance. It was not a monolithic organization, or even very large. Yet the author wants us to think every third French man and woman was a member, carrying out desperate deeds 24/7 right under the noses of the Nazi occupational forces. Additionally, the war years seemed like nothing more than a convenient backdrop for all the allegedly “romantic” elements. There was nothing of what these years were really like in Paris, but then the author's version of Paris appears to be strictly from travel brochures rather than any degree of credible research. Thus I found nothing authentic in the setting, or the characters who had the misfortune to inhabit this Harlequin Goes to War world.

In sum, this tale is a veritable mash-up of every character and plot device from platoons of Bad WWII Books, a miasma of tired tropes already done to death by equally untalented scribblers. And too many of these writers apparently think that WWII is an acceptable backdrop for a True Romance, and the horrors of that war barely touch the overheated skin of the lovers, or indeed anyone else. Quite the travesty, that. But if your tastes run to this sort of overwrought and diabetic-coma inducing nonsense masquerading as historical fiction and painfully trying to cash in on much better books in this genre, read on. I had far better things to do with my time than to finish this Hot Mess.


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The Room on Rue Amélie Kristin Harmel Books Reviews

Beautifully written...I read this book with a hunger. A hunger to see and feel people doing good things for others. A hope for a return to kindness and caring....regardless of the language we speak or the color of our skin. Kudos to you, Kristin Harmel! Looking forward to more of your awesome writing! 😘 Debbie Rich
The Room on Rue Amelie tells the story of what happened to many British and some American pilots whose airplanes were shot down while flying missions over France in the Second World War. Through valiant and self-sacrificing efforts by French citizens the pilots were rescued, given shelter and medical care and then led back to England by means of secret escape routes that involved the coordinated efforts of many participants. The story's narrator is a young American woman living in Paris, whose husband is executed by the Germans after they discover he had been participating in the rescue efforts of the downed pilots. She ends up carrying on the work of the escape lines and saving the life of a Jewish girl whom she shelters. What I liked about the book was that it didn't paint a homogeneous, good-guys/bad guys picture of the French or the Germans, but allowed for depictions of decent and cruel people on both sides of the war. But more than anything else, I liked that the book described a little-known chapter of WWII - the inspiring story of the escape lines.
World War Two began as I was approaching adulthood. It claimed the life of my only brother; thus, I have read many books on it. However, I had never read one describing the occupation of a city or country. I found this one intriguing and enjoyed it very much.
I absolutely loved this novel. Always heartfelt and sometimes heartbreaking, it’s the story of an American woman who moves to Paris with her new French husband, just in time for the Nazis’ infiltration during World War II. She discovers that her husband isn’t the man he thought he was; but she also discovers she’s not the woman she thought she was. She proves that with compassion and courage, one person can make a mark on history—and better yet, a difference in the lives of those lucky enough to find her. A touching story about friendship, survival, and becoming a hero. Five stars but wish I could give more.
The period of 1939 in Paris was a compendium of many outlooks Fear, Hope and Confidence that the City of Lights and all of France would somehow evade the coming Nazi threat.
The resident of the apartments on Rue Amelie are a varied group. Ruby is the protagonist, an American, and married to a rather nasty fellow named Marcel Benoit. Marcel is engaged in a clandestine effort to help downed RAF pilots to escape France and return to England so they can fly again. Ruby undertakes this hazardous duty when Marcel goes permanently missing. Ruby’s neighbors are a Jewish family, the Dachers, one of whom is a teen girl named Charlotte. When the gestapo take the parents away for “relocation,” Ruby becomes a proxy mother to Charlotte.
The situation becomes ever more complicated when a downed RAF pilot named Thomas shows up at Ruby’s doorstep. She takes him in, hides him, and helps with his escape and return to England. During Thomas’s brief stay, he and Ruby fall in love and vow that they shall be together again on some fine day.
This is a beautiful story and there are many poignant events which occur with the war’s backdrop during the early 1940s. You will become very familiar and sympathetic with the characters in this story as they try to evade the Germans so they can live to fight another day. There are many bright spots along the way but, as is always the case in a massive war involving millions of innocent civilians, you’ll encounter several tragic but realistic events which our characters will endure. I was close to tears near the end of this book and I’ll wager that you will be as well.A
I read about a third of this clichéd, inane, flat-as-a-fritter romance and deleted it from my for fear it might infect far better books waiting to be read.

However, I read quite enough to say that the writing is turgid and formulaic romance fluff—Marcel and his endlessly chiseled/carved cheeks and shocks of dark hair and eyebrows, etc., is barf-inducing, and reeks of adolescent fantasies. As a “romantic” persona or haunted hero he’s as exciting as tofu. The main character, Ruby, is dumb and uninteresting, and her endless hand-wringing and doubts and all the other millimeter-deep emotions that plague her—and me—from start to finish make her singularly annoying. Then there is Charlotte, the eleven-year-old Jewish girl who is not only obligatory for these types of books but who also does not speak or act like a young girl. Besides, in that era most French Jews in and out of Paris did not give their children names like “Charlotte.” For that matter, neither did most non-Jewish Parisians.

What really bothered me most was the utterly risible depiction of the French Resistance. It was not a monolithic organization, or even very large. Yet the author wants us to think every third French man and woman was a member, carrying out desperate deeds 24/7 right under the noses of the Nazi occupational forces. Additionally, the war years seemed like nothing more than a convenient backdrop for all the allegedly “romantic” elements. There was nothing of what these years were really like in Paris, but then the author's version of Paris appears to be strictly from travel brochures rather than any degree of credible research. Thus I found nothing authentic in the setting, or the characters who had the misfortune to inhabit this Harlequin Goes to War world.

In sum, this tale is a veritable mash-up of every character and plot device from platoons of Bad WWII Books, a miasma of tired tropes already done to death by equally untalented scribblers. And too many of these writers apparently think that WWII is an acceptable backdrop for a True Romance, and the horrors of that war barely touch the overheated skin of the lovers, or indeed anyone else. Quite the travesty, that. But if your tastes run to this sort of overwrought and diabetic-coma inducing nonsense masquerading as historical fiction and painfully trying to cash in on much better books in this genre, read on. I had far better things to do with my time than to finish this Hot Mess.