Honestly, I am going to say that if Kelly could dial back the number of side characters she introduces in her books, these would be five star reads to me every single time.

I loved the idea of the people closet to a newly engaged couple starting to think about their own lives, marriages, divorces, or in one person's case, singledom. But once again Kelly throws in a baker with a tragic story, her new romance and his ex wife. It didn't fit this book at all and it kept dragging me out of the reading to go back to that character and the other characters in her story. In the end they (baker, boyfriend, ex-wife, and stepkids) all fell out of the story with an almost audible thump.

The book shifts leads throughout, but I would say the main characters are Leila (Katy's best friend), Vonnie (a baker from America that has moved to Ireland) and Grace (Michael's mother). One of these characters is not like the others. As I said above, Vonnie the baker and her entire story-line could have been cut. I don't know why we didn't just include more about Leila's sister actually.

"It Started With Paris" begins with Michael proposing to his long time girlfriend Katy at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Weirdly though the book decides to start focusing on Katy's best friend Leila and her subsequent heartbreak from her husband leaving her for another woman. I have to say that it took me a while to even realize the connection between Katy and Leila since Kelly doesn't come right out and say it. I was baffled.

Leila besides still reeling from her husband's betrayal is realizing that she has not been present for her sister or her mother for a very long time. Her older sister is a single mom and is struggling with trying to handle everything. When Leila's mom is in a bad car accident, her sister just throws up her hands and tells her she needs to deal with things, she's over it.

Grace is a school principal who is now starting to regret choosing her work over her husband 15 years ago.

Vonnie who fell in love with the perfect man and lost him, is struggling to deal with a new romance that is causing her all kinds of angst.

The book jumps around to so many other characters that I don't think I can list them all. We get Leila's boss's POV, Leila's husband, Grace's ex-husband's POV, Grace's ex's current long time partner's POV, etc. It just got to be too much.

The writing I thought was really good and I did enjoy the book enough to finish it. But I can see why so many people DNFed it. You can't really follow a character straight through since you are jumping back and forth so much.

The ending was a bit of a letdown. As I said, Vonnie's story ends abruptly, we never get a feeling for Leila's sister at all and the way she is portrayed makes her into some kind of harpy. We don't get to see the repercussions to Katy's parent's marriage, I still don't get what Michael's sister Fiona's deal was. I could go on.

I think if Kelly is going to write books like this, it may make sense to have characters make appearances in her future books like Maeve Binchy started to do. It just feels like you are checking in with the people so you can feel like you get to keep reading their story. ( )

I first chose this book because of the author and the Eiffel Tower, believing it was a Paris novel. I am so excited to say how extremely happy I feel about my being wrong! It was a book about numerous families: divorced parents of two newly engaged kids (Hmmmmm.....wonder WHERE they got engaged!), and a family of the mom of the bridesmaids and their family statuses. I could identify with parts of each and every woman. That is what I liked most about the book.

The book takes you along with the day to day struggles that most families face. I believe every woman can identify with at least one person in the book. All the characters are great ones! Ms. Cathy Kelly is not an international bestseller for nothing!!! She is an outstandingly great author who really understands women! I loved this book.

Thank you Ms. Kelly and Library Thing for giving me a free copy of this book to read and give my honest review. ( )

This is a typical Cathy Kelly. You can pretty much guess each characters storyline and where they'll end up, as soon as you start reading. No surprises along the way, just an easy read for when you don't feel like thinking too much. I had to put it down several times because I got bored. Not horrible .. not great...

In one of the most romantic opening chapters ever, a young couple gets engaged on the Eiffel Tower. Their families and friends back in Ireland are thrilled for them because these two have been in love since childhood. But as everyone prepares for their wedding they begin to examine their own love stories—some with those not-so-happy endings.

There are a bunch of interesting characters, and it did take me awhile to connect who knew who, and where they fit in the story, but I really enjoyed the way their stories came together. I found myself thinking about my own relationship and those of my extended family, and felt many of the same emotions they were going through. This is a great read for anyone getting married, married, and divorced, or a single mother. I am giving It Started in Paris 4 stars. ( )

I really expected to be swept away by this book. First off, it starts in Paris with a proposal made atop the Eiffel Tower! Instead of the story being about the up-coming nuptials, it lolled on broken hearted, guilt-ridden, bitter women who are somehow related to the bride & groom-to-be.

It Started With Paris, written by Cathy Kelley, was pleasant... if I'd wanted to read about every day, boring lives! It was dull and I found myself forgetting who people were, due to so many introduced! I wasn't sure who I was supposed to care about for a while. One time, I started an entire chapter over, just to make sure it was about who and what I thought it was about.

I love romance and especially in a book that takes place in Europe, but this one was not my cup of tea. Other than the prologue, there wasn't much romance. It was nicely written and I loved imagining the shoppes and homes of Brookside and the areas named in the book, but as for the story, it just wasn't good. And though there is a lot of sadness, anger, frustration, cheating and divorcing going on, there was resolution, solutions and even a couple of happy couples in the end. It may have started with Paris, but it ended with my disappointment. ( )