Book Review: Lost and Found in Paris by Lian Dolan

Lost and Found in Paris




by Lian Dolan
Publication Date April 5, 2022
Published by HarperCollins
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Genres: Fiction / Family Life / Marriage & Divorce, Fiction / Friendship, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Amateur Sleuth, Fiction / Romance / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Women
Pages: 320
Format: ARC

***I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.***

"Fast-paced and colorful, with hints of The Goldfinch and Malibu Rising, and more than one pitch-perfect love story—Lost And Found In Paris sparkles like the City of Light itself and will have you flipping the pages quickly as you're drawn deeply into its mysterious world of art, intrigue, and redemption." -- Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names 

The ultimate escapist adventure in Paris, told with wit, style, and a touch of intrigue, by the popular and dynamic author of The Sweeney Sisters.

Joan Blakely had an unconventional childhood: the daughter of a globe-trotting supermodel and a world-famous artist. Her artist father died on 9/11, and Joan—an art historian by training—has spent more than a decade maintaining his legacy. Life in the art world is beginning to wear on her—and then one fateful afternoon her husband drops a bombshell: he’s fathered twins with another woman.

Furious but secretly pleased to have a reason to blow up her life, Joan impulsively decides to get out of town, booking a last-minute trip to Paris as an art courier: the person museums hire to fly valuable works of art to potential clients, discreetly stowed in their carry-on luggage. Sipping her champagne in business-class, she chats up her seatmate, Nate, a good-looking tech nerd who invites her to dinner in Paris. He doesn’t know she’s carrying drawings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But after a romantic dinner and an even more romantic night together, Joan wakes up next to her new lover to discover the drawings gone. Even more shocking is what’s been left in their place: a sketch from her father’s journals, which she thought had been lost when he died on 9/11, and a poem that reads like a treasure hunt.

With Nate as a sidekick, Joan will follow the clues all over Paris—from its grand cathedrals to the romantic bistros to the twisty side streets of Monmarte—hoping to recover the lost art, and her own sense of adventure. What she finds is even better than she’d expected.

Lost and Found in Paris by Lian Dolan is a mystery, set in the exclusive art world of Paris, and it’s so much more than just a mystery.  It’s a story of one woman’s journey to find herself and find out what matters most.  

Joan Blakely is the only child of a world-famous artist and a supermodel.  Joan works as an art history scholar in a museum in Los Angeles.  Her father, an artist specializing in light and lighting exhibitions, died on 9/11 and lost all his notebooks during the airline crash.  Her mother, once a supermodel, now lives a quiet life in Ojai, California.  

Joan learns that her husband of ten years has not been faithful and in fact has fathered twin boys with another woman.  Needing a change, Joan decides to take an assignment with the museum as an art courier to take some valuable drawings to a museum in Paris.  Soon after she arrives in Paris, she realizes the drawings were stolen out of her hotel room and she embarks on a twisty, scavenger hunt through Paris in order to find the drawings before the museum finds out.  She learns more about her famous parents, and herself as she travels around Paris, searching for the missing drawings. 

I sure enjoyed this book.  The characters were well developed and I was rooting for Joan throughout the book.  I loved how she grew through the journey and realized she is far more capable than she realized and her ex-husband was leaning on her too much and not allowing her to live her life.  There is a side romance, but most of the story is about Joan, her discovery of herself, and the legacy of her famous parents. 

I truly felt like I was traveling around Paris with Joan.  The author has an excellent knowledge of the city, and this made the journey so much fun for the reader.  The mystery of the stolen drawings add a bit of adventure to the story and had me stumped until the reveal at the end of the book.  

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys women’s fiction.  I received a complimentary copy of this book.  The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

About Lian Dolan

Lian Dolan is a writer, producer and broadcaster. She is the author of three bestselling novels, Helen of Pasadena and Elizabeth the First Wife. Her latest book, The Sweeney Sisters, arrives in paperback in April 2021 from William Morrow. Two decades ago, Lian created Satellite Sisters, an award-winning radio talk show, blog and website with her four real sisters. Satellite Sisters is now a top-rated podcast for women. Lian is also the co-author of Satellite Sisters UnCommon Senses and You're the Best: A Celebration of Friendship. . Her writing has appeared in many national magazines, including regular columns in O, The Oprah Magazine and Working Mother. She is currently a regular columnist for Pasadena Magazine. TV appearances have included The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning and The Oprah Winfrey Show. She is a popular speaker for groups and corporations, always using humor as hook.She lives in Pasadena, CA with her husband a her German shepherd Steffi. She has two grown sons who live on their own-- and that's just fine.

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