This book is an Advanced Reader's Edition, received for free, from a giveaway by Random House Reader's Circle.

ISBN: 9780345522771 Publisher: Ballantine/Random House Cover Price: $15.00

Synopsis quoted from back cover: " A single day in Paris changes the lives of three Americans as they each set off to explore the city with a French tutor, learning not just about language but also about love and loss as their lives intersect in surprising ways."

2 Beans Worth: That doesn't say much about the story, does it? Yet it really does say it all. However, you probably want more information than that, huh?

At the end of this book, you'll be saying, "I want French Lessons!" Though it does help just a touch if you already know some basics. Sadly, in the Advanced Reader's Edition, there were some French statements that were not translated. Luckily for this reader, there was a few years of HS French to fall back on. For those readers who didn't take French, if the translations are missing in later editions, you might not understand all that is being said.

But wait! There's more! Ha ha! You really don't have to know French to read the book. You can more than get the gist without those occasional statements. Sussman's French Lessons is the epitome of excellent writing. For example, a sympathetic adulteress definitely seems to be an oxymoron. Right? Yet Sussman pulls it off. You actually find yourself feeling sorry for her.

The biggest compliment you could give to Sussman is that she creates in you that desire to fall in love again. The need to feel that rush, that exhilaration just one more time. She's so eloquent with her words that it's almost possible to feel that initial falling-in-love-spark through the book.

However, don't think Sussman dresses it all with flowers and pretty words. 3 tutors, who are friends, take 3 Americans through the streets of Paris providing us with 3 stories that all intersect in some way. They show us that love is not simple, it's messy and complicated, and it's different for everyone. Some of them learn that sometimes you just have to lose or let go in order to win.

French Lessons is beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and endearing. Sussman will sweep you along with her words, right into the story as if you are actually there.