Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: A Position in Paris 
AUTHOR: Megan Reddaway
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 213 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 20, 2018
BLURB:
Paris, 1919. World War One is over, and wounded hero James Clarynton is struggling to face life without one leg, one eye, and the devilish good looks he had before the conflict. Now he must pay for affection, and it leaves him bitter. He’s filling the time by writing a book—but it’s the young man who comes to type it who really intrigues him.
Edmund Vaughan can’t turn down the chance to be secretary to the wealthy James Clarynton. He’s been out of work since the armistice, and his mother and brother depend on him. But he has secrets to hide, and the last thing he wants is an employer who keeps asking questions.
As they work together, their respect for each other grows, along with something deeper. But tragedy threatens, and shadows from the past confront them at every turn. They must open their hearts and trust each other if they are to break down the barriers that separate them.
REVIEW:
After the loss of his leg and eye in the Great War, James Clarynton is convinced that he is useless. If it wasn’t for a sympathetic relative who left him a sizable inheritance James would be just another of the poor men left with nothing but their wounds and regrets. But all the money in Paris cannot chase away the lingering depression. In an attempt to grasp some meaning, he sets out to write a book. But with his injuries he will require a secretary to do the actual writing. On the recommendation of a friend he hires the mysterious Edmund Vaughan…who might just hold the very answer to all of James’ problems.
I think the first thing I should say in this review is that the story uses a narrative framing device that I don’t care for at all. I have a hard time really getting into books where the story is told as a series of letters or diary entries. And here both James and Edmund tell their side of the story thru their journals. While I found the actual scenes they retell to be well written, the story overall suffered from the drawbacks of this narrative method.
Mainly that there was a lot of telling in this story. Especially in regards to the romance. Instead of seeing both characters fall in love, they kinda just declare it, out of nowhere. It was hard to buy their feelings for each other because we don’t really get to see the changes they go through. Edmund does this a lot. He tends to not only declare his state of being out of nowhere, but he to change his mind on the turn of a dime. It was incredibly jarring, and at times confusing.
Not that this book was all bad. I enjoyed the setting, and the characters all had enough of a flair to make them enjoyable to read. And while I was a little confused as to why all these English people had a distinctly French mode of speaking, it did a good job of selling 1919 Paris. A bit more Hollywood 1919 Paris than I would have preferred, but still very entertaining. I would have loved to have more historical aspects filter into the main plot, but I was happy with what we were given nonetheless.
I think people who don’t find this narrative form as cumbersome as I do will have an easier time with this one. I just never got so wrapped up in the story that I was able to ignore it. This is a good story, that just didn’t work for me as well as I had wanted. Things were a little rough at times, but I still found it worth reading.
RATING: 
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