Have you seen the Netflix series Emily in Paris? We both binge-watched the first three seasons and were inspired to find books like Emily in Paris, and we are eagerly awaiting season four. In our list of book recommendations, you’ll find a great selection of books with similar vibes to the series.
Emily is a 20-something junior associate at a Chicago marketing firm, and she’s eager to earn a promotion. Everything changes overnight when her boss becomes pregnant and can no longer travel to Paris for a long-term assignment integrating a chic French marketing agency into their company.
Emily is asked to take her place and jumps at the chance to move to France for a year. She lands in France, dreaming of Paris stereotypes and the perfect job. Her new apartment has an amazing view, and comes with an amazing man living one floor below her. Gabriel is a chef and has instant chemistry with Emily after their meet-cute. However, Emily left a boyfriend at home in Chicago, so Gabriel is off-limits.
In the office, Emily quickly realizes how much of a barrier it will be that she doesn’t speak French. On top of that, this agency specializes in high fashion. Her experience is only with pharmaceutical companies and senior living homes.
The series follows Emily on her Parisian adventures in the office, as she makes new friends, and as she tries to find love. The first two seasons are available for streaming now on Netflix.
Will There Be a Season 4 of Emily in Paris?
The release date for Season 4 of Emily and Paris has been announced! Unlike past seasons when all episodes dropped on the same date, Season 4 will be released in two parts. Part 1 will drop on August 15, 2004, and Part 2 will drop on September 12, 2004.
Is there an Emily in Paris book?
Not exactly – the story was not based on a book. However, after the show was such a success, an Emily in Paris-inspired cookbook was published. You’ll find it below in the book list, and it would make an excellent holiday gift for any fans of Emily in Paris.
Ten years ago, Thea spent a magical year in Paris in a work-study program at Nanine Laurent’s restaurant. She lived with five roommates, and though they were the unlikeliest of friends, they became her found family.
She returned home to America with dreams of opening her own boulangerie, but she got lost somewhere along the way. Thea’s romantic, elegant pastries, which are in stark contrast to how dull her life has become.
When she gets a call that Nanine has fallen ill, she knows it’s time to finally return to Paris. With the help of her former roommates, she’ll work to get Nanine’s restaurant back on track. Recognizing that Thea also needs help, the roommates give her a much-needed makeover and help her find romance.
When a great opportunity arises back in the US, will Thea leave Paris behind once again?
The Book Girls Say…
This romance novel is described as Emily in Paris meets Friends, and it doesn’t get much better than that! Emily has created a family around her in Paris, and we can’t wait to get to know Thea’s found Parisian family as well.
This is the first in a new series that promises a book for each roommate.
In the Emily in Paris series, moving to Paris alone was a big step for Emily, but she really starts to find her footing in the city when she befriends Mindy, an adventurous and outgoing ex-Pat from Shanghai. Like Emily in Paris, One Summer in Paris also features a strong female friendship.
Grace planned a surprise romantic getaway to Paris for her and her husband’s 25th wedding anniversary, but instead, she’s the one who is surprised – he wants a divorce. Despite her heartbreak, she boldly decides to go to Paris alone.
Audrey is a young woman from London who has taken a job in a Paris bookshop, despite not speaking the language, in hopes of recovering from her own heartache.
The two live in neighboring apartments above the bookstore. Grace can’t believe how daring Audrey is. Audrey can’t believe how cautious newly single Grace is. But they soon discover that their friendship might be exactly what they each need.
Nina Hadley is tired of her three older brothers bossing her around, so she’s ready to make a big change. When she has an opportunity to help run a patisserie course in France, she can’t jump on a plane fast enough.
However, her fresh start comes with some old baggage. The owner of the patisserie is Sebastian, whom Nina has had a crush on since they were teenagers. He’s still her brother Nick’s best friend, making the potential workplace romance even stickier.
That said, there is more to this book than the romance. Like Emily in Paris, Nina meets an eclectic group of new friends as she learns to navigate life in France.
This book incorporates everything we love about Emily in Paris – fashion, food, friends, sightseeing, and, of course, romance!
After an awkward situation with her London flatmate, Cat Parsons needs a little space. On a whim, she books a two-week, eight-country European tour. First stop – Paris! When she sets out to explore Paris with her new friends, the last thing she expects is to bump into an old friend. Cat isn’t looking for romance… in fact, she’s actively looking to avoid it. But this handsome Frenchman proves hard to resist.
This rom com serves up not only a swoon-worthy romance, but also a wonderful story of the ups and downs of friendships. All of the characters are well-developed and realistically flawed, giving this fun, escapist read a bit more depth.
The Book Girls Say…
This is the second book in the Holiday Romance series, but it reads as a standalone with different characters. Only a portion of the book takes place in Paris, but it’s filled with vibrant descriptions of the sights and sounds of each city they visit, and we promise that it will fill the Emily in Paris void in your life until season 3 is released!
If you enjoy the writing style of this book, Angela recommends that you pick up the rest of the series. Books 1 and 3 feature Cat’s sister Sarah. Book 4 follows one of Cat’s friends on her own adventures. The fifth and final book in the series, A Wedding in Tuscany, returns to Cat’s story as we see what comes next for her.
Mia is an actress who always seems to be in love on screen, but is stuck with a philandering megastar husband off screen. She needs a break from her life, so she gets a new haircut, fake glasses, and a job as a waitress across the English Channel in Paris.
American author Paul is also in Paris, trying to recapture the fame of his first novel. He meets Mia when his best friend sets them up through a dating website. The ex-pat duo is continuously nudged together by Paris, but they are fighting back with strategies to stay “just friends.” Will fate overcome their efforts to avoid a relationship?
This struggle to avoid chemistry reminds us of Emily’s early efforts to resist Gabriel.
The Book Girls Say…
Some of you may recognize French author Mark Levy from his most popular work, The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury (also titled The Strange Journey of Mr. Daldry).
Merry’s life began to spiral when her sister married her best friend, who also happened to be the only man she’s ever loved. Desperate for an escape plan, Merry eagerly accepts an opportunity to take a three-month holiday to a castle in the French countryside.
She has visions of mouthwatering pasteries, delicious flirtations, and sunset strolls through the vineyard. It was a nearly perfect plan, until Merry discovered that Noah, the terrible best man at her sister’s wedding, is also staying at the castle.
Noah is not only a famous travel documentary, but also the worst person Merry has ever met. But since they both refuse to give up their time at the castle, they’ll have to find a way to cohabitate.
The Book Girls Say…
We love the scenes in Emily in Paris when she travels to Camille’s family home in the French countryside, so we are excited to spend more time there through the pages of this book.
Contemporary, Los Angeles, California & Paris, France
Book Summary
If you love Emily’s boss, Sylvie, and her season 2 affair with a much younger man, then do we have a book recommendation for you! Meet Solène Marchand, a thirty-nine-year-old French-America art gallery owner living in LA. She reluctantly takes her twelve-year-old daughter to meet her favorite British boy band and finds herself forming a connection with 20-year-old Hayes Campbell, the young star of the world-famous band, August Moon.
What begins as a series of clandestine trysts evolves into a genuine (and very passionate) relationship. Solène begins globe-trotting to meet up with Hayes as his band tours, including time spent in a secluded hideaway in Paris. But when news of their relationship becomes a viral sensation, both Solène and her daughter become targets of the paparazzi and crazed fans.
The Book Girls Say…
We often note when books include steamy romance scenes, but this book is better described as molten lava. We are here for it, but if that’s not your thing, definitely pick a different book, or don’t say we didn’t warn you!
It was recently announced that The Idea of You is being adapted into a movie starring Anne Hathaway as Solène and Nicholas Galitzine as Hayes.
Mia is an American teenager in Paris for the summer to attend an elite ballet program. She’ll need to focus if she hopes to snag an audition with one of the world’s best ballet companies. But there’s more to Paris than just dance, and it’s hard to resist when a charming French boy named Louis offers to be her tour guide. Together, they’ll discover that the City of Love has a few mysteries up its sleeve.
The Book Girls Say…
This book is said to be perfect for fans of the Love & Gelato series by Jenna Evans Welch. If you haven’t already read Welch’s YA novels, we highly recommend them! Her books will transport you to other European destinations with vibrant descriptions of the magical sights, tastes, and smells of each: Love & Gelato (Tuscany); Love & Luck (Ireland); and Love & Olives (Santorini). These stories bring much more depth than you might expect at first glance because each female protagonist has faced her share of heartrending challenges. But these books will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy!
Despite the title, this book spans a full year and will whisk you through three of the world’s most glamorous cities: New York, London, and Paris. Christmas only plays a very small role in the overall story.
Cassie married young and now, ten years later, with a failed marriage and no career, she needs to find herself again. She leaves her quiet life in Scotland to travel for a year, staying with her best friends as she tries on each of their cities for size. Left to her own devices, Cassie is a jeans and sweaters kind of woman, but as she explores life in each of these glamorous cities, she puts herself in her friends’ hands. From hair and makeup to wardrobes and diets, they try to mold Cassie in their images. But before her globetrotting ends, she’ll have to find what makes her happy outside of anyone else’s expectations.
During her four months in Paris, a lot of Cassie’s experiences reminded us of Emily in Paris. Cassie takes on a challenging job in the world of high-fashion, explores the city, and discovers French cooking from a chef who takes her under his wing.
The Book Girls Say…
The first thing you need to know is that this book is long (582 pages), but Angela read it last year and the story kept her engaged throughout. All of the characters in this book are flawed and, at times, too judgmental, but it creates a realistic and layered view of friendship that develops and changes throughout the story. While this novel may sound fluffy chic-lit, it actually delivers quite a bit more depth and emotion.
Note that there is another book by this same title, but written by Marianne Evans. While it sounds like a very fun Christmas novella, it won’t transport you to Paris. So be sure to pick up the version written by Karen Swan.
Attending boarding school in Paris might not sound too bad to some seventeen-year-olds, but Anna doesn’t want to leave her school and her friends in Atlanta behind right before her senior year. Things start looking up when she meets a charming and gorgeous boy named Etienne St. Clair, if only he didn’t already have a serious girlfriend.
The Book Girls Say…
While Anna is younger than Emily, the “guy already taken” storyline is a strong connection. Reading about Anna and Etienne in this cute YA novel could be the perfect way to get your fill of Parisian romance while eagerly awaiting the resolution of the relationship drama in Emily in Paris.
Instead of featuring a younger main character like Emily heading to Paris, Love Locks gives you a look at what life might have been like if Emily’s 40-something boss had moved to Paris instead of her. In the book, which is also a Hallmark Original Movie, Lindsey is a divorced businesswoman with a teen daughter.
As a young girl, Lindsey was an idealistic young painter who fell in love with the son of a hotel owner during a trip to Paris. They tried to attach a lock to the Pont de Arts bridge, as so many do, to symbolize their eternal devotion. Except the lock fell in the water, and then Jack failed to join Lindsey in New York like he promised.
Now, Lindsey’s daughter is studying art and was accepted at the Sorbonne. When Lindsey joins her in Paris, she finally meets Jack again after 20 years. But, is it too late to regain their old chemistry?
Whether you want to make Gabriel’s famous omelet or a traditional French dish like Ratatouille, the Emily in Paris cookbook has the recipes for you! It’s filled with 75 recipes inspired by Emily in Paris alongside photos from the show, gorgeous photography of the recipes, and detailed character-driven narratives.
This cookbook would be an exceptional gift for any fan of the show!
One of our favorite aspects of Emily in Paris is Emily’s Instagram feed, filled with gorgeous snaps of the city. If you feel the same, then you’ll want to check out Nichole Roberston’s photographs of the distinctive details of Paris, all arranged by color in this sumptuous coffee table book.
The Book Girls are best friends who jointly read over 200 books per year. We started Book Girls' Guide in 2019 to help others de-stress and find joy through the power of a great book. We do in-depth research on thousands of novels and non-fiction titles each year to provide curated book lists covering a variety of genres.
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