Kimberly Renton is an editor for a Manhattan fashion magazine, and couture week in Paris is the best part of her job. Dressed to wow, Kimi is heading to one of the events held during couture week when she runs into the least likely fashion photographer she could imagine. Holden MacGreggor is drop dead gorgeous, if you like the rugged outdoor type. Kimi can’t believe he knows anything about fashion based on the way he is currently dressed, but that doesn’t stop her from feeling a little sexual zing in his presence.

Private Investigator and freelance photographer Holden MacGreggor is under cover in Paris to discover who is stealing high end fashions before they are even shown to the public. When he runs in to Kimi, she’s invaluable in helping to get him inside the event, but once he’s there he realizes he just might need the help of the high-fashion, high maintenance little editor to keep his cover. Holden convinces Kimi to work with him; she agrees on one condition: he has to wear the clothes she requires.

Can a high fashion hottie from Manhattan and a man who wouldn’t know Prada from Pringles manage to work together, play together, and then walk away when the job is over?

FRENCH KISSING with its unique plot, a high fashion theft ring, romantic location, Paris, and two characters who are such polar opposites as to be almost a different species is a delightfully sensuous tale from the talented pen of author Nancy Warren. The characters are well-defined, and the relationship between Kimi and Holden snaps and sizzles from the beginning. The author does an excellent job of weaving the romance and the mystery into a believable and entertaining whole. The differences in Kimi and Holden are large, and it doesn’t seem possible for them to continue their affair once the job is done, but neither lets that stop them from giving their all in the relationship -- after all, even if it doesn’t work out, “They’ll always have Paris.”

Romance with a solid mystery and a cast of intriguing characters make FRENCH KISSING a pleasure to read, and proves that a novel can be romantic and sexy without giving up solid plotting or character development. It also has a few humorous moments. A charmer to be sure, and an RRT Perfect 10.

Terrie Figueroa