Title: The French Impressionist
Author: Rebecca Bischoff
Publication Date: Dec. 6, 2016
Find: Amazon | Goodreads
Rosemary is fifteen and gloriously free, on her own for the very first time. Part of an exchange program for aspiring artists, she arrives in sunny southern France with a single goal: she doesn’t plan to leave, ever. She wants a new life, a new family, and a new identity. But her situation, crafted from lies big and small, is precarious.
Desperate to escape haunting images from her past and a stage one helicopter parent, Rosemary struggles to hide her lack of artistic talent and a communication disorder that has tormented her all her life. She believes her dream of a new start will come true, until she unwittingly finds herself enveloped in a decades-old mystery that threatens to ruin her only chance for success. Determined to stay, Rosemary must choose whether or not she’ll tell the biggest lie of all, even if it means destroying the life of someone she cares about.
Dramatic, heartwarming, and full of teenage angst, The French Impressionist perfectly captures the struggle of those who feel they have no voice, and also shows the courage it takes to speak up and show the world who we really are.
Rebecca Bischoff currently resides in Idaho with her family and works as a speech-language pathologist. She loves helping others, especially kids and teenagers, discover their own unique voices and learn to share who they are with the world. When she isn’t writing, she loves to read, spend time with her kids, and make awkward attempts to learn foreign languages. She is drawn to all things both French and Italian, used bookstores, and anything made out of chocolate.
Rebecca’s Top 10 Favorite Book Villains… -Gollum from the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien: he was pitiful but cruel at the same time, and willing to kill for his undying obsession with the ring. And frankly, he was far scarier to me than the big, glowing eye.
-Dr. Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle: he’s scarily brilliant, is behind most of the crimes Sherlock investigates, has no problem killing anyone who gets in his way, and finally gets the better of Sherlock. I hate this guy.
-Cathy Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: most don’t consider her a villain, but I do! She loves Heathcliff but marries someone else, cruelly mocks her hubby and has an affair with Heathcliff, all while acting like a spoiled brat. She has no redeeming qualities and causes or at least plays a part in all of the bad things that happen in the novel. Die, Cathy, die!
-Jadis, the White Witch from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis: She will turn you into stone and use you to decorate her frozen castle. Besides, eternal winter without Christmas? No Turkish delight for her!
-It (the big, disembodied brain) in A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle: It controls the entire planet of Camazotz, whose citizens must do everything in a bizarre sort of synchrony, and are forced to think exactly alike. I always thought Meg should have grabbed something sharp and turned that thing into a big pile of jello.
-The Grinch from The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss: again with the “no Christmas” thing! Boo!
-President Snow from The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins: the white roses, the smell of blood, the fact that he sent children to fight to the death on live TV every year—he so totally deserved to die!
-Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: the pink suits, the cutesy kitten fetish, and her fondness for tea and torture. This woman’s creepiness factor was off the charts!
-WICKED from the Maze Runner series by James Dashner. An organization that puts the main characters through a series of life-threatening, torturous tests, with possibly benevolent motives. Is WICKED good? Or not so much? Props to a villain that’s a morally ambiguous organization instead of a single bad guy or girl.
-Voldemort from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: His name means “flight from death” in French. He killed Harry Potter’s parents. He wants to kill Harry. He has no nose. Everyone’s so afraid of him they won’t say his name. What’s not to hate about this guy? He gets my vote for Bad Guy Number One.
Thanks for hosting today, Christine! 🙂
Thanks for hosting today, Christine! 🙂
It was my pleasure!! 🙂
It was my pleasure!! 🙂