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Parisian Capers: A Fashionably French Murder & Love (and Trouble) in Paris

30 Apr

A Fashionably French Murder
by Colleen Cambridge
A Fashionably French Murder is the third in the charming American in Paris series. The series focuses on Tabitha Knight who grew up in America, but is now staying with her French Grandfather and his companion in Paris. Tabitha tries to help out by cooking for the two gentleman, but is only slowly gaining skills from her famous ex-pat best friend, Julia Child. The novels bring in interesting details from history and about Julia Child and other notable Parisians lives as well featuring interesting mysteries. In this story Tabitha is helping translate for a mother of a bride at a haute couture salon where the rising star designer is murdered. Could the infamous Dior be involved? I enjoyed learning more about the history of French fashion such as the fact that the models at the designer’s studios were referred to mannequins. Although I was originally interested in the series because of Julia Child hook, Tabitha and the other original characters are so engaging that I enjoy the series even when she is taking more of a background role such as in this story. You can read my previous blog posts about books one and two. Book one in the series for today, 4/30/25, is part of Hoopla’s Bonus Borrows, which means you can borrow it without using one of your Hoopla checkouts for April until midnight!

Love (and Trouble) in Paris
Love (and Trouble) in Paris is a fun French Rom-Com from 2022 that will appeal to Francophile fans of Sex and the City. Thirty-six year old chronically (and comedically) clumsy Julie, played by Maud Baecker, is tired of fielding questions from her family about when she will be getting married. On a cab ride home from her sister’s wedding she hears a message from her dream guy declaring his love, unfortunately it isn’t her phone but that of another woman left in the cab. That doesn’t stop Julie from trying to hook up with her ideal Mr Right played by François Vincentelli. Meanwhile Nicolas, Paul Deby, has moved in with Julie, who believes he is one of the candidates from a website designed to match straight women with gay male roommates, but secretly Nicolas is straight and beginning to develop a crush on Julie. Added to this over the top chaos are Julie’s two bffs: Ava, an overwhelmed mother, and Manon, the queen of hook ups. Manon is played by Isabelle Vitari and Ava is Nadia Roz, who also played a mom in Louis XXVIII. If you enjoyed Emily in Paris, you may enjoy seeing this French take on romantic comedy set in the City of Love. The first two episodes have me hooked and I look forward to binging the rest when I have some time.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Watch the Drama Unfold on Hoopla: Diddy and Gypsy Rose Blanchard

27 Nov

There are so many free options for shows, movies, and audiobooks on Hoopla made available to you through your library card. There are even more big name celebrities who have their lives aired on documentaries or docuseries, so if you’re in the mood for some drama we lined up some deep ones. These are definitely for a mature audience, since the alleged and charged crimes of these individuals are extremely serious. If you follow any type of entertainment or daily news, you may have heard of the scandals rapper, producer Sean “P.Diddy” Combs has been involved in and recently arrested for, which revolve around his risque lifestyle and lawsuits. On the other hand, not-so-famous-until-now Gypsy Rose Blanchard has received startling popularity since being released from prison for putting an end to her abuser, her mother. These two documentaries take us through their shocking lives.

Diddy: Summit to Plummet
Somewhere under all of the flashing lights, paparazzi, multiple records and businesses circled whispers about Diddy and his lavishly unheard of lifestyle that included hours long parties, and allegedly, abuse. “Complexity and chaos,” the narrator used to describe Diddy’s life. The documentary pulls moments from his highest points of his career, mostly in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, where he gives speeches for winning awards or his performances, and briefly points at his downfall from this year. 

Not pleased with just being a rapper and performer anymore, he pivoted his career to finding some of the best talented artists through his company Bad Boy Entertainment. When one of his new-found artists, Biggie Smalls was killed, rumors circled if Diddy was involved. This documentary covers the deep history the two played in hip-hop, and the feud they held between west coast rappers like Tupac and Snoop Dogg.

Previous critically acclaimed girlfriend in the 90’s, Jennifer Lopez, and Diddy were involved in a shooting in New York, which has also unveiled some more unreleased details now in 2024. One artist turned lover, Cassie, came forward about the abuse Diddy put her through in her career and relationship -unfortunately this was only briefly touched upon in the documentary, but provides a good footing for a curious mind to look up more news and gossip surrounding his arrest. A recent video from a hotel was released to the public that shows him pulling her to the ground, kicking her, and dragging her around a corner. This contributed to his arrest in 2024, and for the FBI to search his homes and estates.

Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard – Season 1
Killer or not? This 6-episode docuseries goes through the life of Gypsy Rose Blanchard after spending 7 years in prison for the murder of her mother to then moving on with her life and getting engaged. We finally get to learn about all the reasons Gypsy felt justified to end her mother’s life, all which surround the allegation that she was severely molested, abused, and was confined to a wheelchair in order to live a lie to convince everyone about having cancer or other illnesses. Gypsy teamed up with her ex-boyfriend to plan and commit the murder.

Besides sleep apnea and an extremely lazy eye that needed surgery, Gypsy had relatively no health problems, but her mother made her, doctors, and many others believe that she had health issues in order to receive sympathy and pain medications in some way or another. This led to numerous surgeries down the line. We get to hear accounts from her family witnessing these fake ailments when they all knew she didn’t have any of them.

Each episode gets more shocking by revealing a truth or a lie about her life that no one could predict. Like one instance where her mother lied about Gypsy having an eating disorder in order for her to receive a feeding tube, which she used to put pills in the food sent through the tube. This caused Gypsy to realize she was addicted to pills. Or putting a tooth numbing substance in her mouth to make her salivate for doctors to believe she had cerebral palsy, and eventually get her salivary glands removed, leading to tooth loss. It’s something you really have to watch to believe.

These episodes give a great wrap-up of what happened to Gypsy in 2015 to 2024. So, now you can join in on the controversy about what’s unfolding in her life today, like if she went through with the marriage or not, or will ever live a normal life.

Written by:
Samantha Meyers
Library Assistant

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