Madame Mirabou's School of Love Book

Sometimes real passion means living the life you ve always wanted. Nicole Bridges still can t believe she s taken up residence in a Colorado apartment complex nicknamed Splitsville. She s still reeling from her husband s affair, a divorce she never saw coming, and having to leave the upscale, comfortable world she helped make for her ex and their teenage daughter. With little money, even less work experience, and no idea what to do next, she takes tentative steps if only to keep her head above water. Along the way, Nikki unexpectedly finds herself falling in with eccentric new neighbors and being seduced out of her funk by a charming, elusive ex-Londoner. And through her delight in the sensual elements of perfume, she will discover the courage to form bonds she never imagined. When a discarded flyer printed with the name Madame Mirabou provides the spark of inspiration, Nikki dares to blend the fragments of her life into a fragrance that s uniquely and passionately her own.

Kirkus Reviews

Unhappy divorcee with a nose for fragrances finds romance-and herself-in small-town Colorado. Nicole (Nikki) Carrington might not have wanted the big empty house she once shared with her ex-husband and daughter to blow up, but it did, because Nikki had been too terrified of going down into the basement alone to check on the furnace. This failure of nerve sets the tone for Samuel's latest effort (The Goddesses of Kitchen Avenue, 2004). Left homeless, and virtually childless after granting her former husband Daniel, a successful black businessman, primary custody of their 16-year-old biracial daughter Giselle, Nikki is forced to move into an apartment complex occupied predominantly by singles. It is there she meets and befriends Roxanne, aka Madame Mirabou, a part-time tarot card reader and walking example of how not to handle a divorce. Nikki gets a job waitressing at an upscale health-food restaurant where she is romantically pursued by one of the regulars, Niraj, a sweetly sensual British/Indian transplant with just enough emotional baggage to make him somewhat believable. She also rediscovers her long-dormant talent for creating signature perfumes. Her scent journal, in which she ruminates on her own olfactory memories, frames each chapter; the evocative descriptions of various scent combinations are the most compelling and interesting parts of the story. After passing an abandoned storefront, Nikki is inspired to open her own perfume shop. As she focuses on acquiring and renovating the charmingly offbeat space, she realizes that can actually enjoy life. A slow-paced story with a positive message of the joyful possibilities of life after divorce.