This One is Ours by Kate O’Donnell is the Paris trip you’ve always dreamed of. On a five-month exchange trip filled with art, friendship, and self-discovery, main character Sofie explores a France that isn’t quite what she expected and learns about her own power to create change in this world.

Detailing an Australia-to-France exchange trip, This One is Ours centres in Paris and features all of your favourite staples—the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées. And yet, this exchange trip isn’t always quite what Sofie had in mind when she pictured herself sipping hot chocolate and eating pain-au-chocolat on the streets of la Paris. This France is at once beautiful and dirty, both magical and plagued by political unrest. Kate O’Donnell does a fantastic job portraying both the magic and the homesickness of Sofie’s adventure, using art and language to build a Parisian setting that is realistic and honest.

This One is Ours is a character-driven story, with Sofie’s French exchange program providing plenty of opportunities for her to learn and grow. So many miles away from her Australian home, she discovers new dreams, new places, new people, and new identities. She learns who she is, who she wants to be, and how to embrace adventure and possibility. As Sofie rises to the many challenges of life in another country, she finds that she has power in creating change, and she shows her readers that they have the same.

This One is Ours is a story of adventure, self-discovery, personal growth, and social activism. This might just be one of my new favourite books! I’d recommend it to fans of Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid, The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks, and Snow by Ondine Sherman.

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