My mom is learning to speak French. Fortunately for her, I already do. She's at an intermediate level in her studies, and so I've let her in on my secret for how to be interested in reading French books. All the books I don't make time for in English – the romance novels and thrillers I secretly crave – I'll allow myself to read in French. Because it's studying, really.

While living in France, I had these books at my fingertips – French translations of Nora Roberts and Janet Evanovich were my favorites and they were in good supply at any corner bookstore. But here in the U.S., they're much harder to come by. I could pay the $20 in shipping to get it straight from Amazon.fr. Or, I can try to find the book on Amazon's U.S. marketplace, which is time consuming and not always fruitful.

While the quest is a long and hard one, I'll persist in the name of "studying." I just scored a copy of Ni Vue, Ni Connue by Mary Higgins Clark for $0.99! It will take my mom about 8 weeks to get through this book. But she loves it so much more than her grammar books.

Does anybody know where my mom and I can feed our need for French romances and thrillers without such a hassle? Have any tips for similarly engaging ways to "study?".