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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins




Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?


“Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amélie and Moulin Rouge. The Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, although I have no idea what the function of either actually is. Napoleon, Marie Antoinette, and a lot of kings with the name Louis. I’m not sure what they did either, but I think it has something to do with the French Revolution, which has something to do with Bastille Day.” 
Thus begins Anna and the French Kiss; the witty tale of Anna, a rich little poor girl, whose daddy - an author with a formulaic plot that usually involves people falling in love, contracting a life-threatening diseases and dying - sends her to Paris for school, to impress his wealthy friends.  
Anna doesn’t want to be shipped away to Paris during her senior year, so, in true teenage spirit,* she throws a tantrum; a rather useless one as the story opens up with Anna in Paris, knowing next to nothing about the place in which she has to spend an entire year. She is a girl of privilege, attending a prestigious school in a city that many people love, yet she doesn’t try to learn anything useful about her new home, I found this slightly disturbing. 
The biggest thing Anna has going for her is her wit and her funny narrative, which makes her character endearing. I think, without these, she might have come off a bit abrasive. 
Through Anna, we are introduced to her new friends and love interest - Étienne, who is suppose to be shorter than Anna, even though she mistakes him for a wall when she walks into him in the very beginning of the story. We are also introduced to the school, then slowly to Paris, when Anna is practically dragged from the dorms by Étienne for a night around town. 
Stephanie Perkins isn’t very descriptive in Anna’s exploration of Paris; and while it is primarily a love story, a little more description of Paris would have been perfect; after-all, it is the City of Love. We do, however, get to see a lot of Étienne’s hair, and eyes, and the things he says and the strange things he does. 
I found it a little ironic that Anna’s story contained similar elements as her father’s bestseller novels (which she hated). Anna and the French Kiss is a book for the hopeless romantic, unfortunately, I’m not a hopeless romantic, but if you are you’ll definitely enjoy the witty prose. 

*generalization of course




Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Top Ten Books I Want To Reread



I'm participating in the Top Ten Tuesday meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.
This week you will find the top ten books that I want to re-read. I could just list the seven Harry Potter books, but I don't think I'd list any of them, though I want to re-read them! I'll try to branch out =) What did you pick?

(clicking on the images below will take you to amazon.com)











Sunday, September 25, 2011

Recaps & Giveaway


This week's reviews: 
The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Giveaways on the Blog:

On Tumblr: 

Memes: 


The Book Haul (#6)



In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.
Each post shows a list of books that were bought/borrowed/received for reviews for this week.
It's always fun to see what other people are talking about and what's coming out soon!
I've decided to call my weekly round-up The Book Haul due to the fact that many times these books don't come from my mailbox, but other areas. =)

These books were all acquired for FREE on KINDLE! =) Click on the covers to check if they're still available for free. 



Bright Young Things
The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.
Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star. . . .
Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will.
The only person Cordelia can trust is ¬Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.
Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the ¬illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

Remedial Magic
Delve deeper into the world of the fae with a Faeriewalker bonus story.
Having a prodigy for an older brother is not so fun…especially one who is magic wiz-kid. But Kimber has a plan to finally step out of his shadow.

The Emerald Talisman
You can run from your destiny, but you can't hide.
To be normal, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would shed her empathic gift in a second. Life has been difficult since her mother's mysterious disappearance ten years earlier - an event she witnessed, but can't remember. Julia's situation becomes more complicated after a near death experience from a blood thirsty stalker. As high school students go missing it is clear there is a connection to her own experience--past and present. Someone has to stop the madness and a chance encounter with a creepy psychic foretells that only Julia is the key to stopping the madness, but it may require the life of the one she loves.




Thursday, September 22, 2011

Friday Memes (#5)




Feature & Follow Friday is hosted by Rachel of Parajunkee and Alison of Alison Can Read and allows book bloggers to connect.


Q. Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again? Tell us a bit about it and why you keep on revisiting it?? 

I have quite a few series that I like to revisit. Harry Potter is one, I think it's neat and I'm sure this will be a popular choice. However, I also like re-reading Scott Westerfeld's works, particularly Uglies and Leviathan - he's just such a great story teller. I also love re-reading Holly Black's faery stories because I think she's the authority on faeries.




Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Top Ten Books I Feel As Though Everyone Has Read But Me



I'm participating in the Top Ten Tuesday meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.
This week you will find the top ten books that I feel that everyone else has read. Every book? ha! Some of these are on my TBR list, so I'm hoping I get to them very, very soon! A few of these, I might not read, but I see them everywhere. EVERYWHERE! What did you pick?

(clicking on the images below will take you to amazon.com)