REVIEW: ANNA & THE FRENCH KISS.

Book: Anna and the French Kiss
Release Date: December 2010
Publisher: Dutton Books
Summary: Anna was 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. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris — until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.


Review: So. So. Everyone knows this isn't a review blog. It's a writing blog where we discuss books and I've only ever reviewed a few. I don't like to review books that I don't like because I'm not exactly doing the author a favor and I feel like I should help out. Because writers should help each other out. And I am so glad to be helping Stephanie Perkins out. So incredibly glad.

Anna, of Anna and the French Kiss, is leaving her home of Atlanta against her wishes and being sent to the School of America in Paris (SOAP, for short). She's leaving behind her fabulous best friend, her seven year old brother and Toph, her sort of but not really boyfriend. In Paris she finds the very good looking, super nice, and already taken St. Claire.

This book. Wow. I don't read contemporary to the dismay of my sisters. You have to force feed me it with a magic spoon. This isn't anything against the genre! It's just I have enough crap in my life to deal with and I like the escapism and real life cloaked in fantasy of speculative fiction. Anyway. The point. I opened up this book last night (because I felt I should read it before I send it off to a friend) and couldn't put it down until I finished it today. Ten minutes ago.

This book, at it's heart, is about friendship. Good friendship, bad friendship and how friendship can sustain and drain you. It's beautiful and moving and shows what friendship can become over the course of a year. And the characters! God - I loved every single one of the main cast. They are diverse and vibrant and real. They make mistakes and own up to them. They make mistakes and avoid them.

And God, St. Claire! He is wonderful. He's not flawless and perfect- he makes mistakes - so many mistakes - and owns up to them. He and Anna both grow over the course of a year. By the last page my grin was so wide my face hurt and my boss was wondering what in the world  I was reading.

So do I recommend this book? Yes. Yes. SO MUCH. When it comes out in December, run to the stores and buy it. It is well worth the wait!

QUICK OF THE INBETWEEN

SO. VERY QUICKLY. I am posting this before I pass out of tiredness in my bed. I went to ALA today. And it was awesome. And I will be returning to it tomorrow and again on Monday. And then I will sleep for weeks at work.


ALSO. I am mourning the USA loss, just like every other soccer-conscious American. I would drape the blog in black, but that would be neither productive nor pretty. So I mourn privately. And cuddle with my hoard of ALA books that are oh so wonderful and pretty. Expect give aways from said stash soon.

*twirls away*

WICKED LOVELY

Summary: Rule #3: Don’t stare at invisible faeries. Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty—especially if they learn of her Sight—and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don’t speak to invisible faeries. Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.
Rule #1: Don’t ever attract their attention. But it’s too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost—regardless of her plans or desires.
Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything. Faery intrigue, mortal love, and the clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in this 21st century faery tale.

Review: I'm a little late with reading this seeing as it came out in 2007. What prompted me to read it (aside from the dazzling cover) was the release of Ink Exchange. That and the fact that I just recently got back into reading Young Adult. Anyway, with all the rave reviews I'd heard and the fantastic cover, my hopes were high. And I was not in the least bit disappointed. From the moment I picked it up in the bookstore - where I read the first sixty pages in one sitting - to when I finally had it at home, the story had firmly in its grasp. 

The world that Marr creates is vivid and real, as are her characters. Their troubles are captivating, from Aislinn's relationship with her grandmother, to the the (good) tension with Seth, to her fear of faeries, particularly Keenan. Her evolution as a character is a marvelous thing to behold as she starts out a terrified teenager bound by rules and grows into a young woman determined to take control of her future. The secondary characters are equally captivating - from Seth, the studded hottie and love interest, to Donia, the latest Winter Girl. They all have problems, they all have conflict and these add to the story as a whole. Donia's conflict with Keenan as the last professed love of his life, now betrayed, is real and poignant, and contributes not only to creating a more vivid story world but to moving the story forward.

The courts, particularly the Summer Court (the focus of the book), are stunning and beautiful. Marr gives the reader little pieces through out the book, not overpowering them with huge info dumps. Before the story is even over, you have a complete world, with rules and conventions and most importantly, one that is believable given the context. I never stopped and frowned at something because it didn't make sense.

Over all, Wicked Lovely was a fantastic read. I loved the characters, I loved the world and I can't wait to get my hands on it's sequel, Fragile Eternity. I also read the next book in the series (not a sequel, but set in the same world, with some of the same characters) Ink Exchange. Hopefully I'll get a review of it up by tonight. Anyway, this is a definite recommend for anyone looking for a good, solid read.

THE DEMONS LEXICON

It's time for another book review! I've been planning to do it for a while, but the last couple of weeks have been filled with me obsessing over finishing the first draft of The Pawn. Also, I've just been lazy since school starts in three days and I have to pack, buy stuff and all around be an active person. But now, I'm back to blogging two or three times a week (hopefully). To celebrate this I've decided to review The Demon's Lexicon.

So when the book first came out there was all this hype surrounding it which made me want to look into it. Plus, Nick (the dude on the cover) is wearing cherry red lipstick. How could I possibly resist picking it up? And let me tell you, I was not disappointed in the least. The Demon's Lexicon, as Sarah Reese Brennan puts it, is about, "[W]ell, lots of things, but the book begins with sixteen year old Nick, who lives in Exeter with his brother Alan and his Mum – but not for long. They’ve been on the run from magicians their whole lives. Magicians are people with powers who increase those powers by summoning demons. In return, the demons get to wander the world controlling and possessing human beings. When Alan is marked for possession by a demon, the brothers have to stop running and try to hunt down the people who have always hunted them. Things are not made any easier by the arrival of two strangers, a girl called Mae who both the brothers have feelings for, and her brother Jamie who also bears a demon’s mark. (The moral of this story: Brothers. Nothing but trouble.)"

It's really a fantastic book, and the main character, Nick, is really yummyness personified. In fact, all of the leading men in this book were. Mai, the only female lead is endearing, lovable and easy to relate to , especially as a big sister. The world that Brennan creates leaps off of the page. There are no info dumps and I never felt like she hit me with too much information at once. It's revealed beautifully and the characters fit in right along with it.

Both the main story line and the small character conflicts that arise throughout the story are all riveting. As a testament to this, I read the entire book in one day. I sat down with it and didn't get up until it was done. Really, it was that good. Plus, there's a scene where Nick is wet, shirtless and wrestling with a wolf. Need I say more?

I have no complaints about The Demon's Lexicon and can't wait to read it's sequel!