Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Book/Author: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Publisher/Year: Dutton/December 2010
Pages: 372 pages
Where I got it: bought at Borders
Buy It: Amazon

Summary (from Goodreads): 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?

My thoughts: I'm a little late to the party on Anna and the French Kiss but as with any book that gets a lot of good buzz, I was nervous that I'd be let down. I wouldn't say I was let down because I definitely fell in love with the idea of this book. However, I didn't think it was the "OMG skfhsdkjghf this is my new favorite!" that I thought it was going to be. I loved the characters and the slow build of the love story between Anna and St. Clair. It also made me want to get my butt on a flight to Paris right away. I've never traveled abroad but I enjoy planning trips that are probably pretty unrealistic and Anna had me thinking I should just quit my job and run off to Europe for awhile. I am kicking myself for never spending a semester abroad.

Anna was a really likeable main character. She was hilarious, down to earth and someone I would totally want to be friends with if she were a real person. And St. Clair.... ah, how swoonworthy! With his English accent and obvious crush on Anna, it drove me nuts how he kept going back to his stupid girlfriend. It's rare to have a book with characters who are so widely liked by readers. I don't know a single person who didn't like Anna and the French Kiss or the characters of Anna and St. Clair. Stephanie Perkins has a talent for knowing how to make her characters so relatable and fun. I find it funny that bloggers will refer to this book simply as "Anna" and people know exactly what is being referred to.

Other than Anna and St. Clair, I thought a lot of the other characters were also well done. The friendships that Anna built with the other kids at SOAP and the things that she learned about being a true friend added another dimension to the story that made it more interesting. I'm ready to run out and grab myself a copy of Stephanie Perkins' second novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door, because I've heard it's even better than Anna and the French Kiss.


My rating: 4 stars

Review: Shine by Lauren Myracle

Book: Shine by Lauren Myracle
Published: May 1, 2011/Amulet Books
Genre: YA
Pages: 350 pages
Where I got it: Netgalley
Buy It: Amazon

Summary (from Goodreads): When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice.


My thoughts: Shine is one of those books that will stay with me for a long time. I am loving all of these YA books I've been reading lately that have female protagonists with such strong hearts. Cat was such a likable character because of her perseverance in discovering who hurt her best friend, Patrick. Patrick was a gay teenager who fell victim to the small town's single minded people, put into a coma during an assault involving a baseball bat and a gas pump. Just thinking about it makes my stomach turn. There were a lot of heavy themes presented in this YA book. I've never read any of Myracle's other books but I'm glad I decided to start with this one, as I've heard the others are more chick-lity and not really my style.

Shine reminded me a bit of the movie Winter's Bone in that they both feature a young girl on a personal journey in a small town, searching for answers. I felt like Shine was a journey that I was experiencing right alongside Cat as she went from person to person until she finally discovered the true story. I've never really lived in a small town but I can imagine that this is pretty accurate to how things still are in the South in many places. It's a nice wake up call for the rest of us who don't realize that bigotry is still such a prevalent issue in today's society.

While I enjoyed Shine overall, I felt like a lot of it was just okay for me. It wasn't until the interesting turn of events at the end when we find out who tried to kill Patrick and the motive behind the crime that I felt like the story was redeemed for me. It was such an emotional moment that I had to stop reading for a bit because it weighed so heavy on my heart to think about how there are people out there so twisted. There is a lot of darkness here, but there are also important lessons everyone can learn about betrayal and tolerance.

My rating: 3 stars