Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publication Date: December 2010
Publisher: Speak
Goodreads

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 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?

4.5 stars

Oh sweetness! Fluffy in a good way, Anna and the French Kiss is the ultimate book for anyone looking for light reading. It’s just the right amount of sweet, funny, and hot French-British guy in one book! Sprinkle it with the Parisian setting, and mmm! Simply delectable!

Set in the lovely setting of Paris, Anna and the French Kiss told the story of Anna, an American girl who is transferred to France in her senior year. Paris is a great city, but short visit and living for one year are obviously different matters. However, Anna’s homesickness quickly disappears as she meets some new friends in School of America, especially the French guy with British Accent and US nationality, Étienne St. Clair. Anna totally swoons over Étienne, but Étienne already has a gorgeous, older girlfriend. Surely Anna won’t be stupid as to fall for Étienne despite of knowing it’s impossible… right?

I’m not good at summarizing the story so let’s forget the kinda-summary above. I think Anna and the French Kiss lives up to its hype. It’s not just a simple story about a girl and a guy going in circle before they finally confess their undying love to each other. It’s MORE than that. It’s also about adapting in a new environment with new set of culture and language, a guy’s struggle with his oppressed father and his dying mother, and friendship above love. And those issues, tackled gently without any cliché at all.

You will love Anna when you meet her – she’s quirky, smart, and fun in the most possible way. Étienne, of course, is the guy you’re supposed to fall in love with (like it’s the hardest thing to do, duh!). Étienne. *le sigh* The gorgeous French guy with brilliant mind and polite British accent. Very good hair and kind personality as well. Oh Étienne please just be human already.

Reading this book made me wish I could get into the story and join Anna and her friends in School of America. I only worry that when I go to Paris, it wouldn’t be as lovely as it’s portrayed in the book. For one thing, Perkins seems to gloss everything in Paris – everything seems much lovelier. The cafeteria, the shops, the way people dresses, even the strangers’ attitude. I’m sure that Paris is a wonderful city, but it just seems unrealistic that everything is much better in that city. Another thing, I won’t have a gorgeous, kind, funny French-British-American guy like Étienne showing me Kilometer Zero Paris or Shakespearean bookshop. Obviously my experience later won’t match with Anna’s.

All in all, Anna and the French Kiss was a very entertaining book and I would recommend to it to anyone ready to get their heart strings tugged by this romantic story. I like how clever Perkins tackled issues like family and friendship, and even tough ones like cancer. I don’t want the book to end. We need more Anna, Étienne, and Paris! (Of course, there are cameo appearances of Anna and Étienne in the next book, Lola and the Boy Next Door, but no Paris! Boohoo.) I want so, so bad to book the next plane to Paris after I read this book. Anna and the French Kiss, with its great storyline, fun characters, and gorgeous setting, will definitely capture your heart.

Words are engraved around it: POINT ZÉRO DES ROUTES DE FRANCE.

“Mademoiselle Oliphant. It translates to ‘Point zero of the roads of France.’ In other words, it’s the point from which all other distances in Frances are measured.” St. Clair clears his throat. “It’s the beginning of everything.”

I look back up. He’s smiling.

“Welcome to Paris, Anna. I’m glad you’ve come.”

4.5 cups of tea!

A feel-good book that will cheer you up.

Review: Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell

4.5 stars

 

Need a friend? Call Chloe. How about a laugh? Enter Chloe with joke book in hand.

Chloe was the queen of her universe. She has family that adores her, crazy grandma that is always up for Brad Pitt movies day, and two best friends that have been her friend for such a long time. Then everything crashes. Her older brother leaves her for college, her mother and grandma are in third world war, and Chloe’s best friends dump her because they consider her fail as a friend. In addition, there is a new school counselor who wants Chloe to change her topic on Junior Independent Study Project (JISP). JISP is a project when a junior is required to contribute something useful to community. It is all about passion and Chloe is determined to have topic concerning about her number one passion: shoes. However, there is a twist of event and suddenly, she is required to help promoting her school radio station for her JISP project.

Chloe knows nothing about radio, but she knows about promotion. At first, she wanted to help the dying radio station because of her duty as promo manager, but as time progresses by, Chloe finds herself having a new home in the radio station. She becomes friends with people whom her old best friend called ‘outsiders’. Chloe also learns that in radio, sometimes it is very crucial to shut up and just listen.

Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe is a very brilliant debut and I love every minute reading this book. With her cheerful attitude and happy-go-lucky motto, you can’t help but liking Chloe. She is bubbly and she does talk too much, but along the story, her character is greatly improved and she becomes more mature. Chloe’s grandmother is suffering from Parkinson disease and Chloe had hard time struggling to accept that this time she is the one who takes care of her grandma, but I really like the way she handles the family problem. Chloe is a strong a character and one I wouldn’t mind being friends with.

Another thing I like about this book is Duncan, the fix-all guy who is responsible for technical stuff in the radio station. Duncan works in two places and he hardly has time to sleep or do his homework. Duncan didn’t have much fun in his life so I really like it that the coming of Chloe to his life has brightened his days. Duncan definitely needs more fun in his life and Chloe always successfully makes him crack a smile or laugh at her lines.

This book is definitely a keeper. Chloe is different from most main characters. She’s confident and she knows how to make the best of her talents. One thing I like most about Chloe is she tries to befriend with everyone. She has moments of imperfection when she’s so full of herself, but she is not afraid to evaluate herself and always tries to make up for her faults.

I think this book can do even better with more details. There should be a passage about other workers in the radio station. I want to find out about the fate of Haley’s baby or whether Clementine has some private stuff going on in her life too. Some characters, like Chloe’s older brothers, are only mentioned in the book. It would be much better if they show up or even a phone call would be perfect.

In overall, I really like the book. This book deserves an addition of half star because I really like Chloe’s character. Her problems are real and I can completely relate to her. Her former best friend Brie did many horrible things to her despite their long time friendship, and I can understand how hurtful and confused Chloe must be. What makes Chloe admirable is her power to always stay positive. This is such a brilliant debut and I can wait to read more amazing book from Shelley Coriell!

Because when you cared about people, you handed them a little piece of your heart, and with those hands, they had the power to cause pain.

 

 

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 I rate this book: 

 

 Four cups of tea. Amazing! Love the book, it’s simply awesome. I love the tea flavor!  A strong recommendation.

Review: Oh. My. Gods by Tera Lynn Childs

 Phoebe Castro’s life seems as perfect as she can get. She’s a cross country runner star. She has the most amazing best friends who will go to the same college with her. She’s on her way to receive a full scholarship from USC. Everything’s perfect, until suddenly her mother announces that she will remarry and they will have to move in to somewhere island in Greece.

Phoebe is beyond furious. She can’t believe that her mother can be that egoistic. This is her last year in high school, and it’s supposed to be the best time in her life. But here she is, stuck in an ultra-private school in Serfupoula, with teachers whom she can’t pronounce their names, a step-father as the headmaster of the school, evil step-sister whose only purpose is make Phoebe’s life a living hell, and… descendants of Greek gods as her schoolmates.

It turns out that Phoebe is the only person in the school who is not a
descendant of Greek god. She quickly makes friend with a punk girl named Nicole and Troy, a really nice guy, but the rest of the school avoids her. She doesn’t have a single drop of Greek god, so why should they bother to befriend with her?

Phoebe struggles to accept her moving to Greece and find her place as a human among all the descendants of the Greek Gods. Being a part of the school team is a challenge too since her rivals are descendant of gods with their superhuman and supernatural power. It doesn’t help anything when Phoebe falls for a cute guy who is in her cross country team. Especially when the guy, Griffin Blake, turns out to be a major jerk. Phoebe’s misadventure has just begun…

This book is fast-paced and a real enjoyable read. I laughed on many parts in this book because you can’t help but love the main character. She’s not really typical main character, mainly because she’s honest with her feeling. And she always has amusing comeback in conversations, which is awesome!

It’s always amusing whenever Phoebe is talking to Griffin. Griffin is absolutely gorgeous with kissable lips, startling blue eyes, strong muscles… okay, you get the idea. Phoebe practically turns into jelly whenever Griffin is in front of her, but she always manages to control herself and comes up with witty comments. Griffin is cute, but he seems to have two versions of him. Sometimes he can be the nicest guy ever, but sometimes he’s just a plain jerk.

Reading this book is a great fun. I'm actually dying to give this book 3.5-4 stars.The characters are amusing and the story, even though guessable, is highlarious. I can’t wait to read the second installment of this series, I’m sure I’m gonna love it too! If you’re looking for light book with great romance and laugh, then this is the book for you.

“I've survived beach bunny cheerleaders, a sluthunting ex-boyfriend, and five years of cross-country camp. I'm not afraid of some throwback to ancient myth with astrocious highlights and a Barbra Streisand nose.” 

I rate this book: 

Four cups of tea. I love the book, it’s simply awesome! Love the tea flavor! A strong recommendation!