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: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Dear friends,

It’s hard to review a book that you love. Because you always want to do the book justice. Because you want your review to pass your personal standard. Because you want people to understand how much you love the book but you don’t want to gush too much. It’s hard to write a review for the book that you love, because you want to do it ‘right’. It’s kind of crazy that it took me several days just to write this review.

If you need a summary, here it is: The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story about a freshman named Charlie, and this guy Charlie is extremely naïve to the point of almost unbelievable. Later, he befriends two seniors who expose him to things in real world.

This book is very quotable that I swear, I reblog different quote from The Perks of Being a Wallflower every week in my Tumblr blog. Just Google ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower quote’ and you can see dozens of typographies popping up. I think it's the way Charlie describes things around him. I love Charlie’s voice. Sometimes it’s very child-like, but other times it feels more mature than most people in his age. It’s honest, real, and relatable. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever encountered.

I found little things that Charlie did to his friends are endearing. The way he gives gifts to everyone and doesn’t wish for anything in return. The way he makes mixtape for Patrick and picks winter as the theme. The way he wants to buy books for people he loves not because he wants to educate them, but because he wants them to read the book and fall in love with the story too. Charlie is, in a quirky and extraordinary way, adorable. As I've already said, sometimes Charlie can be child-like, but he is not childish. He grows up, and he learns about things. Charlie makes mistakes, and I can’t say that I agree with everything he does, but he is still one of my favorite fictional characters ever.

I love The Perks of Being a Wallflower because it makes me see things from different perspective. And because I love Charlie, and all the other characters in this book. Because they feel real. As if I can touch, have conversations with them when I read the book.

This book might not be for everyone, and there are scenes like drinking, smoking pot, or sexual scenes that I don’t want to expose to youngsters. But if you’re ever in the mood of something short, beautiful, and special, something that will make you think… please pick this book.

And all the books you've read have been read by other people. And all the songs you've loved have been heard by other people. And that girl that's pretty to you is pretty to other people. And you know that if you looked at these facts when you were happy, you would feel great because you are describing "unity."

It's like when you are excited about a girl and you see a couple holding hands, and you feel so happy for them. And other times you see the same couple, and they make you so mad. And all you want is to always feel happy for them because you know that if you do, then it means that you're happy, too.

Love always,
Hilda 

Website * Goodreads * Amazon * Book Depository

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: Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer

Get smart. Get everything.
 
Three best friends Gigi, Bea, and Neerja thought that high school is nothing. When they get into one of Ivy League colleges, they would have anything they want: the cute boys, the grades, and the happy-ever-after. Who needs high school when they can have Ivy League college waiting?

But when the girls see the empty yearbook of Neerja's genius older sister, Parad, a bunch of questions about success versus happiness raised up. Now it's their mission to ensure they got everything they deserved from high school, whether that was grades, fame, guys, a totally full yearbook. After all, if they were supposedly so smart, this should have been a piece of cake... right?
 
Oh my goodness. I think this book might be one of the most brilliant contemporaries ever. Plus, it has such amazing title that I want to put it on my shirt! I love this book so much to the point I want to marry it. Er… figure of speech.

This book is unlike any other contemporaries I’ve ever read! It’s witty, funny, adorable, romantic, and so smart! If you multiply each good point I mentioned one hundred times, then you finally get the result: this book!

Gigi is my newest favorite heroine. She’s super smart, beautiful, and funny. She’s just what I need after reading too much self-proclaimed smart heroines who keep making reckless choices. I really like Gigi because she’s very relatable. The friendship she has with Neerja and Bea is very adorable too. They are clearly best friends for life! I’m the happiest person when Gigi learns to speak up in public. When she still runs for student representative although it means she has to become opponent with her crush Will, I was so proud of Gigi!

Now, Mike. Mike is the guy who gets involved with Gigi in cheating scandal. At first, I thought he is just like other jocks. But then I see the other side of him, and I fell in love. Mike is smart, funny, protective, and sweet beyond words. I swooned every time he appeared. I rooted for Will at first, but afterward, my heart belongs to Mike and his brilliant mind.

I don’t think I can recommend enough of Smart Girls Get What They Want. Fans of contemporary would heart this book, but I think anyone with love of books would find this book very entertaining. I know that this is hardly a review, more likely a gushing, but when you love a book too much… you can’t help it, right? ;)

“Dude,” Bea said. “So true. I say we go for it. Ski team. Student rep. The play. Gigi’s right. Let’s not think and, for once, just do.”

We squeezed our hands together. We could do this. We had to. Because high school only comes around once, and I would hate to look back and think I didn’t make the most of every moment because I was scared of what other people thought. Other people never think that much about you anyway.

Eleanor Roosevelt said that.

 Website * Goodreads * Amazon * Book Depository 

 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: Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards by Janette Rallison

3.5 stars

Ah, this book reminds me how much I love reading light, contemporary YA.

Blue Eyes and other Teenage Hazards follows Cassidy’s story after her best friend Anjie moved away. When the new family moves to Anjie’s house, she hopes that she will be nice, smart, funny, and not a typical drama queen. Well, Elise wasn’t exactly nice at first, but they finally find enough topics to talk about aside from Elise’s mourning of leaving California.

Elise was not the kind of girl Cassidy usually friends with. While Cassidy loves studying and is awkward around boys, Elise drinks alcohol, goes to parties, and determines to hate school although she has enough IQ that would let her run for Mensa president. Cassidy finds Elise fascinating and despite their differences, they become friends. Elise’s older brother, the cute blue-eyed Josh, is convinced that Cassidy is just the perfect friend to keep Elise in the right line. Cassidy will have to be able to make sure that Elise stay sober and in the same time find a way to get Josh to notice her in more than an immature sophomore.

This book is a fun, quick read. I seriously wouldn’t mind living inside the story. Cassidy is a smart and great character. She likes herself just the way she is and that makes me proud of her. Finally, a contemporary heroine who doesn’t yearn to be prettier/skinnier/wilder! That makes me want to give her an award for being the model heroine, really. Plus, I need to mention that Cassidy is smart! Smart girls who also manage to be nice, pretty, and still believable are rare. She doesn’t have any thrilling need to walk on the wild side and that’s just fine by me.

I really like Josh too. He is responsible and nice, the type of brother you would love to have. His relationship with Cassidy doesn’t feel forced at all. I can picture the conversations he has with Cassidy and Elise clearly because they just seem so natural. The whole story made me giggling all along and though there is hardly any life-changing moment, the story flows nicely and is true to life.

In overall, Blue Eyes and other Teenage Hazards is the kind of book that will leave you with smile on your face. I feel so old admitting this but I did find some of Cassidy’s problems match mine back in high school. I enjoyed reading this book and I loved how much I didn’t need to think much when I was reading it. No dramatic tears, no back-stabbing drama, no lack of self-respect. This is the kind of book you’d love reading in relaxing summer holiday, preferably in a hammock.

I wasn’t sure how much Carter had meant to her. She hadn’t seemed too attached to her boyfriend when she’d ogled Chad yesterday. But then, to see your friend kissing your boyfriend—and kissing him out in public where people could snap photos and send them to you—ouch. Low blow.

Hall mark should make sympathy cards for those sorts of occasions.

Website * Goodreads * Amazon

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: The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg

A heartbroken moment can turn deadly.

Brie’s life ends even before she has a taste of sweet sixteen. Her boyfriend, Jason, said the deadly words, “I don’t love you.” The shock in his words breaks Brie’s heart literally. Now Brie is a ghost, unable to rewind anything. She is determined to make Jason pay for his fault. Along with his new ghost partner-in-crime Patrick, Brie goes to visit Jason and take revenge on him. But things on Earth have been different after her death. Her family is torn apart, and Jason seems to have a special relationship with Brie’s best friend, Sadie.

Brie has to go through five stages before she can go to Heaven for real. She has to learn about forgiving… before it is too late and she can’t save people she loves anymore.

Even though The Catastrophic History of You and Me sounds like an incredibly funny and hilarious read (just take a look at the cover!), this book turns out emotional. Brie’s death, however surprising the cause is, is a shocking and sorrowful thing. Her father can’t accept her death and he’s obsessed to find the cause of her daughter’s death, even if it means abandoning his family. Jason is confused and lost, and I can tell that he’s feeling guilty of Brie’s death. I can’t hate any of the characters in this book, however wrong their decisions.

Sure, there were times when I frowned at Brie’s vengeful acts. It’s not easy for her to accept that she’s dead now, especially when everything around her world was perfect before her death. I can understand her confusion and anger perfectly. If you have a great life with all possibility in your future, wouldn’t you feel sad if you have to die in such young age? Brie is a completely relatable character. She’s only fifteen when she’s dead, so it makes sense that sometimes, she can be really egoistical and full of herself.

Other than the tearful part in this book, there are many funny lines and witty remarks thrown in the book. Patrick, Brie’s ghost partner-in-crime, is such an adorable and swoon-worthy character. He’s incredibly funny and he also plays really important part in the story. This book also got to surprise me in some parts, and the ending is really beautiful. I personally think that it’s a little too perfect for my taste, but I assure you, the ending really suits the story.

This is a lovely book and I’ll recommend this even for people who are no fan of sad story. The Catastrophic History of You and Me definitely crosses the line between fun and heartbreaking. 

“Love sucks, huh?” said Patrick.
 

I nodded. “Yeah. It does.”

 Website * Goodreads * Amazon * Book Depository 

I rated this book:

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

Review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I'm giving this book: 5 out of 5 stars

This book is definitely what you call amazing. Fast-paced and beautifully written, I can’t help but falling in love with the story.

Yelena is so close to dead. She’s awaiting executioner, and finally her time comes. But Valek, the Commander’s personal security chief and leader of the vast intelligence network for the Territory of Ixia, has different agenda for her. He offered her a job as a Commander Ambrose’s new food taster.

A chance to live and Yelena is not a fool. She accepts the job, despite the chance that death will come with the next bite. Valek is in charge of training new food taster, so Yelena gets to spend many times with him in her first days in castle. As days pass, she begins liking her job. She can learn as much as she wants in Library, and somehow, Valek is always there to protect her from her enemies. Without fully realizing it, Yelena has been dangerously drawn into her assassin boss.

Valek is not the least of her worries. Her enemy General Brazell will come to visit the castle. Yelena has killed his son, and Brazell won’t let her slip away. No one knows the truth about Brazell and Yelena, and she can’t trust the knowledge to anyone yet. Yelena has tried her best to maintain her fragile peace days in castle, but when a magician from neighbor country comes to kill her, she finally gets to know the truth about her nature. The reason of Brazell and his son’s experiment to Yelena, and a chance to escape to neighbor country, even if it means leaving Valek...

No need to say that I love the books! The characters are simply loveable, and awfully captivating. Yelena is admirably smart, and it’s a fresh break to take from reading too much not-so-brilliant heroines. She’s also very brave and strong-willed, and I love that she can make people admit her skills. Through the story, Yelena gets a chance to study about self-defense, and as you may already guessed, she becomes amazingly skilled in fights.

It’s very fun to read Yelena interacting with other characters, such as Valek, Ari, Janco, and Irys. Her relationship with Ari and Janco is one of the most pleasant aspects of Magic Study. In short, I love everything about this story. It gets everything you ask: adventure, friendship, tension, and nice touch of romance. A definitely must read!

Could the strange buzzing sound that erupted from my throat and saved my life really be the same as Irys’s power? If so, I must keep my magic a secret. And I had to gain some control of the power to keep it from flaming out. But how? Avoid life threatening situations. I scoffed at the notion of evading trouble. Trouble seemed to find me regardless of my efforts. Orphaned. Tortured. Poisoned. Cursed with magic. The list grew longer by the day.