Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Speak
Published: December 2nd 2010
Format: eBook | Pages: 386
Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance
Source: Purchased Amazon
★★★★ (4/5) Stars!
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?
This book has been on my TBR shelf for quite a while now. But one of my favorite fellow bloggers posted a review a week or so back (Kelly on Anna) and she pulled the old peer pressure card and next thing I knew it was in my Kindle. Oh and Kelly? That thing about "HA! You'll be thanking me soon enough. :):)" Okay fine. You were right. Thank you. Ha :P
At one point or another I wavered in my liking of each one of these characters for different and various reasons. All of them seemed to be varying degrees of messed up. But, really, how together can you truly be when your parents ship you off to a boarding school in Paris?
Truly, my only problem with this book was there were just too many obstacles to cross to get to that one thing we all want so badly when reading this book. For Anna and Étienne to say those three little words to each other and walk off into the sunset together. There were just too many people on the outside getting in the way and that made for an extremely frustrating read. Not necessarily in a good way either. I'm fine with love triangles and unlike most people I enjoy them very much. But this was more of a love hexagon.
But if you can get past that frustration the core of the story is very sweet. Étienne is an absolute dream. He's charming, funny, sweet, British, completely adorable... oh and did I mention British? As if you can't tell, I'm a sucker for the accent. He goes through so much in this book and you find that deep down, on top of all that swoon worthiness, you find a vulnerable, amazing guy. Scared of losing everything.
Anna is fun and quirky and sarcastic and very easily to relate to. It was excruciating at times watching the two of them dance around their feelings. He has a girlfriend, she has an almost boyfriend, Things would get so close and then... Nothing. Would. Happen. And trust me some of those "so close" moments were so intense and you would be thinking "Okay this is it! It's finally going to happen!!" Then nope. And on the inside I was screaming "OH COME ON!!!!!!!!!" because had it been me? I would have said screw it and just made a move! ... Okay probably not, I'm a coward haha. But you get my point!
*Sigh* It really is a sweet and heartwarming book though. And if you can get past the hexagon, by the end you'll be swimming in a pool of blissful satisfaction. I'm so happy that I finally read it and I look forward to reading more of Stephanie Perkins work.
I love your reviews, Sher. They're always so entertaining.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, because I think the main issues you had with this book were reasons I loved it so much. The tension Perkins managed to build between the two was just so intense at parts. It made it impossible for me to put the book down. The triangle/almost square/almost hexagon thing did annoy me a bit, but surprisingly not as much as it usually does. I just loved Etienne too much to care! Haha.
I'm glad you did like this, though! Now you've got to read Daughter Of Smoke And Bone by Laini Taylor. It is my single favorite book ever, and it is my life's mission to convert the DOS&B virgins.
The tension wasn't a huge issue to me. It was like a good kind of frustration. The only super big problem was that stupid hexagon! But it all doesn't really matter because at the end I was so glad I read it and enjoyed it.
DeleteYES I am a DOS&B virgin. I've passed it up so many times just because of the odd title. It's weird what can I say?! BUT I always love your reviews and (THIS ISN'T BAD THIS IS GOOD I SWEAR!) you have high standards when it comes to books so I'm going to put it on the top of my list when I buy my next set of books! :)
Thanks for making me read Anna Kelly!! :)
And oh! Stupid laptop! I was having problems with it a few months back, it wasn't letting me access my blogger account for like 10 weeks straight, so I feel your pain. Don't worry about replying to my comment(s), just go out and get DOS&B! Hope you're able to get it fixed soon.
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