ARC Review of Cracked by Eliza Crewe (GIVEAWAY!)

Title: Cracked (Soul Eaters #1)
Author: Eliza Crewe
Review by: Sarah
Release Date: November 5th, 2013
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Pages: 326

 

Ever since my mom was murdered, I’ve been completely alone. I live in the shadows, because there’s no one like me. I have no choice because I have to fight the Hunger, the Hunger that drives me to hunt people and eat their souls. And I have to fight it if I want to stay out of the darkness.
 Who am I?
I’m Meda Melange.What am I?I don’t know—but I’m not human.And now, I finally have the chance to find out.
In this first book of the gripping Soul Eater trilogy, find out who Meda is and which side she will come down on in a thrilling tale of the war between good and evil.

So Meda knows she is a monster. Never bothered to find out the specifics, exactly. But she's too busy eating people's souls, anyway. She needs them to survive. For the sake of her late mother, she tries to limit herself to only the Bad Guys, a la Dexter. When the book opens, we meet our wouldn't-be heroine, Meda, who is currently plotting some nefarious deeds while locked away in a mental institution. Awesome. Meda's voice is the perfect mix of sarcasm and sass, with just a touch of hidden depths, making the reader laugh with her, cringe at her, and sympathize with her all in the span of a few pages.

Fast forward, and Meda is now thrown into is a world of Templars and demons. The Templars are a special brand of humans that devote their lives to ridding the world of demons. Meda involuntarily ends up tagging along with a young group of Crusaders-in-training after they mistakenly think they've saved poor, innocent Meda from a nasty death by demons. In reality, Meda herself is part demon (oops) though she didn't know until now. She plays up the damsel in distress act, careful not to inform her new companions of her true identity, but if they find out, she can just eat them, anyway. No skin off Meda's back. Or is it? What she's really after is finding out the truth about her parentage and her existence, only to come upon a lot more than she bargained for.

Meda's characterization was probably one of my favorite things about the book, it's not everyday you see such unabashed anti-heroism in a main female character in young adult literature. I've been craving this kind of character to pop up more in YA novels, so I was very excited when I saw this book was giving me just that.  I loved that she was decidedly unaffected by the boy-hero character and went back and forth between plotting his untimely death on multiple occasions. Even though she struggles with coming to care for the people she tentatively calls her "friends", she's a looking out for number one kind of girl, and I loved that. That being said, it was fascinating to see Meda's progression throughout the book and I think it will be even more interesting to see how her character progresses throughout the rest of this series as she battles between the light and dark inside of her.

Another thing I particularly enjoyed was getting to know this world the author has set up for us. I haven't been this excited about a new fantastical/paranormal world in quite some time. Though a bit complicated, the world of Cracked is easy to follow and understand and I can't wait to learn more about it as the series continues. Not to mention our colorful cast of characters, especially a certain someone, a hot someone (hey, Meda's words, not mine!) in particular I suspect when haven't seen the last of.

This book was fast paced, action packed, and fun as much as it is heartwrenching. I always hate to be That Guy that says, "it's like blank meets blank!" So I'll try to be a little less cheesy and say I think fans of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural and books like Vampire Academy would eat this up! Especially my voracious readers out there who aren't ready to come off their Halloween high just yet. You'll be excited to get your hands on this book and I'm sure it won't disappoint!

3 and a half coffee cups!

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REVIEW ARCHIVE UPDATE: June 2013

Hello darlings! 

So some of you may be aware but Wake Up at Seven has been experiencing problems, and it's regretful, but I feel like I owe it to all of you lovely readers who have stuck with us through it to inform you that we don't know if it'll ever be fixed. This might sound odd, but for those unaware, Wake Up at Seven was going through an admin transfer and somehow - please don't ask me how, because if I knew I'd be yelling at Blogger for it - along the way, it seems like the admin role just...disappeared. This is about as far as I'm aware of the situation, that none of the bloggers at Wake Up at Seven have access to things such as updating Review Archives or tour banners, because those rights fall under an admin. I really don't know what else to do, and believe me when I've gone through periods of just wanting to give up or attempt to start all over again, but I can't just find it in myself to abandon Wake Up at Seven. Especially with Isabelle and Sarah on hiatus *kicks both*, and really just because I love blogging here. So I've come up with what I hope is a satisfactory resolution - at least for the Review Archive issue. At the end of each month, I'll try my hardest to remember to have a post up that'll give you a list of all the reviews on Wake Up at Seven up to that point, with the ones from that month added on and so on. Make sense? I hope it does and that you'll continue to stick with us and read what we have to say! 

Note: The titles that have been reviewed on Wake Up at Seven are alphabetically organized, but those that begin with "The..." or "A..." will be listed under the first letter the second word. Example: The Iron King will be found under I, instead of T. We apologize for any inconveniences! 

If you would like to contact me for a review of your book, please send an email to: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com

- Kaede

~♥~

• Above World by Jenn Reese (Kaede)

• Among the Nameless Stars by Diana Peterfreund (Kaede)

• Angelfall by Susan Ee (Isabelle) 
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (Isabelle)

• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Isabelle)

• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (Isabelle)
• Between You and Me by Marisa Calin (Sarah)

• Bloodlines by Richelle Mead (Sarah) 
• The Breakaway by Michelle Davidson Argyle (Kaede)
• Broken by A.E. Rought (Sarah)

• Chasing Mrs. Right by Katee Robert (Kaede)

• The Collector by Victoria Scott (Kaede)

• Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett (Isabelle) 

• Crimson Frost by Jennifer Estep (Kaede)

• Dante's Girl by Courtney Cole (Kaede)

• The Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (Sarah)

• The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (Kaede)

• Daughter Of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Isabelle) 

• Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Isabelle)

        •    Delirium Review War (feat. Kat Kennedy)
• Derailed by Alyssa Rose Ivy (Kaede)

• Eon by Alison Goodman (Kaede) 

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Isabelle)

• The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jenson (Kaede)

• The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter (Kaede)

• The Gods Among Us by DC Belton (Isabelle) 

• The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead (Sarah)

• Hopeless by Colleen Hoover (Kaede)

• How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer (Kaede)

• The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (Isabelle)

• Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle (Guest Review by Lucie)

• Legend by Marie Lu (Kaede)

• The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa (Kaede)

• Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell (Kaede)

• A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger (Kaede) 

• Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama (Sarah)
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick (Isabelle) 

• Normalish by Margaret Lesh (Kaede)

• Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Sarah)  

• One Shot Away by T. Glen Coughlin (Kaede)

• Preloved by Shirley Marr (Sarah) 

• Prototype 2 by Dan Jolley (Kaede)

• Rape Girl by Alina Klein (Guest review by Lucie) 

• Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse (Kaede) 

• Rules of Entanglement by Gina L. Maxwell (Kaede)

• Saving June by Hannah Harrington (Kaede) 
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (Kaede)
• Secret for a Song by S.K. Falls (Kaede)
• Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Sarah) 
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Kaede) 
• Spartan Frost by Jennifer Estep (Kaede)
• Speechless by Hannah Harrington (Kaede) 
• Splintered by A.G. Howard (Kaede)
• Starring Jules: As Herself by Beth Levine Ain (Kaede)
• Survive by Alex Morel (Sarah)

• Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan (Kaede)

• Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan (Sarah)

• Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Isabelle) 

• Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi (Kaede) 

• True by Erin McCarthy (Kaede)

• Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (Kaede)
• Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (Kaede)

• Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan (Sarah)

• Veer by Alyssa Rose Ivy (Kaede)

• Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez (Isabelle) 

• Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire (Kaede)
• Want by Stephanie Lawton (Isabelle) 
• What Kills Me by Wynne Channing (Guest post by Lucie)

• What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang (Sarah)
• Wings of Arian by Devri Walls (Kaede) 
• Wings of Tavea by Devri Walls (Kaede)

~♥~

Contact Kaede: 

Email: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com

Goodreads: Kaede
Twitter: Kami178xx

Review of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Info:
Release Date: September 27th 2011

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Pages: 417 pages (hardcover)

Series: Yes, this is #1

My Format: Library (audiobook)

Time it Took me to Read: audio is 14 hours

Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

I believe it’s an age thing.

I’ve often been told that teenagers are just as viable as adults- that our opinions matter, too. That we count as people as much as the next forty year old. And yes, I agree with that to a certain degree.

But as a young person, I can tell you that there’s a lot that I don’t understand. That I’ve never experienced- that I can’t imagine until I’ve seen it, felt it, heard its harrowing cries.

One of these things is love.

That’s where Daughter of Smoke and Bone has its biggest fault. The first line of the book is “Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.” This is referring to the two main characters of the story, Karou and Akiva. The only problem is that I didn’t get their love. I didn’t feel a connection. It was, to put it simply, insta love.

Maybe that’s not the author’s fault at all. Everyone over the age of twenty who has read this book has given it such high praise- anybody under that age had less than good things to say. I read and watched a lot of reviews on this book before writing my own, and while reading many teenagers’, I began to realize that their main complaint was the so-called insta-love.

[Here’s where I add that I say that I mean majority, meaning… my Goodreads friends. If you’re 85 and you hated this book, good for you! Comment and we can talk, because I like you.]

One of the goals of writing is to make a reader understand and sympathize. Laini Taylor did this nicely with Karou, as I thought she was a great heroine. However, the romance- MY biggest gripe as well- left me wondering if I was missing something. I wanted to rate this five stars so badly. The world building was stunning, and it had a rich cast of characters, and it was so beautifully imagined. But the romance between Akiva and Karou was just depressing and made me not want to read.

The romance was comparable to the one in City of Bones. Utterly ridiculous, and full of yawn, yawn whatever. Karou and Clary both drew their perfect love interests in sketchbooks, half of the book was filled with descriptions of Jace’s and Akiva’s perfectness, blah blah twinkies are dry. The difference between the two books is that the last half of City of Bones didn’t completely revolve around the romance. Being such a large book as well, that’s a lot of pages! It boggled my mind how Daughter of Smoke and Bone would spend 200 pages on a romance, yet let the actual falling in love last about 10 pages, sans 50 pages of Akiva stalking Karou.

I kept reading anyway because everything outside of that was great. But whenever Akiva showed up, he brought everything crashing down. For one, he had this “pity me” vibe going on. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to sympathize with him because of that, but it just sort of made me angry, like the people with problems who go on reality shows just to get attention. (I’m not talking about actual people with actual problems. I’m talking about those chicks that appear on Dr. Phil, or My Strange Addiction.)

Secondly, he was described as beautiful repeatedly. I get that beautiful people make the world go round, but that should not be the only prerequisite for a relationship.

But wait. This wasn’t a relationship. It was full on, desperate, desperate love- the kind that is told so gorgeously, that I really wanted to love it myself. But I couldn’t really bring myself to, because I just didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand the romance.

Considering the romance takes up half of the book, this is a problem. I felt like it was used to move along some plot points that could have been resolved with more action, because, believe, me, Laini Taylor can write good action scenes.

But I think Laini Taylor can write, period. (Although I should add that this is the type of writing with an adjective before each word. Not for the people who think beauty is in simple things.) Maybe later in life, I can appreciate the beauty of this book. For now, I will say that Daughter of Smoke and Bone was humorous with riveting creativity, but I could easily put it down.

ARC Review of Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Info:
Release Date: August 28th, 2012

Publisher: HarlequinTEEN

Pages: 304 pages (paperback)

Series: Yes, this is #1

My Format: NetGalley

Time it Took me to Read: 10 hours

Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some CONFESSIONS to make... #1: I'm livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I'm allowed to be irate, don't you?

#2: I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who "might" be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine.

#3: High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and "seeing red" means being angry-get it?)

Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.

(Don't know what they mean? Look them up yourself.) (Sorry. That was rude.)

 From Underachiever's Guide to being a Domestic Goddess

The age of fourteen is probably the most awkward year of anybody's life. (And if you're shaking your head at the screen right now, I suggest you stop lying to yourself.)

It's the age where you're too young to do anything, and too old to do anything. Too young for parties, drinking, IT (ahem), and too old for bouncy castles and slides and eating off the kids menu. You know, all the fun stuff. Rose Zarelli realizes this, and thus begins her tumultuous freshman year of high school.

But there's a catch- her father died the summer before, and she's an Angry Girl. (Note the use of capitalization.)

In a way, I suppose that Rose's angry-ness would have made her unlikable. After all, she treats her friend, Robert, like crap. Robert is basically one of those clingy, whipped guys, and Rose continually ignores him and figuratively beats him up, even as Robert gives Rose gifts and treats her nicely. And he keeps coming back for more, just as Anastasia kept going back to Christian.

But the love interest is not Robert. It is Jamie, who is pretty much a jerk. He's older (a junior, I think), and he's taken. And YET Rose wants him.

...

...

Yeah, I would have not read this book based on what I just said.

However, things pick up. Although Rose is sort of unlikeable, she's real, and acknowledges her faults. There is amazing character growth, and as the credits were scrolling, I came to the conclusion that I did, in fact, like Rose as sort of an anti-hero.

The supporting characters were interesting as well. The cast includes Angelo, (although all I really know about him is that he likes Nirvana and Metallica), Tracy (the best friend who has a falling out with Rose), Michelle (the nice cheerleader), and others. They're all pretty much archetypes, but I can't blame Rozett. They all exist in high school.

I still didn't like Jamie, though. He's a jerk to his girlfriend (Regina), who helped him in a time of need. WHY. Why would you do that?

From horrormovies.org. Yes, this is a real movie.

Because Regina is a stereotypical cheerleader that deserves to be punched in the face?

No.

NO.

I'm only hoping that in the sequel Rozett will make Regina more of a layered character, because I don't want to have to deal with some more cheerleader witches.

Other than that, the technicalities in this book were minor. There were a few discrepancies that removed me from the reading experience. For example, Robert works at a restaurant, and he's able to serve Rose's mom alcohol. It's illegal for minors to serve alcohol.

So. If you don’t enjoy reading about high school, don’t read this book. It is as much a tale of that dreaded place as any I’ve read.

Also, if you’ve never had anyone close to you die before- I probably wouldn’t read this book. It would be hard to connect with Rose, and I would understand why someone would find her character to be totally and utterly awful if said person could not make the connection.

But if you don’t fall into those categories, know that Confessions of an Angry Girl has a surreptitious way of filtering into your heart with its clever writing and humor. Definitely a worthwhile read.

4 STARS! 

Content: There's quite a bit of underage drinking, implications of sex, and mentions of condoms. However, none of these are condoned. 

The Gods Among Us Review and GIVEAWAY!

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Information:

Publisher: Winged Lion Press
Pages: 278 (Paperback)
Series: Divine Masquerade Series (#1)
My Format: Received from author for review
Time to Read: 8 Hours
Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

(I'm going to recommend e-book because it's only a dollar on kindle!) 

Could you forgive a god for drowning your mother, if forgiving her made you immortal?

Pallas is a friendless teen from a backwater village on a forgotten shore. Born a slave like everyone around her, people hate her clothes, her parents…especially her strange name.

Pallas doesn’t believe in the gods except to blame them for drowning her mother. But she’s forced to shelve her moody cynicism when she accidentally rescues an obnoxious cat.

Suddenly caught in a celestial war, Pallas must do the unthinkable – champion the very goddess she hates. Masquerading as a mythic princess, she convinces everyone she’s a child of Atlantis. Jealousy hounds her at every turn as she battles dangerous fanatics, a boorish prince, and a stunningly beautiful princess.

Yet nothing can save her from certain doom, when the Volcano god reaches out to slay her. For how can a mortal fight a god?

I'm not going to lie. At the start of the book I was facedesking a lot, and very hard, I should add.

A lot of the book just didn't make sense, at the beginning especially. I was just zoning out completely, my authorial side kicking in and thinking about what Belton could have done to make The Gods Among Us better.

For starters, there's a few problems with the summary.

"Pallas is a friendless teen from a backwater village on a forgotten shore. [This statement is wrong- she indeed has one friend, and has been asked out by a guy before.] She really doesn't believe in the gods except to peevishly blame them for drowning her mother. [You'd think if Gods drowned your mother, you'd believe in them... right?] But she's forced to shelve her moody cynicism when she accidentally rescues and obnoxious cat."

Therein lies one of my main problems. Pallas did not accidentally rescue this cat. (Whose name, by the way, is Othello.)


You see, at times, it feels as if Belton doesn't know how to get his characters from one place to another. To rescue Othello, Pallas swam out to sea because she saw what looked like a giant orange egg in the sea. She was "drawn to it" or something like that. Othello turned out to be in the mystical orange egg.

This is what I imagined Pallas did.

Now, you know that I hate when authors use suddenly as a plot device, and it was used sporadically through the book, like when "exhaustion hit [Pallas] like a sudden wave." Um, ok. Suddenly being exhausted is a really good excuse not to get back to your family!


Some more problems with the writing surfaced in the beginning as well. For starters, the first chapter uses... too... many... ellipses... and... it... detracts... from... the... story...


Another problem is that some of the sentences make no sense. For instance:


"'He deserves to marry a shrew, have a dozen brats, and live a short and miserable life. But punching him in the nose...'"


Um.


When did being punched in the nose become worse than living a short and miserable life? I'd take the former any day.


Thirdly, another problem with the writing itself is that I felt like Belton wrote a first draft and then used Word to change all the small words into big fancy synonyms.


For instance:


"She martyred her boundful spirit; burying it alongside her alining soul."


.... I have no words. I honestly do not know a teenager who says that.

This cat is in cahoots with Othello.

Which is a problem, because, when later, Othello is talking to Pallas, Othello says, "'Of course, I can't expect much from a creature of your exceedingly limited intelligence..."


and then Pallas thinks:


"Is he insulting me? His words were so exotic I couldn't even tell."


Wut.


His words are more exotic than yours?? What parallel universe are you living in?


Oh, yeah, ones with Gods and such. Which is actually a very well built world that I highly enjoyed.


Anyway, I feel as if these problems could ALL be solved if Belton just wrote this book in 3rd person perspective, because it's obvious that he wanted to. After all, most of Pallas's and company's thoughts are in italics, which is weird, because in first person, all the narration are thoughts. Plus, the 3rd person would prevent so many perspective changes.


The story itself is rewarding, and gripping, if you can get over the mechanics. It made for a good reading experience, and I would recommend it, despite all the gripe.


---


OKAY! So Mr. Belton has this awesome giveaway for us here at Wake Up at Seven! One lucky reader can win a SIGNED COPY of The Gods Among Us and a SIGNED COPY of its sequel, Whom the Gods Destroy.

Con­test Rules (which I totally didn't steal from Cuddlebuggery):

• To enter, please fill out the Raf­flecopter form below.
• We ask that all entrants be at least 13 years or older to enter.
• The give­away is open to US and Canada only. 
• When the win­ners are cho­sen, it will be announced here and the win­ners will be emailed. Please check your email because we are only giv­ing the win­ner 48 hours to respond! Oth­er­wise another win­ner will have to be selected.
• Please enter your email address in the Raf­fle­copter form and not the comments!
• Also, please under­stand that we reserve the right to dis­qual­ify any entries we find gam­ing the sys­tem. Cheaters never prosper!

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YA Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Information:

Publisher: Speak
Pages: 372 (Hardcover)
Series: Has two companions, can be stand alone
My Format: Paperback, bought
Time it took to read: 12 Hours
Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

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?

Upon finishing the book, I felt a big "whut" moment, to say the least. Don't get me wrong, it was a good ending, but... well, I'll get into that later.

I may have exaggerated just a little. 

What I am going to say now is that Anna and the French Kiss was very enjoyable. It's very chick lit-esque, reminding me of, say, a Meg Cabot book. You see, Anna, our heroine, is deposited in a select boarding school in Paris by her rich father. (Who is "horrible" by Anna's standards. Oh no. I am in a new school in the city of light with none of my friends. What ever shall I do.) She quickly gains friends (and by that, I mean she is crying and new friends come literally knocking on her door.) and meets the ever handsome, British, and charming Etienne St. Clair. Through a magical senior year at the School of America in Paris, Anna and Etienne experience love, loss, heartache and the magic of friendship.

Soooo anyway, like I was saying, this book is very Meg Cabot like. The writing styles are similar, and so are the heroines. I don't think that's a bad thing, but I encourage all writers to find their own styles. But I was actually curious to see if Stephanie Perkins was influenced by the likes of Meg Cabot. This is what her website says:

I often refer to Meg Cabot as The Queen. Because she is. (I love you, Meg!)

Mmm yeah. It's very obvious, Miss Perkins.

Another thing about the writing is that it's very humorous from time to time. Not like "knock-knock" joke humorous, but in the sense like it's a satire making fun of itself. Like Anna and the French Kiss knows how ridiculous romances (especially chick lits) can be.

For instance, in some romances, we have this multicultural person. Like he has a sexy British accent and is hanging out in another country (like Paris). In other romances, the heroine would have let it slide and the reader would have rolled their eyes (and maybe stabbed it with a fork. Who knows?) But in this book, Anna said: 

"French name. American school. British accent. Anna confused."

That was just amusing. It really did feel like a parody, so much that I almost heard the Harvard Lampoon in the background snickering with the 5 o'clock shadows and Monster Energy drinks. 


The only thing I disliked about this book was the ending. (Don't worry, you can keep reading. No spoilers. But it's not like you don't know who's gonna be a couple at the end.) Anna and the French Kiss lost a lot of energy toward the end, and it used the dreaded "suddenly".


If you know me, you know I hate when authors use the word suddenly.


It's like some authors don't know how to get their characters from one place to another, so they're so lazy, they just say, "And suddenly I felt like going across the country." And they run into their love there. Or something like "and suddenly I felt like I needed to be at Walmart. Something was drawing me there!"


No, there's not.


So that explains the headdesk I gave at the end of the book. I was severely disappointed.


All in all though, Anna and the French Kiss was a cute and fun read that held my attention. Fans of Meg Cabot will surely enjoy this electric debut from Stephanie Perkins.

Content: Quite a bit of swearing, but nothing that will remove you from the reading experience. Also, mentions and implications of sex. A bit of teen drinking as well.