Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: Review

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

When Was It Released?:  2nd Decemeber 2010
Where Did I Get It From?: The Library
Who Published It?: Dutton Publishing
   Number Of Pages: 372 Pages 

Anna and The French Kiss is a book that I have heard so much about. Everyone seems to love the novel and I have been recommended this book by so many people I have lost count. Many times when a book has so much hype surrounding it, I find that it is never able to live up to it and I end up disappointed., so, I put this book off until I could not take it anymore! Let me tell you this book did everything but disappoint.

Anna is sent to Paris to attend boarding school, which she is less than thrilled about. She loves her life in her hometown of Atlanta with her best friend and her almost-boyfriend. Anna feels lonely and an outcast in Paris, that is until she meets St Clair, an irresistible guy with a cute English accent. There’s just one problem St Clair is already taken and in a relationship with his long term girlfriend.

I’m unsure where to even begin with how much I love Anna and The French Kiss. This novel had everything I love to read about filling the pages. I picked this up and could not put it down, it literally had to be dragged out of my hand at one point just so I could go to sleep. This is such a beautifully written contemporary YA novel, I was swept away with the pages and Stephanie Perkin’s writing style. I loved the setting of Paris for this novel, it was almost like a character in itself. The description was so well done that at times I felt as though I really was in Paris along with Anna and her friends. I love Paris, so any novel that can transport me there within the pages gets major bonus points from me.

I loved Anna as a character, finding her to be so relatable. She is awkward yet surprisingly likeable at the same time. Many girls will be able to relate to her, and the feelings she has during her time in Paris, because she is just your average girl. She is also very intelligent, which I loved about her, as it shows girls can do well in school and still be interested in boys at the same time. She is hilarious yet far from perfect which makes her seem much more real as a character. I also fell in love with St Clair (Etienne), again for his flaws and imperfections. He is just a normal guy and does not pretend to be anything that he is not. Even though Anna and St Clair, are my favourite characters, all of the characters with in the novel are beautifully written and memorable in their own ways.

There was one thing above all else that I loved about Anna and The French Kiss and that was the romance. I felt as though Stephanie Perkins created the romance between Anna and St Clair perfectly. I truly believed in their feelings for one another and their relationship throughout the novel, without any sense of doubt at all. I was willing the two to get together the whole way through the novel. I just wish they had been able to show their true feelings to each other sooner. I believe that the romance was so good because it was built up and not rushed into, it was built on a friendship and that is what makes me swoon over it so much. I want a relationship like theirs!

I honestly do not think I have loved a novel as much as I love Anna and The French Kiss. I want to read this all over again, right now! It is such a cute, beautiful, feel good novel which will grip hold of you and not let go until long after you have finished the last page. Anna and The French Kiss is like a hot, frothy, comforting hot chocolate that you will want to curl up with and savour for hours. I will definatly be buying a copy for my bookshelf, as well as Stephanie Perkins latest novel Lola and the Boy Next Door, and reccomend that you do too!

Fat Girls And Fairy Cakes: A Review

Sue Watson - Fat Girls And Fairy Cakes

When Was It Released?: 8th September 2011
Where Did I Get It From?: Paul from Rickshaw Publishing sent this in exchange for a review
Who Published It?: Rickshaw Publishing  
Number Of Pages: 349 pages

When a book mixes chick lit and baking, two of my favourite things, together, you already know I’m going to be hooked before I even open the book. Fat Girls and Fat Cakes combines both together in one great big mixing bowl that had me laughing, and running to my local store for a big supply of cakes! Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes is Sue Watson’s debut novel, and let me tell you, I already know there are big things to come from this author.

Stella Weston, has a successful career in TV, where she works long hours, has constant stress placed on her from the boss from hell and could probably stand to lose just a few pounds. Stella is constantly battling to find the right balance between her career and her family life, which consists of husband Tom and daughter Grace. Things aren’t looking so good when the boss from hell decides to relegate her to working on a gardening program where she has to contend with a nervous vicar, a nymphomaniac wife and Britney wannabe gardener Gerald. Stella has always been able to find comfort at the bottom of her mixing bowl, and lets be honest who hasn’t? However when even baking cannot save the day Stella decides that she must conjure up the courage to quit her job and find out if she can really turn her passion into her career.

I was instantly drawn into Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes as soon as I started the first page. The character of Stella is so warm and relatable that I felt as though she was actually one of my friends, and at times forgot that she was just a character in a novel. I found myself laughing along with Stella as well as feeling her pain and routing for her to follow her dreams and find happiness. I particularly found that I was able to relate to the comfort that Stella is able to find in baking and in eating the cakes and goodies that she creates. How many of us after a stressful day have turned to the chocolate or cakes as a way of making ourselves feel better? I know more of us than we would admit! I also loved the supporting characters in the novel, with Al being one of my favourites. His humour and flamboyant character are a welcome relief when the novel has more emotional moments. The storyline flows so easily that once you get started with this novel you will have a hard time being able to put it down. I especially loved the way in which each chapter has its own quirky title such as ‘Sex In The Dark’, which really had me wanting to read on to find out what happens next. There is also mention of Strictly Come Dancing, the TV show, in the novel, which I think is great timing for this novel. The new series is just about to begin, therefore linking this into the novel was great timing for Sue Watson.

My only issue with the novel was that I did find it a little difficult to get into at the very beginning. I found that the character of Stella came off as not particularly likeable over the first few pages, with the way she places her career before her child. Once I got into the novel, however I found that the novel

flowed well and that I began to fall in love with the character of Stella.

Overall I loved Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes and would recommend this novel to anyone who loves chick lit and wants a light read. The novel is filled with humour, emotion, bitching, baking and love, making it an enjoyable read. Go and get your copy of Fat Girls and Fat Cakes, but remember, you may want to have some treats in the cupboard before you begin this novel as I can guarantee you will be craving the cakes! And who knows, this may just make you want to get into the kitchen and start baking!

Before Ever After: A Review

Samantha Sotto - Before Ever After

When Was It Released?: 2nd August 2011
Where Did I Get It From?: The library
Who Published It?: Crown Publishing

Every once in a blue moon a book comes along that grips hold and of you and never lets go. A book that transports you to another world that you never want to leave. Where fairytales might just come true and maybe just maybe you may get your happily ever after. Well that’s just what Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto did for me. I never expected to fall in love with a novel quite as much as I did with this one. Before Ever After is a modern day Romeo and Juliet, with more of a fairytale twist.

One day Shelley and her husband Max were madly in love and couldn’t be happier, the next Max dies and Shelley is left behind as his widow. It has now been three years since Max’s death and Shelley has still been unable to adjust to living without him. Until, suddenly, the doorbell ring and standing there is a man who looks just like Max in everyway. Shelley cannot believe her eyes and thinks she must be going crazy until the man introduces himself as Paolo and shows Shelley some photos from his childhood. He tells her that the man in the photos is Paolo’s grandfather, Max. Her Max. And it seems he is still alive! How could he be alive when Shelley knows he died? And the question Shelley wants the answer to the most - why has he not come to find her? Desperately wanting to find the answers to her questions Shelley and Paolo travel across the world, while Shelley recounts the European tour where they met and the stories Max told her along the way. Shelley comes to some astound revelations and comes to discover that her happily ever after may not be all it seems.

How do I convey to you a book that has completely changed my view on books forever? Before Ever After is a book that I will now compare all other books to, and I know that many will fail to come even close. There are so many elements to this incredible story - romance, history, a wide range of emotions from loss to hope and adventure throughout the pages, resulting in there never being a dull moment. The character of Shelley was so likeable that I found myself routing for her ’happy ever after’ and feeling her emotions the entire way through. I found all the characters to be important within the novel, playing a part in Shelley’s story. I particularly loved the historical stories that Max told throughout the novel, finding them to be not only interesting but intriguing too, filling the story with adventure. With all the emotion the story could have become sombre, however Samantha Sotto manages to throw some humour in with the use of chicken and eggs, making the novel much lighter and natural. I now want to find out how to make the perfect baked eggs. The magical realism within the novel was a welcome change, which I do not normally enjoy. I like my novels to have some elements of realism but they way in which Samantha brought this story together made it much easier to believe that Max could still be alive.

It is very hard to tell you anything I didn’t like about the novel! If pushed I would tell you that perhaps I would have liked to have found out more about Rose and Jonathon as well as Brad and Simon, feeling that their stories were never really looked at or completed.

As you can probably tell I loved this novel! I borrowed this book from the library and because I love it so much will now be purchasing a copy so I can come back and read this book again. I would recommend this novel to everyone, and have been doing ever since I finished the book. You can’t begin to understand how incredible this novel is until you read it for yourself, and then you will be taken away with the story and laugh cry and hope along the way. I am eagerly awaiting another novel from Samantha Sotto and will be first in the queue for the next book.