Anna and the French Kiss- Book Review

Book Review- Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins. 4.5/5 Stars on GoodReads

                                                                    

Anna and the French Kiss follows the story of 17 year old Anna. Anna has just arrived at School of America in Paris, France to finish up her high school career. Anna really just wants to stay in Atlanta and finish up her senior year with her best friend Bridgette and work at the movie house with her crush, Toph.

Anna feels very out of place since she doesn't know any French at all, and really can't get around. Her dorm neighbor, however, Meredith- Mer for short, changes all that. Mer introduces Anna to all of her friends and is able to sit with them during their meals, and go out with them at night. It is during one of these meal times that Anna meets Etienne St. Clair. Etienne helps her order food and is very nice to her. He is also very attractive. But Anna can't persue that relationship because Etienne is in a well established relationship with someone already. 

Througout the story, Anna builds her relationships with her new friends and becomes more and more involved with Etienne, to the point where you can feel the lust between the two of them. The two of them can't seem to spend much time apart.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Although Anna is in another country, she still tries to maintain her friendship with her best friend and crush, but through no control of her own, they start to drift apart. When Anna comes home for Christmas, she learns that Bridgette and Toph are dating, and it tears Anna's world apart. She stops speaking with Bridgette and wants nothing more to do with either of them.

When Anna returns back to the school after the holiday break, Etienne and Anna finally kiss! But what she didn't anticipate doing, was hurting her new good friend Mer. Mer also had a crush on Etienne, so she felt betrayed when Anna did this (even though Etienne already had a girlfriend).

Anna ends up getting in a big fight with a bully at her school, get's in trouble defending Mer's honor (the bully said derogatory things about her), and ultimately realizes that she did the same thing to Mer, that Bridgette did to her. The end of the story shows Anna patching things up with Bridgette. 

The story concludes with Anna and Etienne being together...finally!

I feel that this story took too long for the two of them to get together. This is where the teen-angst came in to bring it down a half star for me. But really, this book was super cute and a must read for anyone looking for a book about love and friendship.

Bookshelf Organization!

Bookshelf Organization!

 

So I purchased another bookshelf to add to my collection (I had 3), and now I have 4 beautiful shelves to house my friends...uh, I mean books. Yeah, books. I had them at different points in my room, so I decided to move them all to make one giant book wall! Whoa, the work to get them all looking nice was a chore! See my progress?!

 

Emptiness!

Anxiety....all on the floor! *Gulp*

Ahhh, that's better!

Work it...angle it baby!

Oooh that side looks good too!

 

I also filmed a bookshelf tour that you should check out. They are in two parts, so I will link them here:

Part 1- http://youtu.be/gaNiwG74C4U

Part 2- http://youtu.be/IaBGosiQ24o 

 

I really hope that you enjoy watching my bookshelf tour, because it was a pain to film and edit...I literally spent 12 hours just filming and editing because I accidentally deleted all of my filming and edits and had to figure out how to recover them. Oh the pain! Who needs sleep though, when you have bookshelves like these to look at, right? RIGHT?! ;-)

Slammed- Book Review

Book Review- Slammed, By Colleen Hoover. 5/5 Stars on GoodReads

 

                                                                             

Slammed follows the story of 18 year old, Layken, her 9 year old brother and her Mother, Julia who just moved to Michigan from Florida after her father passed away 6 months prior from a heart attack.

When Layken-Lake- arrives to her new home in Michigan, she meets their new neighbors, 21 year old Will and his younger brother.

The younger brothers both hit it off right away, as do Lake and Will. They end up falling for each other rather fast as there seems to be a deep connection between the two of them. However, not one week later, circumstances ensue that will not allow the two of them to be together.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

During Layken’s first day of school, she goes into one of her classes but finds Will out on the hallway. They are both surprised to see each other, and then realize that Will is her teacher and Layken is still in High School.

We learn that Will lost his parents in a car crash 2 years ago, and since then, he has been raising his younger brother and doubling up on college classes so that he can graduate early and be financially able to support them both. Because of this, Will cannot lose his job at the school and tells Layken that they can no longer see each other.

The love between Layken and Will is so strong that there is a huge pull in the whole novel. But we understand the importance of them not being able to be together.

We also meet Layken’s new Best Friend, Eddie, and hear about her trials and tribulations which keep you loving every character within the book!

Well into the middle of the book, we are lead to believe that Julia, Layken's mother, is having an affair. However, we learn that she is dying of cancer. This pulls on our heartstrings so much that all we can do is feel the love/loss that Layken is experiencing.

In the end, Will and Layken end up being together since Will was transferred to another school because of a fight between him and another student (that other student was trying to take advantage of Layken, and Will punched him).

Layken’s mother dies, and I have to say that I am happy that Colleen Hoover didn’t go into detail about it (had it in the epilogue) because I don’t think that my heart  could have taken much more!

I recommend this book to anyone who has had love/loss in their lives…and pretty much anyone, for that matter!

New Blogger!

Hi Everyone! I am posting my very first blog for the love of my books! I am a BookTuber and have enjoyed reading for my whole life.

I enjoy all kinds of books, including but not limited to; YA, New Adult, Sci-Fi, Romance, Dystopia, Historical Fiction, and anything that draws my attention! ;-)

You can connect with me below;

Twitter- https://twitter.com/AmberJHyde
YouTube-  https://www.youtube.com/user/Amberblueaz
Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/19059495-amber-hyde

I look forward to connecting with you all!