Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss
By Stephanie Perkins
Published by Dutton Books
372 Pages
16.99 (hardback)








My Must have Playlist:

What its about:
Anna was 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. So she's 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? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.

What I thought:

I want to take this book to dinner.  I want to read it over and over and over again.  I think every single girl everywhere should read this book before leaving home for the first time. I seriously want to cuddle with this book.  It leaves you feeling happy and in love.  I had goosebumps! 

Anna's Character is beautifully developed and I want to be her friend. She feels so real.  All the feelings she has when she leaves home the first time are feelings everyone feels, which makes it easy to associate with her.  She was easy for me to relate to since I work at a movie theater and love movies as well.  So beautifully written.  I adore St. Clair I don't even have words for how great and real he seems.  He's not Perfect but he is. 

I love the descriptions of Paris.  I was there just a year ago on my honeymoon and it felt like I was back there.  I wish I could write with as much attention to detail and beautiful scenery.  I know I'm coming off super cheesy in this review but I can't say I LOVE IT enough.   

I've skipped a bunch of reviews lately but I just feel like the world needs to hear about this one.  Go buy it!  for real. Right now!

My super long absence and Matched giveaway

Well I Know I've been missing from the book blogging world for a little bit.  I'm sorry!! I'll honestly probably only be reviewing books I feel pretty strongly about for a little while.  the reason being is I'm working on my own writing more and more and buying a house.. its nuts!! anyway if you are interested you can check out some of my short stories and short stories by my writing partners as well here. 

And you can enter to WIN a signed copy of Ally Condies Matched here!

Thanks readers!!

Review: Matched

Matched
By Ally Condie
Published by Penguin Group
366 Pages
17.99 (hardback)




My must have soundtrack:

What its about:

In the Society Officials Decide.
Who you LOVE, where you WORK. when you DIE.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate.  So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one...until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.  Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow--between perfection and passion.

What I thought:

I picked up Matched and before I knew it I was on page 186.  This book is so engrossing right from the start you'll lose all track of time reading it.  I started it at work and for once I actually didn't want to leave work because I'd have to stop reading.

When we first meet Cassia she is all trusting and innocent to how the world works.  As we follow her journey through Matched we see her grow in leaps and bounds.  She learns what it is to love to lose and to choose for herself. 

I fell in love with Xander immediately and cheered for their Match.  It was almost heartbreaking to meet Ky but I fell for him pretty quick too.  This is one of the roughest love triangles I've read, its hard to choose between two guys who seem so amazing.  All through the story you see just how much Xander cares for Cassia, and the extremes he'll go through to protect and help her.  Ky holds back so much in his life but he can't hold back with Cassia, he wants to share with her things he won't share with anyone else.

The storyline is easy to follow and fun to read.  I have serious cover envy, the cover is simple but fits the tone of the book perfectly!  I can't wait for Crossed which comes out November 1st.  And rumor has it Ally may be doing a tour in February and she'll be doing a stop in Salt Lake City! Can't wait to meet her!  To see if she is coming to your city and when keep checking here

Congrats to Ally to being number 3 on NYT best seller list that is so exciting!

I give this book:

Review: The Lost Saint

The Lost Saint
By Bree Despain
Published by Egmont USA
404 Pages
17.99 (hardback)







My must have soundtrack:

What its about:

A Family Destroyed
A Love Threatened
An Enemy Returns

Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi.  She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him.  and lost her beloved brother in the process.

Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot, a newcomer to town.  But as the two grow closer, Grace's relationship with Daniel is put in danger-- in more ways than one.

Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her-- not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.

What I thought:

Bree continues the Dark Divine series with The Lost Saint.  I was beyond excited to get this book.  It felt like I had been waiting forever for it.  It did not disappoint! Just like with The Dark Divine I was unable to put The Lost Saint down once I started.

We start to see a different side of Grace and as we worry we might lose her to the dark side, we fall for new characters and cheer on the old.  I was happy to see April and Grace get back to being friends and loved Aprils Jewelry company, maybe we'll see a jewelry line?  Jude is still such an enigma as we try to figure out just what his deal is we begin to wonder what if Daniel really isn't as trustworthy as we thought.

I love the font they picked to display Grace's inner wolf.  It looks Wolfy and give the book an added dimension.

This book has a killer cliffhanger ending and I'm 100% sure I'll go crazy waiting for the next book.  But TLS is worth the read!

I give this book:

The Lost Saint Release Party!

Happy Book Birthday to Bree's Book The Lost Saint!

To kick off the release of the book King's English had release party that I was lucky to go to with my awesome ladies!  Sadly I didn't get too many pictures and again didn't get a group picture, I really need to get better at that!

Bree did an amazing job talking about her book and her process of getting through it, which I always love hearing peoples writing stories.  Jenn, AKA the girl who ditched her book with Bree, asked about how Bree found an agent. Bree talked about AgentQuery.com.  Someday people will be asking Jenn those questions and maybe even me. 

Bree was beautiful and confident and very personable as usual!  I love that her family always comes to her events, what a great support system!

Thank you to the Hubs and Jenn's Sparky for babysitting tonight we love you guys and it was so much fun!

Bree thank you for writing these amazing stories! You're a huge inspiration and you keep us entertained! WE LOVE YOU!

Review: The Dark Divine

The Dark Divine

By Bree Despain

Published by: Egmont USA
372 Pages
17.99 (Hardback)

My must have soundtrack:

What its about:

Grace Divine-daughter of the local pastor- always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared and her brother Jude came home covered in his own blood. 

Now that Daniel's returned, Grace must choose between her growing attraction to him and her loyalty to her brother.

As Grace gets closer to Daniel, she learns the truth about that mysterious night and how to save the ones she loves, but it might cost her the one thing she cherishes most: her soul.

What I thought:

This is the second time I've read The Dark Divine, but I realized I never wrote a review the first time. 

The first time I read TDD it took me  about 3 hours and I read it straight through unable to put it down.  So my intentions in reading it this time was to slow down and really take my time, but again I couldn't put it down. 

I love the character Grace.  She feels like someone who could truly be friends with everyone. I love how Bree is able to make Grace feel like a real teenager and still give her great values and morals.  And of coarse who couldn't love Daniel.  You can feel his struggle and growth as he better learns who he is and learns to accept his feelings for Grace, and her feelings for him. 

I love the sweet love story that's intertwined with the twists and turns of this story.  The way Bree is capable of writing details and story lines, is what keeps me reading nonstop, even though it invokes a lot of jealousy in me from a writing stand point, I absolutely love her style!

TDD is definitely one of my favorite books and I can't wait to hear what's in store for Grace and Daniel next!  The Lost Saint comes on on Tuesday so make sure you pick it up along with TDD if you haven't read it yet! You'll be glad you did!  Also if you live in the Salt lake area, I expect to see you at the release party on Tuesday at Kings English, 7pm!

I Give The Dark Divine:

Richelle Mead Signing part 2 in SLC!!

Last night was the night we've been waiting for the night Richelle came to Salt Lake City!! *insert fan girl scream*  I got to go with a big group of my friends (most of which, I've gotten addicted to VA) and we had so much fun! This was the second time my awesometastic friend Jenn and I have seen Richelle the first time we flew to Portland, and were only there for a grand total of 18 hours, and if you'll remember we made her blog when we went!  Well I'm super excited to say we made the blog again check it out here! AHHHHH!!!!!

Being in the same room as the greatest Author I've ever read is a very surreal experience, not only is she extremely talented and brilliant she is gorgeous and very kind too.  Here she is doing her reading of Last Sacrifice.

Brave Jenn asked about our favorite Angel Carter and what his plan for Georgina is and we found out that he does have an agenda! 

This signing wasn't as organized as the one we went to in Portland when it came time to start signing books, and there was some confusion in the line, but I'm still thankful for Kings English for bringing Richelle to SLC and we did get some good pictures while we were waiting in line, since sadly there were no posed pictures at this signing, at least we got some in Portland:)

Jenn and I waiting in line 

Casie and Jenn





My beautiful Sisters and me!

Now I have to tell the story of the Jailbait shirt.  Casie is Jenn's sister and when I first met her I thought she was 17 or 18, alas no she was only 13.  So When I heard that she was coming to the signing I had to make her this shirt! It was so fitting!

We of course came with gifts for Richelle, because she deserves so much for everything she does!  We brought her a coffee mug!



Afterword we all went to the Cheesecake factory, and sadly I didn't get any pictures there or any pictures of the whole group which I'm very sad about. so you'll have to settle for a picture of my cheesecake that, yes I ate for breakfast! Don't Judge me!

White chocolate raspberry