Book Thoughts: Anna and the French Kiss

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins

I read this looking for a quick, fun, light-hearted read, and I was not expecting the emotional intensity that I found.

This book is fantastic. Absolutely freaking fantastic.

Anna is at an international boarding school in Paris for her senior year of high school. She misses her best friend and maybe-boyfriend back home, she misses the way she always thought her senior year would be, she misses home. But Paris has its draws -- including clever and charming (and taken) Etienne St. Clair.

I was expecting a cliched and cutesy story of girl-meets-foreign-boy. While it is definitely an adorable story of girl meeting foreign boy, it is not the cliched and cutesy read I was expecting. The characters seem so realistic and they have genuine emotional depth and I really love Anna as a narrator and it was so much fun to read about her. I cannot say enough good things about this book! St. Clair is awesome, Anna is a fantastic narrator and protagonist, the other cast of characters is fun too, and that's just the characters. The writing is brilliant, the story is engaging and endearing...

I was looking for something light-hearted and uplifting when I started Anna. I was worried for a little that there was going to be way more depth and genuine emotion than I was expecting but I could not stop reading. I was so engaged I'm pretty sure I actually cried at one point. But when I finished, I was able to put it down feeling the sense of lightheartedness I'd been looking for (and wishing for more adventures of Anna and St. Clair. Fortunately, they make a guest appearance in Lola and the Boy Next Door!).

I definitely recommend this one.

Book Thoughts: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins

I fell in love with Stephanie Perkins' first novel, Anna and the French Kiss (which I'm sure I'll post about at some point), and so I didn't doubt for a second that I would fall just as much in love with Lola. I wasn't wrong.

The stories are very different, and I think I honestly prefer Anna just because she's more like me, but Lola is such a fun and quirky character. I loved reading about her life, and her emotional struggles felt so real. (I won't lie - I cried.)

Also, Cricket! Wow! I love him. Okay.

I liked the way Lola's hot-rocker-boyfriend situation was handled, the way their relationship was portrayed so honestly. Relationships aren't always perfect and don't always last. And they leave emotional damage that can affect future relationships. And they can be hard to leave even when they're not healthy, because when you care about someone, it's easy to justify their flaws. All of that was handled so honestly and it was just excellent.

Also. Okay. Love love love Lola's friendship-enemyship-relationship situation with Cricket. Actually Cricket may be my favorite character in this book. (I mean, obviously I love Anna and St. Clair and they have more than just a passing appearance, but they're not main characters.) But Lola is worth reading just for Cricket, not to mention all the other fabulousness.

One other thing and then I'll shut up: Lola is the pseudo-adopted daughter of two gay dads (her birth mother is one dad's sister, if I remember right) and they play a large part in the story, but the novel is not about how Lola is the daughter of two gay men. It's so refreshing to see a story where homosexuality makes an appearance without the novel being ABOUT that, because that's how life is.

So, yes, definitely read this one, and also Anna and the French Kiss because it's (if possible) even more fabulous.