Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 📚 BOOK REVIEW

Stephanie Perkins

I read a Norwegian paperback edition of Anna and the French Kiss.

Genre: YA, Romance, Contemporary

Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd

Originally published: December, 2010

Pages: 380 (paperback)

Synopsis by the publisher:

Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her attention. So she’s less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking of word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he’s taken—and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she’s been waiting for?

My thoughts:

YA/Teenage romance novels aren’t really the kind of books that I tend to gravitate towards. But once in a while, I crave some light and fluffy romance as my escapism from the world.
I’ve had Anna and the French Kiss on my shelf for years and while I was trying to pick my next read it just caught my eye. I have to admit that I was skeptical because I haven’t read a romance specifically targeted for teens in a really long time.

Right of the bat I just found the novel incredibly teen angsty which came as no surprise to be fair. Anna started as a very unlikeable character to me at first, but there was some character development there that made her less so after she came to Paris and had to grow up a little bit.
There were some things that I just found weird about the whole story. If Anna is such a movie nut (that wants to become the next big movie critic in the US) I just found it very unlikely that her knowledge of Paris and its love for movies and theatres were so extremely limited. It just seems unlikely that anyone who’s supposed to be a complete movie buff would’ve overlooked Paris as much as she had.
The teen romance in itself was cute enough. I don’t expect characters who are 17/18 to have the same insight and understanding of romance and emotions as those who I meet in adult romance novels. Even so, the back and forth between Anna and Étienne was a bit much for my taste.
I did appreciate the way that this story tried to put some focus on friendship as well, but I would’ve loved to see more of it. I think that YA novels tend to focus a bit too much on unrealistic love and relationships, and have way too much girl-hate in them.
But again, I’m not the targeted audience for this novel.

Anna and the French Kiss just wasn’t my cup of tea. I seem to have outgrown the angsty teen romance stories a bit, and especially when they’re filled with a lot of the tropes that generally dislike.
Would I have felt differently if I read this as a teenager? Probably. And I can see how a lot of younger readers could like this book, but for me, it was more of a reminder as to why I don’t find myself gravitating towards these kinds of stories anymore.

I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t particularly like it either. It was okay, but just not for me.

💛If you buy via my affiliate links, I get a small commission 💛

If It Bleeds by Stephen King 📚 BOOK REVIEW

Firestarter by Stephen King 📚 BOOK REVIEW

Stephen King

I read a hardback edition of Firestarter.

Genre: Horror, Science fiction

Publisher:  HODDER & STOUGHTON

Originally published: September, 1980

Pages: 428 (hardback)

Audiobook length: 14 hrs and 53 mins

Synopsis by the publisher:

Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson participated in a drug experiment run by a veiled government agency known as The Shop. One year later, they marry. Two years later, their little girl, Charlie, sets her teddy bear on fire by simply staring at it.

Now that Charlie is eight, she doesn’t start fires anymore. Her parents have taught her to control her pyrokinesis, the ability to set anything – toys, clothes, even people – aflame. But The Shop knows about and wants this pigtailed “ultimate weapon”. Shop agents set out to hunt down Charlie and her father in a ruthless chase that traverses the streets of New York and the backwoods of Vermont.

My thoughts:

Firestarter is one of those Stephen King novels that has been mentioned and recommended to me several times as a King classic. I’ve also talked to several readers who told me that Firestarter was their very first King book.
I stumbled across a first-edition of Firestarter at Mockingbird Used Books last year and I was excited to finally read it myself (even though it stayed on my shelf for a while before I finally got to it).

Firestarter starts with a bang, as Charlie and Andy are on the run from agents from The Shop (a secret government agency).
(✨The Shop is mentioned both in The Stand and The Dark Tower series. It has also been compared to The Institute and the agency is suspected to have a part to play in several other Stephen King stories as well)
And this story is one that never gets boring. Even the passages that are not as action-packed are filled with interesting character development and great storytelling. I know a lot of readers have an issue with some of the King stories dragging out too long and having unnecessary parts in the story, and I think Firestarter is a better choice for those readers.
Its fast pace and overall engaging story will take a hold of you and not let go before the story ends.

Charlie’s pyrokinetic ability is scary on its own, but the really terrifying thing in this story is a secret government agency who sees themselves above the law (isn’t that a secret fear a lot of us carry around with us?), and the terror that grows in Andy as he fears for his daughter’s future, life, and the limits (or possible lack thereof) to her abilities.

My favorite part of this story is the bond between Charlie and Andy, and how it grows with all their experiences throughout the book. Their relationship is the thing that keeps the story going and engages the reader.
Another favorite of mine was the character Rainbird, an agent/assassin of The Shop. He’s the perfect villain in the way that he’s a psychotic and amoral person, but his intelligence and lack of conscience makes for an extremely dangerous character and a whole new level of creepy. And he truly loves Charlie in his very own disturbing way.

Firestarter is one of those King novels that I feel like deserves more attention than it has gotten. It’s a gem of a story with all the right elements of a thrilling psychological horror read, with a dash of science fiction, that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Highly recommend!

💛If you buy via my affiliate links, I get a small commission 💛

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky 📚 BOOK REVIEW

Stephen Chbosky

I read a hardback edition of Imaginary Friend.

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Originally published: October 1st, 2019

Pages: 720 (hardback)

Audiobook length: 24 hrs and 32 mins

Synopsis by the publisher:

IMAGINE…
Leaving your house in the middle of the night.
Knowing your mother is doing her best, but she’s just as scared as you.

IMAGINE…
Starting a new school, making friends.
Seeing how happy it makes your mother.
Hearing a voice, calling out to you.

IMAGINE…
Following the signs, into the woods.
Going missing for six days.
Remembering nothing about what happened.

IMAGINE…
Something that will change everything…
And having to save everyone you love.

My thoughts:

It’s been five years since I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and to be completely honest, even though I really enjoyed that novel, I haven’t read anything else by Chbosky.

But then all of a sudden, Imaginary Friend started to pop up in my feed and was recommended to me a few times. It sounded like something that was up my alley. I then stumbled across a signed copy while I was in London last year and so it ended up traveling back to Oslo with me (adding quite a bit of weight to my luggage).

Imaginary Friend is a chunker of a book, coming in at 720 pages! So, if you’re not reading it on a Kindle or listening to it as an audiobook, be prepared for some heavy lifting.

I’m not really sure what I was expecting going into this one, but what I didn’t expect was forgetting several times throughout the book which Stephen had written this book. Because the truth is that it felt like reading a Stephen King novel!

This book is filled with interesting characters, and quite a few twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. And even though there’s much focus on the “monsters” and mystery of this imaginary friend that Christopher encounters, what really gives this story depth is the people and the horrors and evil that lives in them. This is what makes it feel like an early King novel. At one point I was almost certain that it must’ve been a prank of the Stephens, and at the end, Stephen King would jump out and reveal himself as the one with pen in hand.

I get the frustration that many readers might feel if they jumped into this novel with their utter love for the writing in Perks of Being a Wallflower, and what they got was a haunting horror story with a completely different writing style. But my horror-loving heart absolutely loved it and found it to be a pleasant surprise.

I (like so many others) struggled a bit with Christopher’s age. He’s supposed to be 7-8 years old, but he reads like a character of 10-12 years. Some of it does make sense though when you know what it is that Christopher goes through in this story. There are many ways of forcing kids to grow up too fast.

It is rare that I read books of this size and don’t find myself bored at any moment. Imaginary Friend definitely grabbed my attention and kept it from beginning to end. That being said, it still felt like the book could have been 100 pages shorter. Some parts of it felt just a tiny bit repetitive and unnecessary. That, and the vast amount of biblical references was the thing that made it into a 4.5 rating instead of a 5.

If you love your Stephen King novels, and you like to get lost in horror stories, I would definitely recommend giving Imaginary Friend a go! It’s dark, twisted, mysterious and haunting!

💛If you buy via my affiliate links, I get a small commission 💛

The Slug Queen Chronicles by S.O. Thomas 📚 BOOK REVIEW

S.O. Thomas

I read a digital edition of The Slug Queen Chronicles that I received for free from Reedsy Discovery in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: Children’s literature, fantasy.

Publisher: Ichigo Black Books

Originally published: March 28th, 2020.

Pages: 318 (Kindle edition)

Synopsis by the publisher:

Twelve-year-old Cricket Kane never believed in fairies, until one set its sights on her little brother. To get him back, she travels to a magical world full of cursed boogie men, female Santas, and living nightmares. She’ll stop at nothing to save her brother, especially after learning the sinister motives behind his kidnapping, but doing so might cost her life.

Can she find him and the other children before it’s too late?

My thoughts:

I love discovering children’s books as an adult that I just instantly know would’ve been a favorite if I’d read it as a child! The Slug Queen is one of those rare finds.

I picked this book because I wanted something light and easy to read, but little did I know that it would take me on a whirlwind of an adventure where I would meet so many magical and wonderful (some even slightly terrifying) characters.

Cricket Kane is the kind of adventurous girl that you can’t help but love instantly. She takes the reader by its hand and in a flash, you are whisked away to a land of magical beings and a female Santa. What’s not to love?

The dynamic between the characters is as magical and wonderful as they are, and the whole world that S. Thomas has created comes to life so easy and it makes for a story that’s really hard to put down. She’s built a world that’s filled with darkness, hope, love, terrifying creatures, magic, and quirkiness. I found myself sitting up at night, just needing to need another chapter, and one more, and one more.

Not only is this a magical, wonderful and fast-paced story, it also comes with gorgeous illustrations.

I have nothing but praise and love for this wonderful story. It’s one that I instantly fell in love with, and one that I will add to my library, reread, and read to my children.

I would highly recommend The Slug Queen to any reader who loves magical worlds and beings. Let Cricket take you on an adventure you won’t forget!

Thank you, S. Thomas, for sharing this magical story with the world.

Click on the Reedsy Discovery logo below to get to know more, maybe get your own copy, and let me know what you think of it💛