12/17/13: Top Ten Tuesday: Writer Newbies

This meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. 

December 17: Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2013

On this topic I could write a million authors, but I'll just do my favorite new ones of this year.

• Huntley Fitzpatrick
• Huntley wrote one of favorite books this year, My Life Next Door. I'm ad so excited to read her next few books when they come out!
• Kevis Hendrikson
• He is definitely a new author for me this year. I appreciated getting the chance to read his books this year.
• Marie Lu
• OoOoOo, probably my favorite dystopian author this year. Her books blew me away.
• Lauren Kate
• I'm still reading her series, Fallen, and I don't know what I think of them yet. I think I'm leaning towards three stars, but I don't know, maybe she'll surprise me!
• Madeleine Roux
• I really loved falling into her zombie novels, Allison Hewitt is Trapped and Sadie Walker is Stranded, and really must read her Asylum novel.

• Rainbow Rowell
• I think she'll be on everyone's list this year. Quite the breakthrough writer. 

• John Green
• I DO NOT REGRET A THING. These books were so good and I love what John does with his brother and everything about it is wonderful and happy.
• Tahereh Mafi
• I think these books were so very unique. Shatter Me and Unravel Me just blew me away. 
• Cassandra Clare
• Ha. Hahaha. See John Green.
• Tamera Ireland Stone
• I also enjoyed divulging my self in her books. I liked that romantic and timey wimey feel they had. 

~Monty

12/15/13: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss

Cover: I don't like the original cover (which is the edition I actually had), but the remade covers (the one above) that are one shade or color, are absolutely beautiful.

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Genre: Contemporary, Romance

Goodreads Blurb: Anna is 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. Which is why she is 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?

Published/ing: December 10, 2010 Dutton

Rating: 4/5

Review: 

I enjoyed this book quite a lot.

At the beginning, it started out a bit slow and general. I was angered by the fact that the main protagonist was mad about being sent to France. Who wouldn't want to be sent to France?

But then we meet our wonderful side characters. Each of which has unique and capturing personalities that help the plot move along.

But I'd like to talk about out two main characters: Anna and St.Clair.
Anna is such a quirky, sweet, and innocent girl. I love that she loves reviewing movies and is very independent. I feel like I connected with her on a personal level. She is very realistic.

St. Clair is the dream boy OF ALL dream boys. An American boy with an English accent living in France. I melted the at the first description of him. And so did Anna.

But they both had their boundaries. Anna knew that St.Clair had a girlfriend and Anna's roommate was crushing on St. Clair. She knew he was off limits. And I'm glad she respected that for the most part.

St. Clair was a bit confusing. He never seemed to make up his mind. He knew what he want, but he didn't want to hurt anyone to get what he wanted creating this spider web of problems for all the characters.

I think their romance was a little off kilter at some points, but I liked how it flattened out in the end. 

Overall, the setting was excellent and the writing wasn't the best, but still pretty good. You could definitely tell Stephanie Perkins did her research for each and every element of the story. 

Future News:

The third and final installment in this trilogy will come out May 13th of next year.