Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE HUNGER GAMES.
If you have yet to read, DO NOT read this review!

Find my The Hunger Game's review here!

Typically, while reading a series, as soon as I've finished one book, I move right into the other. Oh, sure, that's that momentary downtime it takes to digest the book, to settle over my thoughts. So many books in a series love to utilize the cliffhanger ending, though, so more often than not, I'm ready to dive right into the next book.

Not the case with the Hunger Games series.

I had to use a couple days to digest the first book. Reading was easy (and I say this loosely, given my anxiety attack [1]) and happened in one sitting. The book gripped me and I stayed up all night, through until dawn lit the basement so much I no longer needed the flashlight app on my phone. But afterwards, even though I crept through my morning-soaked basement and woke my fiancé up climbing back into bed and kicking him around, even though I had Catching Fire in my hand, I couldn’t sleep.

I was strung out, okay?

Catching Fire picks up a few weeks or so after the ending of The Hunger Games, which is nice, because at this point, Katniss is attempting to “settle” back into her old life – except, you know she’ll never be able to. [2] Not because, as a reader you realize this is a trilogy and big things are happening, but after surviving the Games, life will never be normal again. It doesn’t help that Panem is caught in a ripple – and Katniss is the pebble.

After she and Peeta trick-won the Games, you would think she’d be able to catch a break. Go home, do some hunting with Gale, ignore Peeta’s icy frigidness. She has more money than she’ll need for her lifetime with which to take care of her mother and Prim, she has a brand new house and electricity and hot water. And, as a bonus, Katniss can’t be reaped again. Life is supposed to be good.

Except, after tricking the Capitol, a movement has started, and even if it hadn’t been Katniss’s intentions, full blame falls on her. That one seemingly inconsequential act has entirely way more consequences than Katniss could ever have expected – beginning with the ripples leading to an uprising. And with these rumors of rebellion in the air, President Snow wants someone to pay.

It isn’t hard to guess who’s going to pay.

But go ahead. Take a few seconds and guess.

Because if you said “Katniss Everdeen”, you are more than correct!

A surprise visit from President Snow informs Katniss that her life is so far from safe. Lives are on the line – and this time, it isn’t just Katniss and Peeta’s. With threats on the lives of everyone dear to her, Katniss has to be sure that everyone believes in her and Peeta’s passionate love, but even that might not be enough.

SO MANY FEELINGS, OKAY?! SO. MANY. FEELINGS. But mostly crazy anxious stressy feelings.

It’s so hard to write about the book without giving away spoilers, so I’ll do my best for you, I promise.

But where The Hunger Games made me so anxious I was ready to puke, Catching Fire made me bit my nails – and I can assure you, I NEVER bite my nails.

Everything about this series wrought with tension and anxiety! There's all these moments where nothing is happening, but you're waiting and you're on the brink of despair because TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WAAAH! The Capitol is not just harsh and domineering, but violent and in absolute control. Ab-so-lute con-trol. Every action has the potential for a dangerous reaction, and that alone is a nerve-wracking hardship.

And President Snow is one ruthless, anger-inducing man. Plus, he smells like blood. Blood! That is mega-creepy. His violence knows no bounds, though, and it’s clear through all the scenes featuring him – and even the ones he’s not in. I don’t really dislike many people in the series, but I really hate President Snow at this point. Like, blood boiling, rage-inducing HATE.

For a while, I was teetering between how much I liked Catching Fire. At no point in time did I find myself disliking the book. Second books in series have that issue of being a gap filler. Book one sets the world, sets the characters, sets the motion. Book three has your final action, your resolution, a sort of sense of closure. But your second book tends to be less enjoyable – it’s filling a gap. In the beginning, I guess that’s how it felt to me. It was filling a gap, bridging one book to the other, and I couldn’t fathom how they were going to fill the book. And of course, in reflection, it makes so much brilliant sense. What other way could you fill the book?

Once again, this series introduces fantastic characters. That is something I feel Collins does really well. Rather than these secondary characters whose sole purpose is to move along a plot, the new characters have lives and dimension. They are likable and hatable, but they are real and more than just plot devices. And for the record, Finnick Odair? You can share your sugar with me, any day. Hurr hurr.

The thing I like least about this book? How about that whopper of a cliffhanger?! I’m not new to cliffhangers, but this is just a terribly, crippling ending! I’m lucky to be reading these once the books have already been posted because I cannot imagine finishing that book and knowing you still had to wait for the last book.

I promise you. It’s a crazy cliffhanger.

Unfortunately, there were times where I felt like the pacing of this book was too fast. It didn’t leave me confused, but sometimes, the pacing left me with whiplash. One moment, we’re at this point, and then two paragraphs later, we’ve completely moved on! I guess I didn’t like the rushed feel of it, even though I realize that’s entirely what Collins was trying to do: rush and create the sense of tension, anxiety, and frantic moments.

Something that’s really well-done, though, is the love triangle. Typically, I’m not a huge fan of them. More often than not, one male is “ideal and perfect” and the other boy is a poor sap who’s been strung along and clearly not the choice option. Again, Collins escapes this tried cliché with two males who are both whole and both make good options. Peeta’s affections for Katniss are nothing short of whole and true and Gale causes a sort of pang when you realize that, outside of his family, he has no one else but Katniss. And Katniss, miraculously, cares about both males and isn’t so much as torn between them as she doesn’t want to hurt either.

But what I found I liked more is that Katniss isn’t seeking romance. Her story is about so much more than romance and boys and “Team Gale” vs. “Team Peeta”, and that was awfully comforting, in a Young Adult novel. Her life is in danger. Her family and loved ones are in danger.

And fans are engaging in shipping wars?!

Let it not be forgotten that the Hunger Games is a series about so much more than one girl choosing between two boys. And if you do feel like talking about love? Let’s not forget that everything Katniss ever does is for her family – especially Prim.

For a while, I teetered between 4 and 5 stars for this book. At no point did I feel it really dragged and it did have me gripped from the start. Because, once again, reading this book I found myself insatiable and ravenous, even as I chewed on my nails in the middle of the night and anxiety clawed at my chest. In the end, it's definitely worth the five stars! 

★★★★★

Notes: [1] While reading Catching Fire (and The Hunger Games), this was basically my inner tumoirl: 

  

Basically, it was a traumatic experience. I get so stressed, so distressed, so nervous, so anxious, I become a glass case of emotion. I can't help myself. :( It's a normal reaction, I think, but man, I end the books feeling like I've run a marathon all night. I'm exhausted by Katniss's life. 

Guys, if I was her. I would be dead. I'd have died way back before the books began, though, after her dad died. Just starved to death. ;~;

[2] Face it. Even with her life eased via money and a great new home and knowing she can never be reaped again and Prim is safe from the tesarae, how can her life ever be easy again? Look at Haymitch, who turned to alcohol! Her life is now plagued with nightmares from the arena. She killed people to save her life! She sat with Rue as she died. How does anyone ever recover from that?! How can anyone think of romance in this world?! Do you blame her apathy towards marriage? If I was her, I wouldn't want to marry and have kids, either! The chance that you'll watch your own child get reaped? The fact that winner tribute's kids almost always get reaped? No. No way. I can't blame Katniss, either.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Confession: I'm a sucker for book covers.If the cover is pretty, interesting-looking or just different, there is around a ninety-seven percent chance that I will buy the book. It doesn't matter if the summary on the book jacket sounds silly or potentially rage-inducing; I will buy said book because the cover is pretty and for all I know the book may actually turn out to be good.

Because of this, I've stumbled across books that I've immensely enjoyed (Julie Anne Peters' Luna, I'm looking at you) and books that I've absolutely detested (the first four House of Night books, for instance, which - yuck). As of late, however, the results of my ludicrous book-shopping tendencies have either fallen in the 'it was okay/mediocre' or just 'What the hell did I just read?' categories. As such, I've quite rightly (Hah!) grown wary of books with pretty covers.

And so, when I stumbled across this particular book, my eyes narrowed and my lips pursed[1] because while the cover is not necessarily 'pretty' it is certainly interesting enough for most people to look at it at least twice. The summary on the book jacket was kind of ambiguous, and to tell you the truth, rather formulaic. And by that I mean that it sounded like the story of just another Plain Jane (who, of course, really isn't a Plain Jane and everyone knows it but her) pining after a boy who not only doesn't return her feelings (except that, of course, he totally does) but also goes out of his way to publicly humiliate her (which is, of course, done for her own good).

See? Formulaic. And rage-inducing.

Even so, I shrugged off my doubts, admired the pretty, long black hair the model on the cover of the book possessed [2] and paid for the book, hoping for the best. Or at the very least, very little disappointment.

Fallen tells the story of Lucinda (Luce) Price, a girl who was sent to a school with he most ridiculous name to ever exist (Sword and Cross) because she's suspected of Arson. The place the school is located in dates back the Civil War, complete with its own cemetery and church-turned-gym. The students are strange or crazy, many with tracking bracelets on their wrists; there are security cameras everywhere and a fence to keep them in. Within an hour of being there, Luce immediately befriends a slightly questionable (albeit tolerable to me, as the reader) girl called Arriane and sooner than you may think, she's already drawn to a beautiful boy[3] called Daniel. Strangely, Luce has the feeling that she knows him from somewhere, but she doesn't get the chance to ask him if they've met because as soon as Daniel spots her, he gives her the finger[4] Luce is (quite rightly) surprised by the reaction this complete strange had to her, but nevertheless she doesn't find it in her to return the feeling of animosity he has towards her.

Throw into the mix an awkward best friend, an incredibly handsome suitor and the shadows that have been chasing Lucinda since the day she was born, and you have something that may even be mildly interesting.

It isn't.

I compare reading Fallen to have the shadows that chase Luce cover your eyes and make you walk down the street, with only your ears to help you narrowly miss (though not always) the passing cars. Except it's not the shadows the ones who deserve the blame for this; the culprit is the main character, Lucinda, and by extension, Lauren Kate. I don't really know what anything looked like; the prose was laughable and thus, the descriptions were poorly drawn, and sometimes conflicted. Visualizing the setting was impossible, and though I'd like to blame it on the fact that I've never been to Georgia (where Sword and Cross is), it just has a lot to do with the fact that Kate spends pages describing the staggering beauty of Luce's love interests and barely a paragraph at all on the reform school the main character attends to. I know sexual tension is the driving force in paranormal romances, but the plots have to at least make sense, as do the settings. This reform school she was sent to, had cameras everywhere but lacked the adult supervision that is common in normal boarding schools. I wasn't ever satisfied with an explanation why Luce, present at the scene of a tragic accident that happened before the book started, needed to even be at a reform school.

Whatever plot there is moves excruciatingly slowly, and every time something with the potential of being remotely interesting happened, Lauren Kate utilized her favourite tactic: She made Luce downright stupid, ignorant of everything but her school crushes. Although, if I'm being honest, this was something that happened all the time; Luce wavers through every single scene, allowing others to take control of her life and tell her exactly what to do and say - or not to do or say.Whenever she was called 'a bore' or a 'selfish, stupid teenager' I was inclined to agree, found myself having no sympathy for her at all, and rooting for the villain. To say that I understood the rest of the characters would be a lie, as Kate seems to go out of her way to stifle any possible character development there could be, because maybe it may be a spoiler for something she has in store for her next book[5]. But not unlike Luce, I wasn't supposed to notice that I wasn't getting any answers (except I did). I was supposed to be consumed by the hot guys the main character spent the entirety of the book lusting after (but I wasn't).

In short, Fallen is almost five hundred pages of Luce's internal dialogue of self-deprecation and confusion with the story sometimes happening in the background.[6]

NOTES

1- That was surprisingly not a shout out to the fact that Luce seems to do those exact two gestures every other page. It's kind of the way she reacts to everything:

Person A: Luce, the dog pooped in the living room!
Luce: *Narrows eyes and purses lips*
Person A: Luce, have you seen my chapstick?
Luce: *Narrows eyes and purses lips*
Person: LUCE, THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO END AND I NEED YOU TO KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU!
Luce: *Narrows eyes and purses lips*

2- I've always had a fascination with black hair. Blame JRK's description of Harry having jet-black hair (I blame her for a lot of things, so it's okay if you do) if you want, but that doesn't change the fact that I LOVE black hair. It also doesn't help that I've actually, in my entire life, only a met one girl who happened to have natural black hair.
3- Whatever happened to falling in love with a perfectly cute, albeit kind of average looking boy? I realize that there's nothing ~fascinating~ about that, but come on. Not only does it get old but IT'S ALSO UNREALISTIC, which I know shouldn't even be brought up because this is all fictional, but still. What message does that sent? That only people with outstanding good looks can be qualified as your One True Love. Fuck that right in the, er, place where the sun normally doesn't reach you? Anyways.
4- You'll have to forgive my excessive use of capslock but, I AM TIRED OF FICTIONAL GIRLS PUTTING UP WITH WHATEVER CRAP BEHAVIOUR HER LOVE INTEREST GIVES HER AT FIRST. I KNOW DANIEL HAD ~LEGITIMATE REASONS~ FOR HIS BEHAVIOUR [7] BUT THAT DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT HE WAS STILL AN UTTER ASS TO HER FOR ABOUT ONE HUNDRED PAGES! AND THEN, SUDDENLY (FOR WHATEVER ASININE REASON I CAN'T REMEMBER BECAUSE LUCE IS A BORE) HE ISN'T AND HE'S IN LOVE WITH HER AND SHE'S READY TO DIE FOR HIM (this is a legitimate quote from the book, right after he kisses her, which - WHAT THE HELL!!!) EVEN THOUGH ALL SHE KNOWS ABOUT HIM IS THAT HE'S BEEN A CONSTANT ASS TO HER EVER SINCE HE SAW HER. BUT OF COURSE ~FORGIVING~ THIS IS EASY BECAUSE A-) SHE FEELS AS THOUGH SHE'S KNOWN HIM ALL HER LIFE (BARF!!!) [8] AND B-) BECAUSE HE'S FINALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO HER.


I CAN'T EVEN WITH THIS CRAP REASONING.


GIRLS, HAVE SOME SELF-RESPECT, I BEG YOU. AND I NEVER BEG.


5- The sequel of this book is called Torment, and is already out and I won't be reading because I know that the only one who will be in torment if I read it will be me and not stupid Lice, I mean Luce.
6- Sound familiar? It should! Because it's Twilight all over again! And just about 75% of all the YA novels out there right now, too! Ugh.
7- Did I mention that the main plot of the book is that Luce is basically an old soul (LOL!) who is destined to meet Daniel, fall in love with thim and then die because a-) their love is forbidden since b-) he's a fallen angel. (another LOL!) If I didn't mention, though, my apologies; I just kind of have a hard time remembering that THIS is the plot of the entire book when it doesn't really get the importance it deserves because lusting after two hot boys (who happen to be fallen angels who don't like each other, of course!) is way better. Yipee!

7.1 I'm not even going to go over the fact that both of these themes (old souls and fallen angels) are fairly popular right now, because I actually like them. The problem is that writers rarely make them work, and Lauren Kate was obviously not the exception to this rule.
7.2 Don't ask me for specifics or any mythology in regards to the fallen angels or the old souls. Because there was none. All I know is that the shadows had something to do with both, but the details were quite poorly given (if at all) because, again - lusting after two hot boys is way more important than the things that have brought you misery for the past sixteen years or so. Yipee!

8- I just realized number eight was rather unnecessary. See: old souls.

★

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Oh, look, it’s another case of “that one book Reader Girl never expected to read”! It doesn’t happen as much as it sounds – maybe. Perhaps I’ve deluded myself!

It’s no secret that the Hunger Games have swept the world. And I admit – I am way late to the bandwagon. People have been praising this series for years now. The last book has been published and devoured by the masses and I’m still trickling behind. Give a girl some credit! I can’t even watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show without getting a little squeamish. What in the world gave me the mad idea I could love these books with the rest of the world?

Set in the future, is the dystopic world of Panem, in the ruins of what once was North America. These dystopias aren't exactly uncommon in current mainstream YA, right? In a world ruled by the Capitol, an overseeing government bent on reminding its people just how very much control they have over the 12 districts, we find an annual tradition horrifyingly similar to Roman Gladiators. Each year, every district sends one male and one female as a “tribute” to fight in the Hunger Games.

That is to fight to the death. Let me rephrase that for you: 24 kids aged twelve to eighteen are sent to fight each other to the death. Did I mention that it’s on live television? For everyone to watch.

Go ahead. Pause. Let that sink in a little bit.

Katniss hails from District 12, where everybody mines coal. If it wasn’t for the hunting done by she and her best friend Gale, her family would have starved long ago. Yeah the Peace Keepers suck, but some turn a blind eye to the illegal hunting. Life is far from cozy for Katniss, and it’s due to these hardships she’s bitter as she is. And I’ll go ahead and say it – Katniss is a bitch. And you know what? I don’t mind it. It’s nice to see a kick ass heroine worried about more than shallow aspects of life: her friends, boys, who does or doesn’t like her. Singlehandedly, Katniss pulled her family out of danger and literally saved their lives.

Yeah. Her life pretty much sucks.

And it only sucks more when her sister is chosen as a tribute during the reaping. And yeah, it gets worse, when Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place.

Now that is a display of family loyalty. Her willingness to take the place of her sister is noted as incredibly huge. Few people actually do it.

It’s so hard to write this without giving away spoilers. I’m trying, I promise.

Hunger Games is something I haven’t seen in YA fiction lately. It is gripping. I literally could not put the book down, because something inside me kept urging me to finish and get to the end. I laid in bed beside my boyfriend, using my phone for a light, because I couldn’t bear to sleep before I made it to the end. Let’s be perfectly honest here: I thought I was going to puke. It was intense, it was gritty.

The Hunger Games is wrought with tension and the pacing is perfect. Action scenes did not drag the book down, but added a heavy, terrifying impact. Kids were killing each other! And holy crap, that’s terrifying! It is survival of the fittest and wave after wave of nausea kept striking me down in my anticipation to just get to the end and see how it all pans out. Katniss had to make the kind of moral choices that would have gotten me killed. It was humanity versus survival, and finding the overlap between the two is next to impossible. This was so much worse than the kids in Lord of the Flies killing Piggy – and trust that that scarred me. I feel like the book picked me up and carried me piggy back style – because there was no other way I could have made that journey on my own.

I feel like so much of it was brilliant and, dare I say it, breath taking.

So what is it that left me so unsettled? I guess the romantic aspect just left a weird taste on my tongue. It wasn’t entirely bitter, but I certainly hadn’t just consumed the most delicious dessert in the existence of all time.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved the characters. I was fiercely fond of Katniss, who was strong and so family-oriented, and so amazing. I was crazy about Peeta who seemed too impossibly sweet for such a dangerous bloodbath. I was beyond crazy about Rue, who manage to surprise me all the while holding my hand. I even enjoyed the other tributes, one-dimensional as they are. When we see them only through the eyes of Katniss, whom is competing against them, I can’t expect to get to know them too well.

I guess I’m just torn on the romance. As a romance, it’s actually rather cute, given the circumstances. But used as a survival tactic… I guess, caught in the in between of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, I’m simply teetering as Katniss is. If she doesn’t know how to feel about it, how am I supposed to? In the end, I suppose my issue stems from Katniss’s naiveté; she can read people, she can fight for her safety, yet when it comes to reading the romantic clues, she is not just blind but naïve. No, it didn’t hold up the book for me, but it was certainly an undercurrent running through my mind.

Going into this, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. A gory, horrific blood bath? A trite romance somehow set in a collosseum? And what I got was a whirlwind. A slap in the face, a shattered heart, and a sense that I might never be quite the same. At times painful, at times swoon-worthy, The Hunger Games captured my heart – and occasionally drove an arrow or two through it. But it was brilliant and fast paced! I can safely say the emotional turmoil was far from anticipated, and in the end, it left me weary.

And hungry.

You know. For the next novel. 

★★★★

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I know, I know. This review is so belated! It's not like I haven't read this book five times since it came out. It's not like everybody and their mother has likely written this same review. The chances are you as a reader have probably read this book - maybe twice. But what better way to start than to do so with one of my favorite books as of recent? 

Most teenage girls would jump at the chance to visit Paris, France. Anna Oliphant, however, is more than reluctant when shipped there to a boarding school. Out of place in a foreign country with little experience in the native language and entirely out of her element around children of senators and Very Important People, Anna is able to adapt with the help of a close-knit group of friends, including the very gorgeous but very-taken Etienne St. Clair. Friendship is effortless, but quickly develops beyond that. St. Clair is off limits, though – even if he flirts with Anna and drops hints, which can’t possibly be hints. Complications, undoubtedly, arise, in a series of mixed signals, tender moments, and the sweet budding of possibility.

Told with impeccable pacing, the tension grows and leaves readers wondering: Will they ever?

I have made no secret my love of this book. I love the three-dimensional and realistic characters. I love the fantastic writing, the amazing descriptions, and the simplicity of the storytelling. I love authenticity and relatability of the plot. It’s humorous, it’s witty, it’s playful, and it’s delightful. 

You want some honesty? I never intended to read this book. I missed John Green raving about the brilliance of this book. I'd read about it, of course, and I cast it aside, under the inane premise that is one of those novels I hate - you know, the ones that take place on the beach and people fall in love in two months and the characters are so unfathomable I can't make it three pages in? I figured it would be stifling romance, and likely cliched at the same. And then my friend Michelle raved about it. Raved. I trust Michelle! She's never lead me wrong (see also: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour). If Michelle was in love, then I could surely try. So, I ordered the book and thought I'd give it a try.

And boy did I ever fall in love. I fell in mind whirling, toe-curling, butterflies in my stomach, I may puke I'm so delightfully in love love. 

From the opening, Stephanie Perkins had me wrapped around her creative little finger, and I wasn't keen on unraveling any time soon.

Perkins, while not an elaborate writer, is a fantastic writer all the same. She uses no gimmicks and doesn’t hide her story for what it is: it’s a love story and Anna and the French Kiss is proof that sometimes, simple does it best. There are no paranormal beasts to stand in the way of true love, there is no danger to their union, and that alone was so refreshing.

Anna is your everyday girl. All she wants is to spend her senior year with her friends and maybe finally get together with that hot guy at work. She loves film and cinema, she loses herself to fantasy, she’s quippy and quirky, and she’s especially consoling. And then she goes to Paris and falls for St. Claire – and who can blame her? Even jaded as the “everybody loves him” male love interest is, you can understand how Etienne St. Clair – with his English accent and puppy dog eyes, can wrap so many people effortlessly around his finger. He is charming, he is charismatic – and he is very far from perfect. And it was his flaws, perhaps more so than his charisma and puppy eyes, that made me love him even more.

But friendship is complicated when you can’t help but fall for your best friend, and though Anna spends quite a deal of time bemoaning her inability to be with the boy who’s captivated so many of thoughts, you can’t even resent her for it! Who hasn’t fallen for the wrong person before, or found themselves attracted to someone who already has a partner? It feels unfair, it drives you mad, and sometimes, it makes you sick to your stomach.

Beyond the perfectly developed and well-executed main characters, though, even the side characters felt rounded and real! Through numerous scenes, you get to see Anna one-on-one with the various supporting cast and see her interactions with them, rather than using them to speed along a plot. Josh’s humor and relationship with St. Clair was honest and reminded me of male friends of my own. Meredith was a brilliant display that a female can be both a tomboy and feminine. And Rashmi is razor sharp and brilliant. While I’d have loved to see more of Meredith, especially with Anna, and Rashmi and Josh’s fighting was sometimes petty, it also felt very real.

And how often do you find that in YA?

Of course, there were times I wanted to strangle everyone in the books. At times, Anna or St. Clair said something and set back their entire development, and there were moments where I wanted to open Anna’s eyes and remind her of everyone around her. In other moments, she threw tantrums and reminded me, shock shock, of a teenager! But it also rang true to my own adolescence: we are so often clouded by selfishness and desire that we don’t keep ourselves in check.

Even if romance isn’t your style, Anna and the French Kiss is a refreshing breath of YA writing and worth the try. If the tension and pacing doesn’t somehow hold your attention, then Perkins’s tour of Paris can do it. Even those of us (aka me, Writer Girl) jaded by the allure of Paris and exhausted by the romanticized city fall for the breathtaking locations depicted by Perkins: the pâtisseries (pastry shops), the panthéon, the very streets themselves! At no point in time did I even forget I was in Paris. Perkins certainly brought me to Paris, France.

Anna and the French Kiss is a fun read. It’s light, it’s playful, and most importantly, it is real. The writing conjures those familiar butterflies of falling in love, it curls your toes, and delights you.

And frankly, my dear, if Anna and the French Kiss doesn’t do it for you, I don’t know what will. Hurry! Save yourself!

★★★★★

► Of Beginnings and Books

Welcome, welcome to our humble abode!

No, really. It’s quite humble and we don’t very much mind, thank you very much.

This blog is brought to you by Snarky Writer and Reader Girl! We are not merely hero and sidekick, but a beautiful harmony of… er… book review writing heroes… Or maybe we just really like books and find ourselves opinionated! Feel free to choose your own beliefs. I personally find the former idea a bit more enchanting.

We’ll spare you the usual long winded schtick and tell you straight up: we read books and we write reviews. Typically we read YA novels, but you’ll find sometimes Snarky Girl deviates outside that realm. No harm done, right? Yeah, maybe we’ll be picky and yeah, maybe we’ll praise books to the higher glories, but we can promise we’ll give you our true opinion. And trust me, if it sucks, it sucks. Better luck next time, bub!


Snarky Writer is a lady of twenty-one years old who was born and raised in the culturally rich and more often than not lovely belly bottom of the American Continent. She's currently a junior in University (though almost a senior!) and spends her time whining about her never-ending homework, and the fact that said never-ending homework only gets done at the last minute, because she spends most of her time either raging or fangirling all over tumblr. Snarky Writer (whom you may call Angie) luxuriates in morally ambiguous characters, well-built narrative arcs, television shows, McDonald's fries, and the sound one of her dogs makes when she pets it behind the ear.

Some of Snarky Writer's favorite books include:The Book Thief, the Harry Potter series (which give her a lot of feelings, and trust me when she says that not all of them are good), A Song of Ice and Fire series (which give her a lot of feelings, and trust me when she says that not all of them are good v.2) Como Agua para Chocolate, Suspiros de Fantasmas, Pride and Prejudice, Veronika Decides to Die, and several other books that she's failing to remember at the moment.

Reader Girl is a 23-year-old former Editor-in-Chief living somewhere between Neverland and Hogwarts – and she refuses to fully grow up. She’s an aspiring writer with a brave vendetta to revolutionize the world. Occasionally long-winded, she's nothing if not honest. When not writing stories and worlds of her own, she likes to read books and is pretending to plan a wedding. It looks like her young adult tale is coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean she can’t keep reading them! Though she prefers coffee to tea, she loves to cozy up with a book – and maybe her collection of giraffe plushies. But she won’t give an official statement on the latter. If she tries to update you on her writing progress, just smile and nod your head!

With an occasional penchant for sweet fluff; a morbid fascination for post-mortem narrations; an adoration of beautiful writing and details; and a fondness for intelligent, independent females, Reader Girl likes to try to give a lot of books a chance. 

Some of Reader Girl's favorite books include: The Book Thief, Neverwhere, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, The Realm of Possibility, Hunger Games, Before I Fall, If I Stay, Anna and the French Kiss, and the Percy Jackson series.

Feel free to subscribe to our blog via email or follow us with Google Friend Connect! Just check out the nifty gadgets in the sidebar! We cannot promise giveaways at this point, but maybe in time? We like to hope you'll join/follow us just because you like us. Or because we're pretty. Once again, take your pick! (But we'll just pretend it's both.) 

Feel free to introduce yourself! Snarky Writer and Reader Girl would love to know who's reading with them!