Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

I'm sure you all have fallen prey to book hype. You know, where there is so much talk about how great a book is, but when you finally get around to reading it you feel let down because it was built up so much? I have had this happen to me numerous times over the past year, and it makes me sad. I really wanted to like Stephanie Perkins' debut novel Anna and the French Kiss. I will admit that I was a bit worried that the hype would get in the way of an otherwise awesome book. You guys, that was not the case.

AT ALL.

I not only fell in love with this book, but I literally hugged it when I was finished reading it and went straight to my computer to pre-order it. I even made space for her on my bookshelf (her new neighbors are Evie and Sophie..I think they'll get along great). You want to know a little more about it, don't you? Well you're in luck...

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. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible.

The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

Anna and the French Kiss is a great story full of fantastic and witty writing, well developed characters, romance, tension, and kissing. There was only one thing bad about this book and that was that it should have been longer because I wanted more. The fact that I wanted more has nothing to do with the story itself, it's just because I'm greedy and didn't want it to end. If that's not enough for you to want to read this book I'll give you the main reason.

Etienne St. Clair.

Etienne is beyond swoon-worthy and quickly became one of my book crushes. I totally got the book crush butterflies when reading and he was also the only one this year to do that. Oh, Etienne how I love thee. OH! Plus, he has an accent. If that doesn't do it for you, I don't know what will. 

To my other book crushes: Marcus Flutie, Jamie Fraser, and Ron Weasley you boys have SERIOUS competition. Also, did anyone else notice that those three are all gingers? I just realized that today.

This is my favorite book of the year, so far, and I can't wait til later this afternoon for my brand new, shiny copy to appear on my doorstep. I will definitely be reading it again before the year is up.  

Thank you Stephanie for writing such a wonderful book and thank you Jessica for sharing your ARC with me. 

If you want to experience the awesome for yourself, you can purchase Anna and the French Kiss here.

This was also book #11 in the 2010 Debut Author's Challenge

Across the Universe - Beth Revis

One of the books that has gotten a LOT of buzz in the last few months is Across the Universe by Beth Revis. To be honest with you, I'm not much into sci-fi and wasn't sure whether or not I was going to dig it (even though I knew I'd read it eventually). Let this be a lesson to those who don't like to venture out of their comfort reading zone. I loved it.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming. 

First off, let me start by saying that this book has one of the best opening chapters. Not only that but the first SENTENCE is a real grabber and so began my wanting to read more. The writing is fantastic and Beth did a great job of not making it to sci-fi to where it would turn people who don't like it, off.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was that just when I was starting to think one thing, something else was introduced that totally threw me. The characters were well done and I liked Amy. There were quite a few times where all I wanted to do was hug her because of everything that was going on.

I'm not really going to say anything more because the book doesn't come out til next month. I WILL tell you that I hope you read this book when you get the chance and come back and tell me what you thought of it.

Leaving Gee's Bend - Irene Latham

First of all, I want to say that I have NO idea how I haven't put Leaving Gee's Bend on here yet! *scolds self*

Leaving Gee's Bend is a Middle Grade debut from the fabulous Irene Latham. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of meeting Irene at the Alabama Book Festival and to be honest, it was one of the most memorable events of 2010. I originally purchased the book in anticipation of the festival and getting it signed, but after hearing Irene speak about what inspired her to write this book, I knew it was going to be a gem in my collection.

Leaving Gee's Bend is a story about fear, heart, love, family, and courage. Ludelphia Bennett is a young girl who lives in the small Alabama town of Gee's Bend in the 1930s. Times are rough and when her mama falls ill, Ludelphia resolves to find the doctor in the neighboring town and bring her the medicine that will help her mom live. In order to do this, Ludelphia must find the strength to do things she's never done, including leaving her town for the first time. Through all this, Ludelphia collects pieces of fabric from her journey to create a quilt that will tell her story.

It's a relatively quiet book but it's powerful. The writing is beautiful and brilliant and it tells a beautiful story based on a real town and its quilters. When the time comes and I have children, this will be one of the books that I look forward to sharing with them. Irene is truly inspiring, not just through the pages of this book, but in real life.

Thank you Irene for such a beautiful book.

The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan

If you were with me on my blog earlier this year, you'll know that I spent some time reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and fell in love with it. I know Riordan came out with The Red Pyramid a few months ago but I just couldn't bring myself to read it because it was a new series and didn't take me back to Percy's world.

When I found out that he was starting a new series based around Camp Half-Blood and Percy, Annabeth, and company were going to make appearances, I think I literally squealed out loud.

So when the husband was ordering stuff off of Amazon, I asked him to add the book that was on my wishlist to the cart (it was scheduled to come out the next day). Two days later I had The Lost Hero in my hands and I probably just stared at the cover. Yeah, I know. It's a middle grade book and I'll be 26 in two weeks but WHO CARES? There's just something about this series and these characters that I absolutely adore.

I've now read the book and loved it just as much as I hoped I would. We're introduced to three new characters: Jason, Piper, and Leo. These three are now the main characters but the rest of the campers are still around and they're all faced with new problems.

I was intrigued right from the get-go. Jason has no memory of anything and before he knows it, he and his friends are up against Venti while on their field trip at the Grand Canyon. Next thing we know Annabeth is whisking them away to Camp Half-Blood and they're finding out all these new, crazy things and are sent out on their first quest. I really enjoyed Jason, Piper, and Leo and it's hard who to pick as my favorite (good thing I don't have to).

I started reading The Lost Hero and Freefall at the same time but as usual, Rick Riordan sucked me in and I had to stop reading (and playing Angry Birds) until I finished his book.

I know this post is kind off all over the place but I'm just so dang excited about having read it! I'm so bummed that I have to wait a year for book two to come out so I guess I'll just have to practice patience.

Paranormalcy - Kiersten White

Last month I read Kiersten White's debut novel, Paranormalcy and I absolutely adored it!

I'm going to make this pretty short and I'm not going to give a summary of what it's about but I DO want to say that I cannot wait for the next book. Kiersten, you totally had a grand-slam with this one.

I wasn't sure how I was going to like it because of the fairies. Fairies are the single most annoying supernatural creature, in my opinion, but she made it work. It did help that they weren't the primary focus of the book.

This book reminded me a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (tv show) and I couldn't help but hope that someday Mr. Pointy would meet Tasey and they would go off on adventures of their own. How awesome would that be?!

For the record, I'm still not sure if I trust Lend. I got this feeling about him when he was introduced and although he hasn't really done anything shady, I'm really expecting him to do something nefarious.

Go pick it up if you haven't read it. It's totally worth it and if you don't like it? Well, you'll have a beautiful cover on your shelf. Seriously though, you'll like it.

Banned Book Week

Just an FYI, but I've been posting about Banned Book Week over on my new blog and I'd love to hear your thoughts on my most recent post where I ask for your opinions on banning. Click here to participate!

It's official..

I'm having a blog affair and it's currently called Life, Love, and Literature.

To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this blog, I might link a few new posts over to that blog if they're relevant. I'm not deleting this one because I don't want to.

So if you feel the urge to follow me over there, I will be eternally grateful (I'm even hosting a giveaway of SPEAK for Banned Books Week) and love you forever.

Come check it out! Also? Yes, the layout is the exact same but only because I love it and didn't want to change the background. Don't judge :-)

The Auburn Writers Conference

For those of you who know me whether it be online or in real life, you know that one thing I love is Auburn; not just because I lived there or went to school there for a few years. Why you ask? Not only do I love the town or when everything turns orange on gameday (Go Tigers!) but I love how Auburn is not just a community, it's a family.

I moved to Auburn in 2006 and lived there until this past February. Of all the places I've lived in my twenty-five years (16 places), Auburn is tied for the top spot and will always have a place in my heart for the things I learned (academically and about myself), things I did, and for being the place where my husband and I had our first home.

When I heard that Auburn University would be holding the first annual Auburn Writers Conference in October I was VERY excited. Earlier this year I started my foray into writing thanks to Rachel Hawkins and Irene Latham for daring me to suck and telling me that everyone has a story to tell (and BOTH of them will be teaching workshops at AWC!). Then I found out that two of my internet-turned-real-life besties (Anna and Heather) would be going I had even more of a reason to sign up, and sign up I did!

Now with the conference only mere weeks away, my excitement level has risen considerably because not only do I get to take a trip back to the Loveliest Village on the Plains, but I get to spend time with wonderful friends, learn how to better my writing, meet new people, and bring others together.

If you're able to, I really hope you consider going to AWC this year. I know it's going to be an amazing and unforgettable experience. If the conference isn't enough to sway you, let me tempt you with the famous Toomer's Lemonade and Momma G's. I'll be there, will you?

You can also check out Chantel Acevedo's blog and a podcast where she talks about AWC to Offbeat Auburn.

I leave you with a few of my favorite Auburn memories:

My first fall as an Auburn student with Aubie and my now husband

One of our engagement pictures on the steps of Samford Hall

I was a volunteer at the Auburn University Southeastern Raptor Center

The graduate husband in front of the beautiful Samford Hall

Finally, many fall Saturday's were spent in Jordan-Hare (and yes, this was taken about 10 minutes AFTER the 2007 Iron Bowl ended :-))

WAR EAGLE!