Review: My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories
Edited by Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library

Review: My True Love Gave to Me sports a cover so pretty, I want to frame it and hang it on the wall. Year-round, because I think it’s that awesome. I’m also happy to say that the dozen holiday-themed stories you’ll find beneath that awesome cover are just as charming.

I don’t read short story anthologies often; I’m more of a full length novel kind of reader. I couldn’t pass up this collection, though, because it features contributions from some authors whose novels I’ve really enjoyed in the past, like Gayle Forman, David Levithan, Holly Black, and the editor of My True Love Gave to Me, Stephanie Perkins. Gayle Forman’s “What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?” and Holly Black’s “Krampuslauf” were two of my favorite stories, along with Myra McEntire’s “Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus” and Kelly Link’s “The Lady and the Fox.” I hadn’t read anything by the latter two authors before, but I’m definitely interested in checking out more of their works now.

Kelly Link’s “The Lady and the Fox” had a very nice fantasy twist to it, and it wasn’t alone in touching upon the whimsical. These are holiday stories, after all, and is there any time of year that’s more magical than the holiday season? Laini Taylor’s closing story, “The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer,” is pure fantasy, set in a world that could only come from Laini Taylor’s brilliant mind. This tale was unlike anything holiday-related I’d ever read, and I got so swept up in the narrative of young Neve that I wished it had been a novella at the very least because I wasn’t ready to leave its world.

Almost every story excelled at drawing you into its characters’ lives quickly and leaving you with a satisfactory sense of resolution within about thirty pages. There were only one or two that I found a little meh, but even those stories still had their moments. Some requisite squealing ensued when Brooklyn, New York and New York University were referenced in not one but two stories (“What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?” and Matt de la Peña’s “Angels in the Snow”). Overall, this is a winning compilation that’s perfect for reading on a winter night while sipping some hot cocoa.

All in All: Look no further than My True Love Gave to Me for a read to put you in a festive mood. It’s a very well-rounded collection that’s sure to warm your heart over and over again.

Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Isla and the Happily Ever After (Anna and the French Kiss #3)
By Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton Books
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Isla Martin never thought that the crush she’s had on Josh Wasserstein since their freshman year at the School of America in Paris would develop into anything more than that. Running into Josh in New York during summer break, though, marks the start of something for both of them that continues when they return to Paris for the school year. Soon Isla is living a dream, but with graduation looming for her and Josh, the two must figure out a way to stay together.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss was one of the first YA contemporary romances I read shortly after I’d begun reading in earnest again as an adult. I remember being pleasantly surprised by how it told a sweet story that had substance to it. There’s a fine line between sweet and cloying, and with Isla and the Happily Ever After, Stephanie Perkins delivers another winning novel that warms your heart without getting sappy or melodramatic whenever the characters face conflict.

Two things that I’ve especially loved about Anna, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and now Isla are the main characters’ interesting backstories and how engaging they are as narrators. They also strike an excellent balance between being characters you can’t help but root for and being realistically flawed. Even as some of Isla’s actions made me go, “No, no, no!” I couldn’t fault her for them because I completely understood her reasoning behind them. It’s just that I so badly wanted to see Isla’s fairytale romance with Josh reach an equally fairytale ending that it pained me whenever insecurity got the better of her.

I think “fairytale romance” is an apt description of Isla and Josh’s relationship. It’s epic and sweeping and swoon-worthy. It’s about falling totally, absolutely, madly in love. It’s not fleeting teenage infatuation, either; what Isla and Josh have is the real deal, complete with the very real problem of what happens to them when they graduate high school. Josh is ready to take his drawing talents further, but Isla is unsure of what career path she wants to pursue. Perkins wields an expert touch with her writing whenever her novels take on a more serious tone, and I think that’s what sets her books apart from other YA contemporary romances. They’re just believable, from the characters to the story lines. Even contemporary fiction is, well, inherently fictional, but some books succeed better than others at immersing you so thoroughly in the story that at times you forget that you’re reading a work of fiction. Isla is that kind of book.

Isla’s descriptions of Paris, Barcelona, and my beloved New York were absolutely beautiful and just one more reason to love this novel. Love stories don’t always agree with this stony heart, but all three of Stephanie Perkins’s novels have been notable exceptions to that.

All in All: The charming story that began with Anna and the French Kiss comes full circle in this equally sweet conclusion.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss #1)
By Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Speak

To Sum It Up: Anna Oliphant knows she should be excited about spending her senior year in France, but she can’t stop thinking about all the things she is forced to leave behind, including her younger brother, her best friend, and her crush. The only things that can help Anna adjust to and begin enjoying France are her new friends, in particular, the handsome Étienne St. Clair. Although St. Clair already has a girlfriend, their friendship might turn into something more.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss was a pleasant break from my usual paranormal books. At first I was skeptical, but I was surprised by how much I really liked it. I have to say, Lee really knows how to pick a book! Now besides the setting (France!!!), the element that really pulled me in was the characters. All of the characters were easy to like and very relatable.

Anna was easy to relate to, funny, and an overall good person. Her inner struggle throughout the book shows that she has strong morals and also strives to be a good friend. Anna knows that St. Clair has a girlfriend, but she can’t help her growing feelings for him. St. Clair was just awesome! He is hilarious, sweet, charming, and he has a British accent! St. Clair also battles with himself throughout the story. These inner demons make Anna and St. Clair human and get the reader to sympathize with them. Oh, and Meredith, she is a giant Beatles fan! And if that isn’t enough to make you love her, she is super nice!

Anna was such a fast read. It wasn’t overly dramatic or cliché like I expected. I was worried it was going to be like a bad episode of Degrassi. I know I keep saying it, but the story was totally relatable (well, besides maybe going to school in France). When I read a contemporary book (which is rare), I expect it to be relatable. Stephanie Perkins did a great job making the story believable, which made the book more enjoyable.

All in All: Anna and the French Kiss was an amazing novel! I loved it! It’s not a book for everyone, but if you’re a sucker for a well written love story, this is the perfect book for you. This is going onto my to-buy list.

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss #2)
By Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton Books

To Sum It Up: Lola Nolan’s life is pretty sweet. She does well in school, stays out of trouble, and dreams of becoming a costume designer one day. With her unique fashion sense, there’s no question that this is her destined career path. Completing this picture of near perfection is Lola’s rocker boyfriend, Max, who she knows is the one. Things become complicated, though, when Lola’s former neighbors, Cricket and Calliope Bell, return to their old home. At first Lola tells herself that she’s completely over her former feelings for Cricket, but as his presence in her life grows steadily, Lola finds herself questioning who the one for her really is.

Review: I’m not a big fan of chick flicks. Occasionally I’ll read chick lit, but too many bad experiences have made me a bit wary of the genre. I’d heard so many glowing things about Stephanie Perkins’s Anna and the French Kiss, though, that I decided to give it a go. I’m so glad that I did. I loved Anna and was very eager to read Lola and the Boy Next Door. What I didn’t expect was that I would love Lola even more. It was simply a perfect read for me. The tone is a little more serious at times, but Perkins maintains her breezy, effortless writing style throughout.

Lola is such a free spirit. I love how she expresses herself through her outfits. I’d never have the guts to go to a school dance in a Marie Antoinette gown complete with towering hairdo. Like Anna, Lola is extremely likable. She has enough faults, though, to make her human and easy to relate to.

I didn’t like Lola’s boyfriend, Max, from the get-go. I found him kind of arrogant in an I’m-too-cool-for-you sort of way, and he just didn’t seem right for Lola. Once Cricket appeared on the scene, I got annoyed every time Max’s name showed up.

My attempts to write coherent, insightful paragraphs on male characters from Stephanie Perkins’s books inevitably devolve into gushing swoon-a-thons, so I’ll just give up the pretense right now. I. LOVE. CRICKET! Smart guys rock! (So sorry, Max.) Cricket possesses all of the qualities that you could ask for in a boyfriend; in addition to his genius-like intelligence, he’s kind, sensitive, sincere, and devoted to his family. There’s also an endearing kind of awkwardness about him that makes you love him even more, if that’s possible. Yet at the same time, Cricket always seems real and not like some prince who’s just walked out of a fairytale.

Like Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door is a character-driven novel, and Stephanie Perkins knows how to create truly memorable characters. You become completely absorbed in their lives, laughing along with them during the good times and wishing you could cheer them up during the bad times. I can’t wait to meet the new faces (and probably greet some familiar ones, too) in the upcoming Isla and the Happily Ever After.

All in All: I think that you can get away with reading this if you haven’t read Anna and the French Kiss first, but do yourself a favor and read Anna if you haven’t done so already. You won’t regret it. Then go ahead and read Lola. I need to add copies of both books to my shelves.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss #1)
By Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Speak

To Sum It Up: After deciding that living abroad would be a good experience for her, Anna Oliphant’s father ships her off to a French boarding school for her senior year. Although at first she misses her family and friends back in Atlanta, Anna soon settles into her new life in Paris. Her adjustment goes more smoothly than she had expected, thanks in no small part to one of her new classmates, the gorgeous and charming Étienne St. Clair. Soon Anna finds herself spending more and more time with St. Clair, as everyone calls him. There’s one minor problem, though: he already has a girlfriend.

Review: I hadn’t read a contemporary, non-paranormal, non-fantasy YA novel in ages (which probably means not since I actually was a young adult). Anna and the French Kiss was a nice departure from my normal dose of angst-ridden adolescents coming to terms with their newfound supernatural powers. It was a fun, breezy read that I would have devoured in a day if I’d had the time. The romance was sweet but not saccharine; plenty of sarcasm, both American and British, keeps the story from becoming sappy.

Anna is a very likable, relatable protagonist. She’s smart, funny, and endearingly self-conscious. Whenever she couldn’t stop herself from saying something awkward, which happened quite often, I completely sympathized with her. She wasn’t a whiner, either; I’m not a fan of main characters who spend pages and pages complaining about how horrible their lives are yet do nothing to change their situations. Of course, Anna isn’t completely without faults; there wouldn’t have been much tension to the plot otherwise.

Ah, St. Clair. He had me from the moment that he uttered his first line of dialogue. I admit it: I totally have a thing for guys with English accents. Even if St. Clair had turned out to be a complete creep, I still could not have hated him. Because of the accent. Fortunately, St. Clair is not a creep. He possesses all of the qualities (intelligence, charisma, a wicked sense of humor, an English accent!) that would make any girl swoon but with enough flaws to make him human.

The suspense surrounding Anna and St. Clair’s will-they-or-won’t-they-get-together relationship drives this novel. What would probably be a cliché in any other book works winningly here. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Anna and the French Kiss and highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a good, old-fashioned, straightforward romance without any vampires, werewolves, faeries, witches, or other paranormal types in sight.

All in All: I borrowed this from the library because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not. Now I’m definitely considering buying a copy of my own.