Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (Review)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Number of Pages: 372

For ages 14+ for drinking,a few instances of strong language, and mild sexual content

"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?" -Goodreads

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I don't even know where to start with this book... I LOVED IT!!! I don't think I found one bad thing in this book, and I was hooked from the beginning. The characters were perfect and completely believable.

Anna is a seventeen year old girl whose father decides to send her to a school in Paris, France. I loved Anna from the very beginning. Her problems were then my problems while I was reading. I thought Anna was funny and witty.

Étienne... ahhhh I love that boy to pieces. I wish he was real. He is the best boy fictional character I have ever read about. I liked that even though he was BEYOND adorable he still had flaws. He wasn't even close to being a jerk. I loved that he was American,English, and lived in France. He was also a perfect gentleman.

I wanted this book to go on forever I loved it so much. Stephanie is an ABSOLUTE genius! She has created a boy that all teenage girls would drool over, and a girl all girls can relate too!

The ending was perfect! There wasn't a better way to write it. When it ended I WAS SO DEPRESSED!! Stephanie if you read this.. (I don't even know if ANYONE reads this..) Please, please, please write more about Anna and Étienne!

I give this book 5 out of 5 diva crowns. It couldn't have been any better than it already is. EXCEPTIONAL!

Across The Universe by Beth Revis (Review)

Genre: Science Fiction

Number of Pages: 398

For ages 13+ for attempted rape scene

"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." -Goodreads

I thought that Across The Universe by Beth Revis was a type of book that once you started reading it you didn't want to put it down! Unfortunately, I was reading this while in school, in between lessons so I would HAVE to put it down. My friends always saw me reading it when I had the chance. Some even asked to read it when I was finished.

I liked 16 year old Elder because he is vastly different from Eldest- the current leader. Eldest is a dictator over the ship and only thinks about preventing discord--at all costs. Eldest is training Elder to take over as leader of Godspeed. Elder is kind, curious, and devoted to helping Amy. Any boy crazy girl (like me) will easily fall head over heels for him.

Amy is ripped from the world she loves and frozen to go with her parents on a 300 year trip. Reading the scene when she was frozen made me very uncomfortable,not for me but for Amy herself. This scene had enough tension to keep you turning pages for more. I like Amy because, she doesn't put up with Eldest's threats and stands up to him. I don't think Amy is like any other character from other YA books because of her spunk.

I felt like there should have been a little more romance between Amy and Elder, being a girl who LOVES to read romance! Other than that this book was GREAT! At first, since it was science fiction, I didn't really think I would like it, but I LOVED it. I highly recommend it.

I give this book 4 out of 5 diva crowns.

Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee (Review)

Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut, Maybe for short, is named after her mother's favorite makeup brand, Maybelline, which Maybe hates as well as her mom's charm school. When her mother's soon-to-be seventh husband tries to rape Maybe, her mother walks in on them and blames Maybe. Tired of her mother's put downs and parade of husbands, Maybe decides to go find her biological father. She knows he was in show business and her only other clue is an old photograph with the name Gunner. She hitches a ride with her friend Hollywood and her best friend Ted tags along. They run out of money so Ted finds a job as a movie star's assistant. Maybe ends up staying with her ex-step dad, Sammy while she tries to figure out how to find her father.

I loved Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee. I like that Maybe isn't a typical teenager with her dark eye makeup, Kool-aid dyed hair, deep purple lipstick, and baggy men's t-shirts. Although she has a tough exterior, inside Maybe has many insecurities which makes her a believable character. Maybe's mother, Chessy, is believable but I found myself frustrated that she chose men over her daughter and was always telling Maybe to change. While there is an attempted rape scene, this scene has little graphic detail but enough to know what was happening. My favorite part of the book is when Ted reunites Maybe with her ex-stepfather Sammy, who was devastated when her mother and Maybe left years ago. Both Sammy and Maybe are over joyed when they are reunited.I liked this part the best because Maybe finally finds a parental figure who loves her for her. This book had a satisfying ending.

This book is about a girl discovering herself and has very little romance. I usually love romance in a book, but this book was enjoyable without it.

I give this book four out of five diva crowns.