“Anna and the French Kiss” by Stephanie Perkins

I plan to collect all three books in the series.

I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. I picked it up on a whim. I’d heard about it often and was curious and wanted something else to read. I downloaded a sample on my Nook App, bought it on my Kindle app (random, I know), and was hooked from the moment it began.

Quick summary:

Anna thought that she would spend her senior year of high school getting closer to her crush, who she works with her at a movie theatre in Atlanta, and hanging out with her best friend. But her father surprises her when he announces that she’ll spend her senior year at the School of America…in Paris (SOAP).

At first, Anna dreads what would happen at her boarding school since she’s new to both the school and the country, but she quickly makes friends and just as quickly develops a crush on a cute French boy with an English accent from America, Etienne St. Clair. Unfortunately, St. Clair has a girlfriend, but Anna can’t shake her feelings for him and the more they hang out, the stronger her feelings grow until they become….complicated.

But she has lots to learn in Paris, about the city and herself. Though cautious at first, her friends coax her to venture out in the city, where she finds that she shares a love of films with it. And as her relationships develop and become more difficult, she learns that things aren’t always as she perceives them to be.

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Top 5 Wednesday #5: Too Impatient to Pre-Order

Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme created by GingerReadsLainey. For more information on this meme, visit the Goodreads group. This week’s topic:

Anticipated pre-orders for the rest of the year

Top Ten Tuesday #7: Book Haul #8 & an Unboxing

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic:

Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession (bought, library, review copies)

Premio Dardos Award

I am way behind on award posts, which I apologize for because I am really grateful for the recognition. I was nominated for the Premio Dardos Award back in January by Flying On Empty Thoughts. Though I have never heard of the award before, I am happy to be nominated. Thanks again, S!

The Premio Dardos award honors creative and original writing on cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values.

Here’re the rules for the award:

Exploring My Bookshelves: These are Well-Thumbed

I haven’t done one of these posts in a while either because of how busy June was.

Exploring My Bookshelves is a weekly meme created by Victoria at Addlepates and Book Nerds.

How it works:

1. Take a “shelfie” (a picture of your bookshelf). Preferably literal, but e-shelves work too.
2. Write something on the day’s prompt.
3. Give the blurb and the cover of the book (and what you thought of it if you’ve read it).
4. Link back to Victoria’s post.

Well, here’s the old picture of my bookshelf in all its organized glory. This is as organized and neat as it’ll ever get because it’s overstuffed.

Weekend Reads #10: A disappointment

I’m back with another Weekend Reads post. I skipped last weekend, July 4th Independence Day (U.S.), because I was busy with family in town.

Weekend Reads is a Goodreads group created by Nici, a booktuber over at LitPixie. Basically book lovers can record a video or write a blog post about what they plan to read on the weekend, and also answer a fun question.

The question for this weekend:

Tell us about your least favorite book you’ve read this year.

“Talon” by Julie Kagawa

I love the cover, both how it looks and feels.

I had high hopes for this one.

Quick summary:

It’s summer and Ember and her twin brother, Dante, are finally let off Talon’s compound to try at blending in with humans. They are dragons, and in order for them to survive, it’s imperative that they are adept at adapting to human lifestyle while being wary of any threats.

What threats? Those would be attacks from the Order of St. George, a militaristic group of dragon slayers. The Order of St. George has been at war with dragons for years so to strengthen their forces and increase survival rates, the dragons banded together and formed Talon, which is a sort of government that maintains order among dragon populations and ensure the group’s survival.

Ember and Dante are hatchlings, being just teenagers, and each day they train in the mornings to prepare for their placement in Talon’s order, and hang with their friends in the afternoon to improve on their interactions with humans. To strengthen their cover, they are placed with a human couple as their guardians. While hanging with friends one day, Ember meets a rogue dragon called Riley, who tempts her with promises to unveil what Talon really is about. Interacting with a rogue dragon is a crime in Talon and Ember is at first torn about what to do since she’s obligated to report him, yet she wants to know more about Talon. Also, the dragon in her is attracted to the dangerous rogue. Meanwhile, Riley is intent on convincing Ember to leave Talon, which he believes isn’t as good and helpful as it seems.

“Unteachable” by Leah Raeder

I read the e-book but I’m not a fan of the cover.

The problem with reviewing books weeks after I’ve read them is that time has passed and made my memory foggy so details aren’t as fresh in my mind anymore. I completed this book on June 11 and though my memory of the story is beginning to fade around the edges, I enjoyed it so much that certain parts are still holding out.

Quick summary:

Maise O’Malley is an 18-year-old girl from a broken home. She lives with her mother, who’s a drug addict and cares little for her. Maise has daddy issues. She admits it. She accepts it. But despite all the hard balls life has thrown her, or because of them, Maise intends to graduate high school and attend a university in California to study film. She will not end up like her mother — strung out on drugs and turning tricks to hit the next high.

But life throws her a curve ball — Mr. Wilke, her high-school film teacher. He’s fun, attentive, caring, and good looking. It sounds cheesy but from the time they met, they’ve found it hard to stay away from each other. They try, after all, they are student and teacher and though Maise is old enough, it’s still not accetable for a teacher to engage in an intimate relationship with a student, but self-control is impossible in face of such a strong attraction, and Maise and Mr. Wilke risk getting caught.

Top 5 Wednesday #4: Random Stuff on My Bookshelf

Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme created by GingerReadsLainey. For more information on this meme, visit the Goodreads group. This week’s topic:

Things on your bookshelf that aren’t books

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, then you’d know that I cleaned and reorganized my bookshelf a few months ago. It’s still in tip-top shape though a little crowded because of my Book Outlet obsession, which means that it’s pleasing to my eyes but doesn’t work well for this post. I’ve only been able to find 4 foreign objects on my shelves. They are:

Top Ten Tuesday #6: Hyped Books I’ve Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic:

Top Ten Hyped Books I’ve Never Read

This almost became a Wishes for My TBR post but then I realized that I’m not enthused to read some of these books.