Review: Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, edited by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories

Author: Leigh Bardugo, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, Nina Lacour, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, Jennifer E. Smith

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Date of Publication: May 17th, 2016

Number of Pages: 400

Find it at : Book Depository

Summary

Maybe it's the long, lazy days, or maybe it's the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Review

Summertime is upon us and all we have to do is lie around, and of course read. These are also the months for the infamous summer romances and Summer Days & Summer Nights is one of those books that can make you want to fall in love. If you've already read My True Love Gave Me then you can easily understand the tone of the short stories included in the collection.

From 2014 when My True Love Gave Me was first released I thought that it was a brilliant idea to collech short stories from all those authors we all know so well and I'm sure that some of us include them in our favourite authors list. Similarly, in Summer Days & Summer Nights the list of the contributing authors is more than impressive, making it a short story collection that I was eager to read.

This collection was more diverse than the stories in My True Love Gave Me, and so I enjoyed it more. I loved the fact that there were many stories that had science fiction and fantasy elements. I loved the Groundhog Day thing in The Map of Tiny Perfect Things and that an actual demon was giving power to the circus in Brand New Attraction. I adored that there were mysterious sea creatures in Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail and some sort of zombie apocalypse in Last Stand at the Cinegore. Also, the protagonists were more diverse, not only as far as it concerned their sexuality, but also their other physical characteristics. For example, in A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong the guy has Asperger syndrome.

Furthermore, some of the stories were heart-wrenching and others were delightful. Inertia was so sad and depressing that I couldn't read it without being moved. On the other hand, Good Luck and Farewell was so light-hearted and amusing. It almost reminded me of The Grand Budapest Hotel, although this might be because it was set in a hotel. Other short stories, like The End of Love, made me think and I felt that the protagonist really grew up in just a few pages!

Naturally, I didn't enjoy all of the stories that much. To be precise, I couldn't connect with just two of them, Sick Pleasure, and Souvenirs. This might have happened because of their endings, since both of them didn't leave me with a sense of hope. But I have to give it to Sick Pleasure that it featured very good music. Many of the songs in the Play(list) by the Book were from this particular story and I really like the punk sound.

Summer Days & Summer Nights is a delightful collection of short stories that will make you swoon. There is a story for every taste, and so I can safely say that it is a must-have book for your summer reading!

Play(list) by the Book: Summer Days & Summer Nights, edited by Stephanie Perkins

Hello, everyone! What a better way to welcome summer than listening to the Play(list) by the Book of the short story collection edited by Stephanie Perkins, Summer Days & Summer Nights! Plus, I always have so much fun compiling and listening to all those literary playlists. So, turn up your volume and enjoy!

As usual, I've included all the songs and artists mentioned in the short stories. Some of them didn't mention even one, others featured many. This playlist turned out to be more punk than I expected. When only an artist was named I chose the song thay I liked the most. The same applied to the case where only the album was mentioned. In the short story Inertia by Veronica Roth a band called Chase Wolcott plays an important role, and especially their song with the same title as the story. Also, another song is mentiones called Traditional Panic. I couldn't find anything about this band, so I figured that it was a fictional one. In case you know that this is a real music group, please let me know, for I'd like to listen to their songs!

Find previous Play(list) by the Book here.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Date of Publication: December 2010

Number of Pages: 372

Summary

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. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

Review

Lately, I've been in the mood for romance. So I've read some romance novels, both historical and contemporary, and I've watched romantic comedies and a couple of shoujo anime. I've had this series of books in my mind for quite a while and now I thought that it was the perfect chance to finally read Anna and the French Kiss. Indeed, it suited wonderfully my current mood.

I love the setting of this novel. Anna and the French Kiss obviously takes place in Paris. This city is by default romantic. As my trip there is the most recent one I made, I liked that I was able to mentally create the image of the streets, bridges and buildings that were described. But, even if I hadn't seen the Pantheon or Notre Damme with my own eyes the descriptions were so great and detailed that it would be easy to imagine them. During one scene, the protagonists visit the bookshop Shakespeare & Co. THAT'S THE BEST BOOKSHOP I've ever been to! Well, the setting was a big Yes for me.

The story was beautiful and swoon-worthy, although at times I felt that it was a little cliche. The friend who is secretly in love with the protagonist or the false rumours going on are things that are common. But I liked the pace the romance was developing. It didn't come easy, although both of them felt the same way. The obstacles they had to face were various and complex and by the end of the story both of them had learnt something. 

Anna was a very likeable character, I felt that I could be friends with her. At times, I felt that her complaints were unrealistic. I understand that she was sent away from home, but she was in Paris in a top private school. Even if her father did it for himself, he still offered her a great opportunity. But I can't deny that in the end she realised what her faults were and I felt that she was wiser than the beginning and I liked her even more for that. The one thing I can't get over is that although she was a movie aficionado and her favourite director was Sofia Coppola, she wasn't aware that Paris is a top city for the cinema lovers. Étienne was just the way a male protagonist should be. He was funny, witty, emotional and faulty. If he wasn't that insecure the romance would surely move much quicker. I loved his devotion he showed to his mother. It felt strange though that he just had to have an English accent. The author explains that he was raised in Britain and it's a perfectly fine reason for it, but I think that I'd love for him to have a French accent.

Anna and the French Kiss was a really cute and sweet read. I cared enough for the characters, in order to feel anxious and worry about them, laugh with them and feel relieved. I would recommend it to those who want to read something romantic and feel nice.

So my advice is...

Fall in love in the City of Lights!