Excited.

Fast forward a couple hours later,
I went all that glamorous way in expressing my wishes in my previous post
but ended up somehow spending all that time in bed instead -_-
Cuz, well, that's what people with throbbing headaches and a mild fever do:
Sleep their days away. 10 hours of napping time plus another 3 in the afternoon- I've got to be cured now.. right?

Anywayz.
I've got my karaoke date today, ain't that awesome?!



.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

It is about this teenage girl, Anna Oliphant who is made to study in Paris for a year. Of course, she falls deeply in love with this beautiful guy and all sorts of drama occurs.

Okay, let's get this straight.

I like it when books introduce other movies and the author's own opinions on other books, on particular cliches and the average romantic writer out there.
I like that the characters in this were far from being perfect, and that they were flawed.
I understand that drama happens in life; especially when you're in love with a godly looking guy in a long-standing but unhealthy relationship whereby the passion has fizzled out.

I know about the great reviews and stuffs-
This is a very realistic portrayal of how things swing in relationships.

But (and I say this with as much restraint as possible)
I hate it.

This is probably the worst book I've read all year.

Sure there is a lot of character growth, sure it's human flaws and passion meshed together well enough, but the writing style is terrible.
It is vocal, not in the least beautiful, utilizes caps way too often and sounds like what a typical seventeen year-old would type onto an online blog- oh, hold on a second.

Ugh, jokes aside I do really hate this book.
And I will warn you that I'm probably spoiling this for you in both senses.

There is waaaaaaaaayyyyy too much drama, Anna is a drama queen, the lead guy is nothing but a wimp clad in beautiful skin,  characters have depth but they're all just a hot mess without being truly messed up, if you know what I mean. They knew exactly what it was that they were doing, but they were all just dishonest enough to look past their own mistakes. The main character 'ditches her friends', in Perkins' words, and it doesn't help that it is only at the end of the book that Anna and St. Clair learn about the important lessons of the world and about their own mistakes.
To me, there are certain things that you have to already know at seventeen.
You can't lead people on no matter how alone you feel, and you should have empathy for people. If your best friend falls for a guy that you miraculously think will remain available for you when there was no explicit promise other than a quick, chaste kiss shared on the desperate night before your departure to Paris, you have no good reason to be upset at your friend. The guy's a bit of a jerk, but you only have yourself to blame.
After all, if you like someone, and your friend likes the same someone,
It all comes down to this: You're rivals. You go for the same guy, fair and square.
It wasn't that the two of you were in a relationship and your best friend cheated with him on you- it was that the guy chose to kiss you, then get into a relationship with your best friend whilst you were away, and that is what you should be pissed at. No friend should be expected to back off from someone just because you have your sights set on him 'first'. Not to mention, that you weren't even trying to maintain it long-distance; he had to do the calling and your heart wasn't even there because you were too busy falling for another guy already in a relationship and blaming him for that, too.
I mean, how dumb is that?! There was no 'promise' other than your own one-sided feelings!
The protagonist was immature to me in this aspect.
The fact that she had to have a taste of her own medicine before realizing this was weird, too. It shouldn't work that way, after all.
I felt really bad for her friend.

And there was another thing that I couldn't agree with:
'Eighteen-year olds do not need their mother.'
Sorry to break this to you, honey, but that is not independence.
That is not independence at all.

Independence is when you're capable of fending for yourself and having your own way of thinking. You make great decisions, mostly by yourself.
You do not rely on anyone for the simplest of things, like laundry or meals.

But mental support from your family is no simple thing.
It is the most human thing in the world, and if you think that as a form of reliance that keeps you babied and thus 'small', you are wrong.
You will always need your parents because they know the rawest you, and they always will. They've always been there, and most of the time they are that safe shell that you crawl back into when the world beats you down. Not your new lover that you share passion so openly with, not some soul mate that you met halfway along your journey in life. Of course these people are important, and have to share with you your ups and downs in life- but sometimes these are the same humans that come to pass after awhile, and connection sometimes disappears.  No matter what good place you get to whilst evolving to become a mature adult, you will always always need someone like that in your life, someone that's family or like family, and age does not play a factor here.

Don't be in such a hurry to grow up that you forget what's truly important in life; that's what makes you truly immature in my opinion.

..which is another reason for my hating of this book.
It's so kiddish and bad!

Of course, this depends on how close you are with your family,
And if you aren't, that is no sin. There is nothing wrong with it just like how there is nothing wrong with not wanting kids of any kind. It just means that whatever I've just said does not apply to you, and it only applies to Anna the fictional character that pissed me off.
Her hatred of her dad was strange, too. Apart from the fact that he's the sappy kind of romantic author that the protagonist hates for literary aspects, has tanned skin and a bleached smile, there is nothing really hate-worthy of him. After all, he doesn't abuse them. Stingy with money, yes, pretty insensitive- that is right, but nonetheless somewhat loving and concerned for her. Yet she's constantly complaining about all that is wrong with her life, and even after admitting that to herself she still continues to do it; and she  resents the wrong people for the teeniest and most meaningless reasons. Her world revolves around herself, and there was nothing really redeeming about her character apart from the fact that she's witty and humorous.
Still, her core characterization throws all that off balance, and it just makes her a drama queen to me.

Oh man, I've probably ranted a little too much.
But that's just what I do.. and if that makes me come off too strong.. Too bad.
It's the reason why I can't connect with many humans anyway.

Still.
I'd thought that since the exams are over, I'd sink my hands into a delicious, guilty-pleasure-read that doesn't require much thought and will please me in the simplest ways possible.
Apart from the fact that this book was nothing less than utmost embarrassment to read, it was boring, the main character is a drama queen for the wrong reasons, there are typical, stereotypical characters inside that have that basic behaviour of tossing hair and exposing cleavage, and it was, all in all, the worst book I've seen thus far for this year.
I'm pretty sure people in life are not like that,
Or at least I haven't met anyone like that.

The guy, too.
Any guy who isn't man enough to break off a relationship like that, who falls in love with someone else whilst being in a relationship, who sleeps in that person's bed, kisses her, does all sorts of things and yet acts like everything's fine afterward is not one that I'd find desirable.
Sure he's going through a lot, but he's too much of a wimp.  He leads on a poor girl (although I have my complaints too for that girl, I am not as irritated by her. She's human, but slightly cowardly), and personally, I think that if you know that someone admires you in the way that makes her nuts for you, you shouldn't spend as much time with her. You should make it clear from the get go, so that there'll be a period afterward whereby she remains hopelessly in love with you in spite of that, then realizes that her hope is completely and utterly impossible. Yes there'll be heartbreak, but it's so much better than what the guy in this book actually does.

And then there's that one last thing.
How is a relationship of one year, one year, mind you-  'forever'?
If that's all it takes for a relationship to fizzle out, you are someone who scares me.

The comfort zone shouldn't come after two, maybe three years,
Let alone the I'm-sick-of-you stage-
Or is that just me?

Well, if it gets stale that quick you are quite the fickle person to me.

Anyways.
It sure was a terrible read that only became more and more irksome as one gets to the end. When there were fifty pages left I was so tired of all that stupid drama that I had to rant up here afterward- it's just so terrible!

There, exclamation marks for emphasis.

'The speaker utilizes this to reinforce the idea that this novel really was a piece of work.'

See? That's why I can't do critical commentaries.


That said, there are good parts to this book. Many people do love it, after all. Makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me, but there we go I suppose.

It really does capture the ugly sides to people, the up and down sides to a relationship, but the created characters are too immature and annoying for them to be likable. Sure the guy is charming, but all that just plummets down the shithole if he isn't capable of making sound decisions.
That isn't human, that's just not being at the right mental state at the right age.

I don't usually bash things I dislike,
But this book just-

I suppose you are done with me for now, huh?

*widens into nicest smile I own, if I do own one*
Trust me, I'm... Nicer than this.
Ha!