Jenny Lee | ANNA K

Plot (via Goodreads):

Meet Anna K. At seventeen, she is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and Newfoundland dogs); she has the perfect (if perfectly boring) boyfriend, Alexander W.; and she has always made her Korean-American father proud (even if he can be a little controlling). Meanwhile, Anna's brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are trying to weather a sexting scandal; Lolly’s little sister, Kimmie, is struggling to recalibrate to normal life after an injury derails her ice dancing career; and Steven’s best friend, Dustin, is madly (and one-sidedly) in love with Kimmie.

As her friends struggle with the pitfalls of ordinary teenage life, Anna always seems to be able to sail gracefully above it all. That is…until the night she meets Alexia “Count” Vronsky at Grand Central. A notorious playboy who has bounced around boarding schools and who lives for his own pleasure, Alexia is everything Anna is not. But he has never been in love until he meets Anna, and maybe she hasn’t, either. As Alexia and Anna are pulled irresistibly together, she has to decide how much of her life she is willing to let go for the chance to be with him. And when a shocking revelation threatens to shatter their relationship, she is forced to question if she has ever known herself at all.

Review:

Anna K is one of those novels that really took me by surprise. Known for loving the whole crime fiction genre and not being used to stepping out of that, I was immediately curious with this one when everyone was saying how crazy it was and how it was comparable to Gossip Girl. Now, I loved GG when it was on and I was even more curious with all of the great reviews that were pouring through. Luckily, some fantastic women with BookSparks sent me a copy to check out and I love them all even more for it.

So, this one started off with a hilariously over-the-top scandal that had tears coming down my face. I was immediately drawn into this crazy story that featured drama, romance, and some major love triangles. What I really enjoyed the most about this one was how vivid all of the characters were! Right from the moment they graced the pages, it was like you knew them and you were conflicted between wanting them to behave themselves and also waiting for the sparks to fly and more drama to fill this story-line. I could not stop. These characters really become people that you feel like you know and their personalities equally compliment one another as well as definitely set up some great moments were they completely conflicted in the most dramatic way and it was so good. With the glitz and glamour of New York City elite and the big and small issues these kids dealt with, Lee painted a great portrait of what youth deals with in today's world as well as puts an at times comedic spin on a lot of the details that went into this one. It was such a fun world to get lost in.

Not only is this romantic and dramatic, but the dramatic pacing was done exceptionally well. There's such a great prose with this one that is parallel to the journey for both these characters and the reader alike. From small surface issues that make you roll your eyes to the more severe things that make you wonder how you would handle these situations at that age, this read really had it all. Between dealing with some social issues like racism, addiction, and devastating love, I could not put this one down. I will say with strict confidence that I will be gobbling up all Jenny Lee books from here on out and I hope that my path crosses with these characters again soon.

Special thanks to BookSparks for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5