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Diary of a Crush #1
French Kiss
When Edie and Dylan first see each other in photography class, an instant attraction draws them together. But true love never does run smoothly—the two spar as much as they can’t keep their hands off each other. Then comes the college trip to Paris: Edie’s willpower will be tested to the limit! In between furious arguments and trips to the Louvre, the two share some passionate moments—but will it last?
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
49 people are currently reading
2308 people want to read
About the author
Sarra Manning
45 books1,928 followersSarra Manning is a teen queen extraordinaire. She spent five years working on the now sadly defunct J17, first as a writer and then as Entertainment Editor. She then joined the launch team of teen fashion bible Ellegirl, which she later went on to edit and has consulted on a wide range of youth titles including Bliss, The Face and More.
Sarra is now editor of What To Wear magazine. She's also been a regular contributor to ELLE, The Guardian, ES Magazine, Seventeen, Details and Heat and wrote the Shop Bitch column for Time Out. Sarra lives in North London with her dog Miss Betsy
Sarra is now editor of What To Wear magazine. She's also been a regular contributor to ELLE, The Guardian, ES Magazine, Seventeen, Details and Heat and wrote the Shop Bitch column for Time Out. Sarra lives in North London with her dog Miss Betsy
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 247 reviews
December 4, 2010
Diary of a Crush was kind of crappy.
This book is written in diary enteries and it sometimes lacked emotion. It was hard to get a feel of what was going on at the beginning. The first half the writing was really choppy and kind of disconnected but the second half had picked up and had a nice flow and started to get that emotional connection that was missing in the first bit.
Edie, she drove me mad. She kept kissing and crushing after Dylan even when he treated her like dirt. The guy is moody and a douche. In one scene they have a major kiss and then he gets all moody and Edie falls over and he doesn't help her up he just looks at like he is annoyed that she fell over. I like gentlemen and not jerks. The both did improve somewhat at the end. Edie started standing up for herself and Dylan started being less of a jerk. The did however have some hot makeout scenes.
Overall, just not for me.
This book is written in diary enteries and it sometimes lacked emotion. It was hard to get a feel of what was going on at the beginning. The first half the writing was really choppy and kind of disconnected but the second half had picked up and had a nice flow and started to get that emotional connection that was missing in the first bit.
Edie, she drove me mad. She kept kissing and crushing after Dylan even when he treated her like dirt. The guy is moody and a douche. In one scene they have a major kiss and then he gets all moody and Edie falls over and he doesn't help her up he just looks at like he is annoyed that she fell over. I like gentlemen and not jerks. The both did improve somewhat at the end. Edie started standing up for herself and Dylan started being less of a jerk. The did however have some hot makeout scenes.
Overall, just not for me.
June 18, 2011
I can't even...I can't--I have no words other than I cannot finish this. I'm at page 42 and I have to stop. I'm so sorry. I don't want to be mean but I'm one of those readers who takes on the character as if it were me. Edie--oh my girlfriend, I know you're young and all but I hope and pray YOU DO NOT EXIST in real life. She's as flaky as flake can be. Shallow and a pushover when it comes to Dylan. She was just plain unlikeable.
Dylan. Good Lord. I've never developed such hatred for a love interest of the main character in such short pages as I have with this boy. He's a douchebag through and through.
Do I think that these characters might've evolved had I read the rest of the book? Maybe. But if I can't stomach the characters, how could I possibly keep reading?
I bought most of Ms Manning's books...I really hope I won't have such severe reactions to the rest of them.
Dylan. Good Lord. I've never developed such hatred for a love interest of the main character in such short pages as I have with this boy. He's a douchebag through and through.
Do I think that these characters might've evolved had I read the rest of the book? Maybe. But if I can't stomach the characters, how could I possibly keep reading?
I bought most of Ms Manning's books...I really hope I won't have such severe reactions to the rest of them.
October 21, 2014
1 "diary of a FAIL" stars
This book was unbelievable bad. I've read a book by Sarra Manning before (You don't have to say you love me, to be precise) and I really enjoyed it. But this one? I cringed while reading it, and wanted to slam my tablet against the nearest wall.
Basically, this is the story of some whiny, bratty and annoying teens. Our main character, Edie, is sixteen and acts like a selfish bitch. Her reactions are worse than a five year old's could be when their parents decide not to buy what the kid wanted. And the main love interest? Dylan is one of the worst male love interests I read about. He's an a**hole that can't make up his mind. The other characters aren't better. Even, there are no likeable characters at all in this book. Josh (Edie's boyfriend... Kind of, considering she doesn't even like him and just thought it was a good idea to date him because Dylan was out of her league) is a dependant, annoying one. Mia is another brat with serious issues also known as the "attention seeker syndrome". Shona is the kind of friend you cannot really trust in. Paul is an a**hole too, period. Nat and Trent weren't that bad, but weren't good either. The fact that most characters were nineteen is appalling, considering how they acted and reacted.
Another issue is the sick obssession Edie develops for Dylan. She sees him and BOOM! She's in love. No, seriously, that's what she says. I know she's sixteen, but even at sixteen you know that it's not love. You can feel a strong attraction, I'll give you that, but you can't instantly say you're in love with someone you a) just seen and b) never talked to plus c) never seen before. Worst, she loses herself for Dylan. He drives her mad in all possible ways and uses her, but of course, she can't let him go (like, for real? How can you stand a guy like that?). Not only that, but she also cheats on Josh! Whoa girl, we get it already. Here, get the award of the most annoying and ridiculous character of the year.
The story was a drivel. And even if it was short, it took so much for me not to abandon this book before finishing it. It was that bad.
This book was unbelievable bad. I've read a book by Sarra Manning before (You don't have to say you love me, to be precise) and I really enjoyed it. But this one? I cringed while reading it, and wanted to slam my tablet against the nearest wall.
Basically, this is the story of some whiny, bratty and annoying teens. Our main character, Edie, is sixteen and acts like a selfish bitch. Her reactions are worse than a five year old's could be when their parents decide not to buy what the kid wanted. And the main love interest? Dylan is one of the worst male love interests I read about. He's an a**hole that can't make up his mind. The other characters aren't better. Even, there are no likeable characters at all in this book. Josh (Edie's boyfriend... Kind of, considering she doesn't even like him and just thought it was a good idea to date him because Dylan was out of her league) is a dependant, annoying one. Mia is another brat with serious issues also known as the "attention seeker syndrome". Shona is the kind of friend you cannot really trust in. Paul is an a**hole too, period. Nat and Trent weren't that bad, but weren't good either. The fact that most characters were nineteen is appalling, considering how they acted and reacted.
Another issue is the sick obssession Edie develops for Dylan. She sees him and BOOM! She's in love. No, seriously, that's what she says. I know she's sixteen, but even at sixteen you know that it's not love. You can feel a strong attraction, I'll give you that, but you can't instantly say you're in love with someone you a) just seen and b) never talked to plus c) never seen before. Worst, she loses herself for Dylan. He drives her mad in all possible ways and uses her, but of course, she can't let him go (like, for real? How can you stand a guy like that?). Not only that, but she also cheats on Josh! Whoa girl, we get it already. Here, get the award of the most annoying and ridiculous character of the year.
The story was a drivel. And even if it was short, it took so much for me not to abandon this book before finishing it. It was that bad.
April 16, 2014
I had heard amazing things about Sarra Manning’s books. They’re supposedly light, funny, romantic and adorable. I know that French Kiss isn’t her best work, but that’s why I decided to read it with Jasprit [The Reader's Den]. What better way to start than not with the best work and move forward from there? Ok, it sounds a bit weird, but that’s what I thought. While French Kiss was quite light and definitely funny, it didn’t exactly sit right with me either.
“It wasn't like I'd woken up and decided to be a bitch, it was more like I'd woken up to find bitchiness thrust upon me.”
Let me tell you what I did like. I really enjoyed that t was written in a diary form which let us into Edie’s mind in a very intimate way. Yes, she came off as a little (ok, a lot) stalkerish at first, but she grew on me by the end and I really liked seeing her grow into a girl who spoke her mind and get a backbone that she was in desperate need of. The writing was humorous and kept me turning the pages. I also loved the scenery: England, France and a small part of the road trip to Paris and back. I have been to England, but haven’t been to France and all these books with French settings really make me want to go there someday. Another thing I enjoyed was the ending—all that followed the birthday kiss was just adorable and somewhat made up for the previous happenings. While I do appreciate a good amount of drama, I felt like I was watching an episode of Made in Chelsea on crack lol. Sometimes ‘the bigger the better’ just doesn’t quite hit the mark.
All the what-the-fuckery with Dylan. Does he have a personality disorder? Because that’s my best guess. I don’t really feel like I know Dylan at all and that may be the reason why I don’t understand his actions. He was a real douche to Edie most of the time, but I don’t know anything about his home situation, his past, his family—that’s the reason I’m judging him based on solely his actions and his actions are just beyond.. Idk. He made me so furious. He kissed Edie like no other (their kisses were hot and adorable, not gonna lie), but then in the next scene he acted like a real d-bag. I don’t get his deal and I certainly don’t approve his behavior. Perhaps he can grow, but I’ll believe it when see it. Also, he has mood swings worse than Adrian Ivashkov on his worst days and we all know that the handsome moroi has some grave issues. What’s Dylan’s problem? I have no clue. For now my opinion stays that Edie deserves better than a 19 year old guy who acts like a 5 year old spoiled girl.
All in all, I think it’s more suitable for 13 year olds than people who are over 20, because Jasprit and I definitely didn’t get the magic out of this one. While there were lots of things that I liked, I couldn’t look away from all the things that frustrated me, that being mainly Dylan, and I think my rating clearly shows that. I won’t give up on Manning. This was originally published in 2004 and things have changed a lot since then, plus Adorkable, which sits on my shelf as we speak, seems like a really good read so hopefully I’ll have better luck with that. Plus, there is Jasprit loving Manning's adult lit so... bring it on!
Overall rating: 2.1 out of 5.0
More of my reviews can be found on my blog.
“It wasn't like I'd woken up and decided to be a bitch, it was more like I'd woken up to find bitchiness thrust upon me.”
Let me tell you what I did like. I really enjoyed that t was written in a diary form which let us into Edie’s mind in a very intimate way. Yes, she came off as a little (ok, a lot) stalkerish at first, but she grew on me by the end and I really liked seeing her grow into a girl who spoke her mind and get a backbone that she was in desperate need of. The writing was humorous and kept me turning the pages. I also loved the scenery: England, France and a small part of the road trip to Paris and back. I have been to England, but haven’t been to France and all these books with French settings really make me want to go there someday. Another thing I enjoyed was the ending—all that followed the birthday kiss was just adorable and somewhat made up for the previous happenings. While I do appreciate a good amount of drama, I felt like I was watching an episode of Made in Chelsea on crack lol. Sometimes ‘the bigger the better’ just doesn’t quite hit the mark.
All the what-the-fuckery with Dylan. Does he have a personality disorder? Because that’s my best guess. I don’t really feel like I know Dylan at all and that may be the reason why I don’t understand his actions. He was a real douche to Edie most of the time, but I don’t know anything about his home situation, his past, his family—that’s the reason I’m judging him based on solely his actions and his actions are just beyond.. Idk. He made me so furious. He kissed Edie like no other (their kisses were hot and adorable, not gonna lie), but then in the next scene he acted like a real d-bag. I don’t get his deal and I certainly don’t approve his behavior. Perhaps he can grow, but I’ll believe it when see it. Also, he has mood swings worse than Adrian Ivashkov on his worst days and we all know that the handsome moroi has some grave issues. What’s Dylan’s problem? I have no clue. For now my opinion stays that Edie deserves better than a 19 year old guy who acts like a 5 year old spoiled girl.
All in all, I think it’s more suitable for 13 year olds than people who are over 20, because Jasprit and I definitely didn’t get the magic out of this one. While there were lots of things that I liked, I couldn’t look away from all the things that frustrated me, that being mainly Dylan, and I think my rating clearly shows that. I won’t give up on Manning. This was originally published in 2004 and things have changed a lot since then, plus Adorkable, which sits on my shelf as we speak, seems like a really good read so hopefully I’ll have better luck with that. Plus, there is Jasprit loving Manning's adult lit so... bring it on!
Overall rating: 2.1 out of 5.0
More of my reviews can be found on my blog.
April 13, 2015
"Dylan could make kissing the most exciting activity in the world. He kissed my shoulders and the stroked all the hair back from my shoulders before planting little butterfly kisses on my forehead and my eyebrows and my eyelids before reaching my mouth again. And when he kissed my mouth, it wasn't like those kisses you tell your friends about where you joke about boys trying to slip you a bit of tongue; it was as if he was touching my soul."
The Diary of a Crush series is one I've been aware of for some time, however as it's only available on Amazon to purchase by a second hand seller, so I've always put off reading it. Thankfully, Atom have decided to re-publish this series, giving them a new gorgeous covers with a new release date. Mark 30th May 2013 on your calendars guys, because French Kiss is an addictive, fast-paced and very entertaining read!
French Kiss follows the life of Edith aka Edie, a sixteen-year-old girl whose just moved to a new town and has to start a new college. Edie is a shy person but by meeting new people it starts to bring Edie out of her shell - especially the most gorgeous guy on campus; Dylan. He's broody, dark and very frustrating and it's clear from their first meeting that there's something between them. As Edie embarks in her new life, one that involves a school trip to Paris and a lot of kissing, can a guy like Dylan be for real or will he just end up breaking her heart?
I had no idea that this story was originally published in J17 magazine and then turned into a book. Seriously, J17! I used to read that magazine when I was a teenager! I loved it. Anyway, Fresh Kiss really lives up to it's name because it's written as diary entries rather than from a first person narrative. At the end of a certain days, Edie will tell us what's happened to her that crazy day. Admittedly, it was slightly hard to get into the way this story was told but, after a few minutes, it became very easy.
Edie is a character that has so many pros and cons about her, she's loving, fun, caring, honest but then at times she is rash, stubborn and at times, very immature. With her being sixteen and most of the other characters being nineteen, you can sometimes see the age difference bewteen them. Dylan and Edie have a slight age gap (about 3 years) and this seems to be the part of the problems for them, not only that but Dylan is emotionally troubled and doesn't believe he can handle a relationship with Edie as he believes she will only get hurt by him.
For me, Dylan was a love/hate character that you tended to love more and more as the story progresses, he sends so many mixed signals to Edie to start with but in the end, he really does come around.
In all, I'm glad I got the opportunity to read French Kiss, Sarra Manning creates a very good YA read and I can't wait to read more in Kiss and Make Up!
The Diary of a Crush series is one I've been aware of for some time, however as it's only available on Amazon to purchase by a second hand seller, so I've always put off reading it. Thankfully, Atom have decided to re-publish this series, giving them a new gorgeous covers with a new release date. Mark 30th May 2013 on your calendars guys, because French Kiss is an addictive, fast-paced and very entertaining read!
French Kiss follows the life of Edith aka Edie, a sixteen-year-old girl whose just moved to a new town and has to start a new college. Edie is a shy person but by meeting new people it starts to bring Edie out of her shell - especially the most gorgeous guy on campus; Dylan. He's broody, dark and very frustrating and it's clear from their first meeting that there's something between them. As Edie embarks in her new life, one that involves a school trip to Paris and a lot of kissing, can a guy like Dylan be for real or will he just end up breaking her heart?
I had no idea that this story was originally published in J17 magazine and then turned into a book. Seriously, J17! I used to read that magazine when I was a teenager! I loved it. Anyway, Fresh Kiss really lives up to it's name because it's written as diary entries rather than from a first person narrative. At the end of a certain days, Edie will tell us what's happened to her that crazy day. Admittedly, it was slightly hard to get into the way this story was told but, after a few minutes, it became very easy.
Edie is a character that has so many pros and cons about her, she's loving, fun, caring, honest but then at times she is rash, stubborn and at times, very immature. With her being sixteen and most of the other characters being nineteen, you can sometimes see the age difference bewteen them. Dylan and Edie have a slight age gap (about 3 years) and this seems to be the part of the problems for them, not only that but Dylan is emotionally troubled and doesn't believe he can handle a relationship with Edie as he believes she will only get hurt by him.
For me, Dylan was a love/hate character that you tended to love more and more as the story progresses, he sends so many mixed signals to Edie to start with but in the end, he really does come around.
In all, I'm glad I got the opportunity to read French Kiss, Sarra Manning creates a very good YA read and I can't wait to read more in Kiss and Make Up!
April 21, 2009
This is, quite literally as the title says, a diary of a crush, a crush that’s probably very obsessive as Edie is completely immersed into it. 16-year-old Edie’s family has just moved to a new town. Edie finds her new classmates hard to know, but there are several who intrigue her most. One of them is Dylan, the hot but moody artist who’s the guy of every girl’s dreams. The other is Shona, Dylan’s best girl friend since childhood, a cool girl who’s got it all together.
Edie develops an epic crush-to-end-all-crushes on Dylan upon first sight. She chronicles in her diary the awkwardness of becoming friends with Dylan. This is the boy who grabs her and kisses her senseless one minute, then simmers and ignores her the next. When will she ever figure out what his feelings for her are? Perhaps a school art trip to Paris, the city of romance, will help reveal the truth.
This is a good book for those who liked Gossip Girls and the A-list. More serious readers, however, will find this book lacking in substance and style. Edie is a petty protagonist, way too obsessed with her crush in my opinion.
Edie develops an epic crush-to-end-all-crushes on Dylan upon first sight. She chronicles in her diary the awkwardness of becoming friends with Dylan. This is the boy who grabs her and kisses her senseless one minute, then simmers and ignores her the next. When will she ever figure out what his feelings for her are? Perhaps a school art trip to Paris, the city of romance, will help reveal the truth.
This is a good book for those who liked Gossip Girls and the A-list. More serious readers, however, will find this book lacking in substance and style. Edie is a petty protagonist, way too obsessed with her crush in my opinion.
October 30, 2010
I liked the cover so i wanted to read this book, and the reviews were good enough.. or so i thought.
i would give it 0 stars if i could. i didn't like the characters at all, and the story line was plain boring and silly. i wouldn't recomend this book.
i would give it 0 stars if i could. i didn't like the characters at all, and the story line was plain boring and silly. i wouldn't recomend this book.
April 17, 2021
3 stars
Oh, French Kiss. You adorable little book, you. *pets* I'll say upfront that I didn't like French Kiss nearly as much as my all-time favorite, Adorkable . But still there is so much enjoyment in this book, and I am sure by now that Sarra Manning is one of those authors of whom I want to read all their work.
I got off to a rocky start with this book. Edie, the main character, is a weird one. At first I totally couldn't place her personality (or rather, figure out if she had one or not). That, I think, was primarily kind of a disappointment to me because of how upfront and in-your-face Jeane's personality in Adorkable was. I couldn't place her - was she the quiet, studious girl? Was she the inwardly sarcastic, loner girl? I didn't know. Likewise, Dylan, the love interest, also didn't have as greatly outspoken a personality as Michael did. So then, these two less likable, less memorable characters had an insta-attraction / instalove thing going on.
I was all ready to just cry my eyes out and *headdesk* because I was expecting more.
But it got better.
French Kiss, the first installment of the Diary of a Crush series, is the British counterpart to the Jessica Darling series, which is rather funny as I just read Sloppy Firsts recently. This is not an official comparison, but this is what I feel it is. French Kiss is the same kind of slice of life story. It's not outspoken in its plot. It's told in a diary form, like Sloppy Firsts. It's real and perhaps not always pretty, but rather true to life.
But I think I like French Kiss a little better (though they got the same rating) because it fills in the romance part that I was expecting in Sloppy Firsts but didn't get. Sarra Manning knows how to write chemistry. Like, "oh my god, give me more, I'm just going to sit in the metro past my stop because I can't stop reading" chemistry. And that I really loved. The scenes between Edie and Dylan past the halfway point of this super short novel were just electrifying. So good. I mean, if you want good kissing scenes, you need to read Sarra Manning, because that woman has some serious skills.
So the book was rather light and fluffy, centered around this romance. There were some nice scenes in Paris (including making out at the Louvre, because oh yes). There was a brilliant friendship, though it had its rough start as well, between Edie and Shona. And the friendship between Edie and her two gay friends was also wonderful to read.
I wish we could have kept the mean girl antics to a minimum, but I guess that was kind of an inevitability in this kind of slice of life story. However, my biggest problem is still that the romance was ultimately rather instalovey, and I wish that there was just more dialogue between the characters to prove it wasn't all a physical attraction thing and so that we could get to know the characters and their personalities, which I'm sure they have. But I'm rather positive about the fact that this will get better further on in the series, as this book also got better as it went along. And luckily I have the whole series on hand to just binge read.<
Summing Up:
This story was so cute and such a fun, quick read. And I mean quick, the story itself is just over 200 pages. So if you're going to embark on this series, I recommend having all of them on hand so you can just continue. Because you will likely want to continue. I mean, that romance is just electrifying and addictive. I can't wait to see where it goes next.
GIF it to me straight!
Recommended To:
Fans of chemistry, hot kissing scenes, and/or the Jessica Darling series.
Oh, French Kiss. You adorable little book, you. *pets* I'll say upfront that I didn't like French Kiss nearly as much as my all-time favorite, Adorkable . But still there is so much enjoyment in this book, and I am sure by now that Sarra Manning is one of those authors of whom I want to read all their work.
I got off to a rocky start with this book. Edie, the main character, is a weird one. At first I totally couldn't place her personality (or rather, figure out if she had one or not). That, I think, was primarily kind of a disappointment to me because of how upfront and in-your-face Jeane's personality in Adorkable was. I couldn't place her - was she the quiet, studious girl? Was she the inwardly sarcastic, loner girl? I didn't know. Likewise, Dylan, the love interest, also didn't have as greatly outspoken a personality as Michael did. So then, these two less likable, less memorable characters had an insta-attraction / instalove thing going on.
I was all ready to just cry my eyes out and *headdesk* because I was expecting more.
But it got better.
French Kiss, the first installment of the Diary of a Crush series, is the British counterpart to the Jessica Darling series, which is rather funny as I just read Sloppy Firsts recently. This is not an official comparison, but this is what I feel it is. French Kiss is the same kind of slice of life story. It's not outspoken in its plot. It's told in a diary form, like Sloppy Firsts. It's real and perhaps not always pretty, but rather true to life.
But I think I like French Kiss a little better (though they got the same rating) because it fills in the romance part that I was expecting in Sloppy Firsts but didn't get. Sarra Manning knows how to write chemistry. Like, "oh my god, give me more, I'm just going to sit in the metro past my stop because I can't stop reading" chemistry. And that I really loved. The scenes between Edie and Dylan past the halfway point of this super short novel were just electrifying. So good. I mean, if you want good kissing scenes, you need to read Sarra Manning, because that woman has some serious skills.
So the book was rather light and fluffy, centered around this romance. There were some nice scenes in Paris (including making out at the Louvre, because oh yes). There was a brilliant friendship, though it had its rough start as well, between Edie and Shona. And the friendship between Edie and her two gay friends was also wonderful to read.
I wish we could have kept the mean girl antics to a minimum, but I guess that was kind of an inevitability in this kind of slice of life story. However, my biggest problem is still that the romance was ultimately rather instalovey, and I wish that there was just more dialogue between the characters to prove it wasn't all a physical attraction thing and so that we could get to know the characters and their personalities, which I'm sure they have. But I'm rather positive about the fact that this will get better further on in the series, as this book also got better as it went along. And luckily I have the whole series on hand to just binge read.<
Summing Up:
This story was so cute and such a fun, quick read. And I mean quick, the story itself is just over 200 pages. So if you're going to embark on this series, I recommend having all of them on hand so you can just continue. Because you will likely want to continue. I mean, that romance is just electrifying and addictive. I can't wait to see where it goes next.
GIF it to me straight!
Recommended To:
Fans of chemistry, hot kissing scenes, and/or the Jessica Darling series.
October 12, 2007
This book was about a girl named Edie who's new at going to collage. She firsts explains how she feels like a stranger on the campus. She goes to class and takes her courses, like Art. On the first few days, when she describes how she thinks she is invisible, a girl named Mia talks to her. As the book goes on, she learns more about Mia and turns out to dislike her. Edie makes other friends like Shona who has her back in everything. Throughout the book, Edie talks about her love for her fellow classmate, Dylan. I really enjoyed this book because some of the things she describes are things i was able to relate to. There were times in the book where i can really put myself in the character's shoes. Also, I liked this book so much that I wanted to own a copy for myself. I plan to read the next two books of this series.
July 1, 2016
This book is a little guilty pleasure for me. A fantastic start to the Diary of a Crush series.
Although it's been years since I first read of Edie and Dylan (almost a decade!) I still think back to this book - well, this series - and wonder about the characters and re-imagine the situations.
It's a slightly fluffy story, very teenagery and fun. And frustrating. If there is anything frustrating in this book then it's Edie and Dylan for the majority of this book. He treats her like crap and she lets him, so long as he kisses her again. But it's not as poisonous as it sounds, it actually works. They're both growing up and getting a grip on who they want to love.
Who is your art-boy Dylan? Pictures please!
I have to go and find my own boy now. I need a kiss.
Although it's been years since I first read of Edie and Dylan (almost a decade!) I still think back to this book - well, this series - and wonder about the characters and re-imagine the situations.
It's a slightly fluffy story, very teenagery and fun. And frustrating. If there is anything frustrating in this book then it's Edie and Dylan for the majority of this book. He treats her like crap and she lets him, so long as he kisses her again. But it's not as poisonous as it sounds, it actually works. They're both growing up and getting a grip on who they want to love.
Who is your art-boy Dylan? Pictures please!
I have to go and find my own boy now. I need a kiss.
dnf
September 10, 2016Pages read: 32
If I hadn't loved a Sarra Manning book in the past, I don't know if I would have tried so hard. Sadly, the voice is bland, the characters aren't strong, and the first kiss just left me feeling nothing but irritation. Considering that Debby wasn't impressed with the series as a whole, there's no point wasting my time. Check her reviews for the full story. I would link but I'm on my iPad.
If I hadn't loved a Sarra Manning book in the past, I don't know if I would have tried so hard. Sadly, the voice is bland, the characters aren't strong, and the first kiss just left me feeling nothing but irritation. Considering that Debby wasn't impressed with the series as a whole, there's no point wasting my time. Check her reviews for the full story. I would link but I'm on my iPad.
Read
December 20, 2011Hmmm. I like it. But my e-reader keeps screwing up saying UnKnown error. GRRRR!! I want to know how it ends!!
Now it's ended and I say hmmm again.
Now it's ended and I say hmmm again.
November 16, 2012
Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com
I really like reading books that are in diary form, and author Sarra Manning doesn't disappoint with the diary of Edie (short for Edith) Wheeler, a sixteen-year old college student living in Manchester, England. I will admit that it was sometimes difficult for me to follow along with this book, mostly due to some terms I wasn't familiar with and situations that are different from those in the United States. Once you realize, however, that A-levels in college appear to equal being a Freshman, and that sixteen isn't, in fact, too young to be attending college when college appears to be another word for high school, and that some social situations "across the pond" are very different than you're used to, you'll get into the rhythm of FRENCH KISS quite easily.
Edie has fallen in love at first sight with Dylan, a guy in her Photography class. The problem is that she isn't the only one. Her good friend, Shona, also seems to have a thing for him, and it's driving her crazy. Add to that the fact that Mia, a crazy-popular girl that Edie has been talking with has a thing going with Paul, Dylan's best friend, and it gets a little complicated. But that's not the end of it. Mia is using Edie to get Paul off her back so she can get with Dylan, Shona wants to be with Paul but thinks Edie likes him, and Dylan is kissing with Edie but having intimate conversations with Mia. Yes, it's truly a complicated situation.
As the class gears up to take a trip to Paris, things with Dylan seem to be alternately heating up and cooling off. They can't seem to keep their hands off of each other when they're alone, and yet around anyone else Dylan only treats her like a friend. Even though she's patched things up with Shona, Mia is still in the picture, and Edie is getting tired of it all.
Before these teens leave the most romantic city in the world, some things will have to come to a head. Ultimatums will be made, friendships will be either solidified or ruined, and Edie will learn once and for all if Dylan is the love of her life. FRENCH KISS is a fun, easy read that will have you rooting for this great couple, and hoping that Mia, with her dirty tricks, will be shown for what she really is by the end of the book.
I really like reading books that are in diary form, and author Sarra Manning doesn't disappoint with the diary of Edie (short for Edith) Wheeler, a sixteen-year old college student living in Manchester, England. I will admit that it was sometimes difficult for me to follow along with this book, mostly due to some terms I wasn't familiar with and situations that are different from those in the United States. Once you realize, however, that A-levels in college appear to equal being a Freshman, and that sixteen isn't, in fact, too young to be attending college when college appears to be another word for high school, and that some social situations "across the pond" are very different than you're used to, you'll get into the rhythm of FRENCH KISS quite easily.
Edie has fallen in love at first sight with Dylan, a guy in her Photography class. The problem is that she isn't the only one. Her good friend, Shona, also seems to have a thing for him, and it's driving her crazy. Add to that the fact that Mia, a crazy-popular girl that Edie has been talking with has a thing going with Paul, Dylan's best friend, and it gets a little complicated. But that's not the end of it. Mia is using Edie to get Paul off her back so she can get with Dylan, Shona wants to be with Paul but thinks Edie likes him, and Dylan is kissing with Edie but having intimate conversations with Mia. Yes, it's truly a complicated situation.
As the class gears up to take a trip to Paris, things with Dylan seem to be alternately heating up and cooling off. They can't seem to keep their hands off of each other when they're alone, and yet around anyone else Dylan only treats her like a friend. Even though she's patched things up with Shona, Mia is still in the picture, and Edie is getting tired of it all.
Before these teens leave the most romantic city in the world, some things will have to come to a head. Ultimatums will be made, friendships will be either solidified or ruined, and Edie will learn once and for all if Dylan is the love of her life. FRENCH KISS is a fun, easy read that will have you rooting for this great couple, and hoping that Mia, with her dirty tricks, will be shown for what she really is by the end of the book.
August 14, 2011
real rating: 1.5
Okay, i though this would be a good book, thinking it would be funny (like how meg cabot wrote the princess diaries) but the writing at the beginning was pretty blunt and choppy-ish, and didn't really flow. It did pick up afterwards, but didn't sound really like a diary anymore. Anyway, the problems i had with this book was how much Edith went on and on and on and on about Dylan. that's it. there was nothing else happening in the book apart from Dylan kissing her every 5 seconds and then dissing her out completely. it was just going round in circles "dylan kissed me so hard and deeply bla bla bla the next day he gave me a cold look bla bla bla why is he doing this to me? i love him so much! bla bla bla dylan kissed me again i kissed him back but then he dissed me again bla bla bla i'm so sad! why is he being like this bla bla bla he kissed me again!"
I did keep reading on, because i'm the sort of person that has to know how a book turns out, plus, strangely enough, i did read most of it without skimming, probably because the book was short, there wasn't a lot of boring descriptions to read, and i did like the dialogue between the characters. Still though, nothing really ever happened, nothing significant anyhow, it seemed like sarra manning didn't really know what to write, and just kept repeating stuff to fill out the book.
I also didn't like Dylan at all, yeah, he was meant to be hot, but i felt nothing for him cause he was a total douchebag. He kept kissing Edith, and it was clearly obvious he liked her a lot, getting jealous and all that, but didn't want to be with her exclusively cause she didn't wanna sleep with him and because he liked mia too apparently. the mia thing annoyed the hell outta me, there was nothing to show he liked her, did he kiss mia like that too? all i know was that he had a thing for her. it just didn't seem like he even liked mia!
And why did he ALWAYS treat edith like crap after kissing her???? and then have the audacity to question her when she kissed other guys and stuff??? why would she like someone who was a total jerk??? she told him she wanted him, and he was "oh i cant be with you" crap.
Okay, i though this would be a good book, thinking it would be funny (like how meg cabot wrote the princess diaries) but the writing at the beginning was pretty blunt and choppy-ish, and didn't really flow. It did pick up afterwards, but didn't sound really like a diary anymore. Anyway, the problems i had with this book was how much Edith went on and on and on and on about Dylan. that's it. there was nothing else happening in the book apart from Dylan kissing her every 5 seconds and then dissing her out completely. it was just going round in circles "dylan kissed me so hard and deeply bla bla bla the next day he gave me a cold look bla bla bla why is he doing this to me? i love him so much! bla bla bla dylan kissed me again i kissed him back but then he dissed me again bla bla bla i'm so sad! why is he being like this bla bla bla he kissed me again!"
I did keep reading on, because i'm the sort of person that has to know how a book turns out, plus, strangely enough, i did read most of it without skimming, probably because the book was short, there wasn't a lot of boring descriptions to read, and i did like the dialogue between the characters. Still though, nothing really ever happened, nothing significant anyhow, it seemed like sarra manning didn't really know what to write, and just kept repeating stuff to fill out the book.
I also didn't like Dylan at all, yeah, he was meant to be hot, but i felt nothing for him cause he was a total douchebag. He kept kissing Edith, and it was clearly obvious he liked her a lot, getting jealous and all that, but didn't want to be with her exclusively cause she didn't wanna sleep with him and because he liked mia too apparently. the mia thing annoyed the hell outta me, there was nothing to show he liked her, did he kiss mia like that too? all i know was that he had a thing for her. it just didn't seem like he even liked mia!
And why did he ALWAYS treat edith like crap after kissing her???? and then have the audacity to question her when she kissed other guys and stuff??? why would she like someone who was a total jerk??? she told him she wanted him, and he was "oh i cant be with you" crap.
December 25, 2012
This is a fun, humorous yet filled with ups and downs book. First of all, Edie's voice is just so entertaining. Just like a real fangirl obsessing over a hot boy. I can totally relate.
However, it just has a lot of ups and downs. Like a real roller coaster ride. And I really hate those characters who don't know what they want and just end up manipulating other characters. Needless to say, no matter how hot and attractive Dylan is (and I suspect they're British, all the more reason for my knees to tremble) he is so full of mind games. Sometimes it's hard to even know if he's sincere.
And Edie can be immature at times. And I have low tolerance of immaturity and ignorance.
I kind of wish that Paris was described more. That would've been better since I love Paris too!
Other than the back-and-forth plot line and character flaws, it was a fun read.
However, it just has a lot of ups and downs. Like a real roller coaster ride. And I really hate those characters who don't know what they want and just end up manipulating other characters. Needless to say, no matter how hot and attractive Dylan is (and I suspect they're British, all the more reason for my knees to tremble) he is so full of mind games. Sometimes it's hard to even know if he's sincere.
And Edie can be immature at times. And I have low tolerance of immaturity and ignorance.
I kind of wish that Paris was described more. That would've been better since I love Paris too!
Other than the back-and-forth plot line and character flaws, it was a fun read.
February 13, 2013
This reminded me a lot of Bridge Jones diary. Not only is it told through diary entries, but this girl just seems neurotic.
She can't seem to breath or think around Dylan and makes a fool of herself constantly. She starts at a new school and struggles to make friends. When she's suddenly befriended by Mia, she is brought into Dylan circle - of crazy girls, backstabbing and girlfriend swapping. It was hard to keep up who was kissing who and who was mad and just...yeah, it was all crazy.
But she just seemed like a pretty boyfriend was all she wanted - I couldn't understand her attraction to him or why she constantly let him treat her horrible.
Meh, Yeah, I just think this wasn't for me.
She can't seem to breath or think around Dylan and makes a fool of herself constantly. She starts at a new school and struggles to make friends. When she's suddenly befriended by Mia, she is brought into Dylan circle - of crazy girls, backstabbing and girlfriend swapping. It was hard to keep up who was kissing who and who was mad and just...yeah, it was all crazy.
But she just seemed like a pretty boyfriend was all she wanted - I couldn't understand her attraction to him or why she constantly let him treat her horrible.
Meh, Yeah, I just think this wasn't for me.
January 27, 2015
Reading this book made me feel 10 years younger. I first read this story via J17 and loved it then and was absolutely delighted to dip back into them again.
I love Edie and all her crazy and infuriating teenage ways and I loved moody art boy Dylan and their confused and ever complicated relationship.
Fuller review for the entire series as a whole to come on the blog as soon as I've finished the next two books.
I love Edie and all her crazy and infuriating teenage ways and I loved moody art boy Dylan and their confused and ever complicated relationship.
Fuller review for the entire series as a whole to come on the blog as soon as I've finished the next two books.
Read
January 10, 2016I got to 17% with the book before I just couldn't handle it anymore. I wanted to stab the main character.
July 22, 2017
Honestly, I think this might have been a good read for me if I was 10 years younger than I currently am. Granted, I bought it a few years ago but I think I'd have even been too old then.
The characters are very immature to say they're in college (UK college, that is, not university). They're more like middle of high-school behaviour and temperament. It was rather amusing to see the arguments they got into, the upset they caused each other... it reminded me of being fresh in high school, actually.
I definitely recommend this to people aged between 11-15, because that seems to be the age of which these characters are. I saw a lot of my behaviour from when I was in that age span.
Not a bad book at all - just not the right time to read it.
The characters are very immature to say they're in college (UK college, that is, not university). They're more like middle of high-school behaviour and temperament. It was rather amusing to see the arguments they got into, the upset they caused each other... it reminded me of being fresh in high school, actually.
I definitely recommend this to people aged between 11-15, because that seems to be the age of which these characters are. I saw a lot of my behaviour from when I was in that age span.
Not a bad book at all - just not the right time to read it.
August 4, 2025
cute teen book
November 16, 2016
Uggghhh. Well I guess I chose this knowing it would be simple, and not Shakespeare or anything, but I expected to maybe like ONE of the characters? Or not find TOO many faults in the story line? Sadly, this was not the case.
June 20, 2013
Read more reviews at What Danielle Did Next
Gather round kids! I’m going to tell you a story about the good ol’ days! A time before Twitter, iPhones, and gasp! the Kindle!!! No it wasn’t 1875! It was the late 90′s and I was still a teenager (physically anyway, emotionally I still am and to be honest my chest never got the puberty memo O-O) reading my fave teen mag J17.
Every month there was a serial called “Diary of a Crush” featuring uber cool cat Edie and her epic romance with the sulky but sultry boyshape – Dylan. It became required reading for me and my friends (after the Problem Pages cos…you know!) and we were enthralled with each new instalment of their saga and when J17 commissioned 3 novellas for even more adventures of Edie to give away as gifts with the mag – well it was like Christmas!
Before YA really took hold and became the successful machine it is today most of my “YA” novels came from the US like Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew with some Judy Blume stuck in there too. There was no real UK/Ireland YA stories so when Sarra Manning started DOAC it was such a relief to read about teens that spoke like us, had the same cultural references and social backgrounds. Now with the internet and the age of instant information everything meshes together and there’s a uniformity to the young person’s social experience globally that wasn’t there when I was growing up so it was extra special.
I’m delighted that Atom books have decided to republish Diary of a Crush incorporating the magazine entries and novellas into three separate volumes. While Manning has updated the boy crushes, music references and fashion to reflect the noughties there is still that spine tingling excitement when reading that brings me right back to huddling in the school yard, clutching the magazine and reading with my friends.
Diary of a Crush: French Kiss follows Edie as she moves with her parents to Manchester from Brighton and has to settle into a new town, school, social circle. As Edie slowly makes new friends (and enemies) and falls madly in love with broody Dylan who drives her crazy with lust one minute and rage the next and bonds with new pals Shona, Nat and Trent, she comes out of her shell and makes some discoveries about herself and those around her. On a school trip to Paris, Edie gets swept up in the romantic atmosphere and we discover whether she and Dylan are the real deal or will the only souvenir be hearbreak?
I adore Edie, she’s very much the typical teenager without Manning resorting to bestowing Bella-esque traits on her. She’s fun, sweet, caring and utterly frustrating at times as she lets her stubborn side get the better of her. She’s sixteen and all her friends are nineteen so at times the age difference is glaringly obvious but Edie has a lot of layers and a unique maturity of her own. Dylan is the typical moody hotty we all know and love with the blistering kisses coupled with the cold shoulder that those bad boys do so well. Their relationship goes through many twists and turns but it always has that element of real about it and never jumps into epic insta-love territory we see so often in YA.
I love her friend Shona with her hip edgy style and caustic wit and Nat and Trent are adorable and a real support for Edie.
It was pure nostalgia to reread this book and I enjoyed the trip down memory lane immensely. It was just as much fun to readit while pushing 30 as it was as a teen (seriously there’s no difference between me then and now!) and it confirmed Diary of a Crush as one of my all time favourite teen series.
Many thanks to Atom for supplying me with a copy for an honest review!
Gather round kids! I’m going to tell you a story about the good ol’ days! A time before Twitter, iPhones, and gasp! the Kindle!!! No it wasn’t 1875! It was the late 90′s and I was still a teenager (physically anyway, emotionally I still am and to be honest my chest never got the puberty memo O-O) reading my fave teen mag J17.
Every month there was a serial called “Diary of a Crush” featuring uber cool cat Edie and her epic romance with the sulky but sultry boyshape – Dylan. It became required reading for me and my friends (after the Problem Pages cos…you know!) and we were enthralled with each new instalment of their saga and when J17 commissioned 3 novellas for even more adventures of Edie to give away as gifts with the mag – well it was like Christmas!
Before YA really took hold and became the successful machine it is today most of my “YA” novels came from the US like Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew with some Judy Blume stuck in there too. There was no real UK/Ireland YA stories so when Sarra Manning started DOAC it was such a relief to read about teens that spoke like us, had the same cultural references and social backgrounds. Now with the internet and the age of instant information everything meshes together and there’s a uniformity to the young person’s social experience globally that wasn’t there when I was growing up so it was extra special.
I’m delighted that Atom books have decided to republish Diary of a Crush incorporating the magazine entries and novellas into three separate volumes. While Manning has updated the boy crushes, music references and fashion to reflect the noughties there is still that spine tingling excitement when reading that brings me right back to huddling in the school yard, clutching the magazine and reading with my friends.
Diary of a Crush: French Kiss follows Edie as she moves with her parents to Manchester from Brighton and has to settle into a new town, school, social circle. As Edie slowly makes new friends (and enemies) and falls madly in love with broody Dylan who drives her crazy with lust one minute and rage the next and bonds with new pals Shona, Nat and Trent, she comes out of her shell and makes some discoveries about herself and those around her. On a school trip to Paris, Edie gets swept up in the romantic atmosphere and we discover whether she and Dylan are the real deal or will the only souvenir be hearbreak?
I adore Edie, she’s very much the typical teenager without Manning resorting to bestowing Bella-esque traits on her. She’s fun, sweet, caring and utterly frustrating at times as she lets her stubborn side get the better of her. She’s sixteen and all her friends are nineteen so at times the age difference is glaringly obvious but Edie has a lot of layers and a unique maturity of her own. Dylan is the typical moody hotty we all know and love with the blistering kisses coupled with the cold shoulder that those bad boys do so well. Their relationship goes through many twists and turns but it always has that element of real about it and never jumps into epic insta-love territory we see so often in YA.
I love her friend Shona with her hip edgy style and caustic wit and Nat and Trent are adorable and a real support for Edie.
It was pure nostalgia to reread this book and I enjoyed the trip down memory lane immensely. It was just as much fun to readit while pushing 30 as it was as a teen (seriously there’s no difference between me then and now!) and it confirmed Diary of a Crush as one of my all time favourite teen series.
Many thanks to Atom for supplying me with a copy for an honest review!
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August 18, 2010
Sweet. Fun. And full of Ups and Down
Oh, there are no words to describe how much I loved this book! I finished this book yesterday.
And it was SO GOOD!! yup its kinda typical story of boy-love-girl and girl-love-boy but theres something that its make so good, like the way of the author written it.
I really like the way in which this book was written, its the first book I read that is in diary form. There aren't any chapters. Some are really short and some are super long. At first it really is boring and i dont know if i want to finish this book but when the enties are getting longer and longer (that likes a chapter length), and the details are getting clearer. I actually started to like it.
-----------------
Edie was a great character, but she did annoy me a few times. The girl is 16, she's now at college studying her A-levels, so no longer a school girl - yet she seems to have forgotten this. She talks about how "boy shapes" suffer with "boy disease", and I just kept wanting to shake her, and shout "You're not 12!" And a few times she had these angsty, mopey periods over Dylan which I just felt were more the behaviour of a younger teenager, especially when considering all her friends were 19 - surely you would try to act a little more maturer?
I managed to forgive her all that because of Dylan. Who could fail to be all angsty over the gorgeous Dylan? There was so much sexual tension in this novel, you could have cut it with a knife. He's a bit of a bad boy, but not in that he's mean or gets up to no good, just he simply can't make up his mind! He likes Edie, but not enough to to commit to her - yet he can't stay away from her, and always ends up cornering her for a kiss. Talk about mixed signals! The boy wanted to have his cake and eat it, and ohhh, I wanted to slap him so many times! But this is partially why I enjoyed this book so much - it was real. Things like this do happen; girls get angsty, guys can be infuriating, and even though I wanted to slap them both sometimes, when they were together and not arguing, it was just the most sweetest thing!
The other characters in the book were also pretty cool; Nat and Trent, Edie's gay friends, were awesome in that they were always there for her no matter what. They were just lovely! Shona I had trouble working out at first; she was elusive, then she was nice, then she wasn't, then she was. I always thought, until the French trip, that she was up to something. I didn't realise it was actually Mia who wasn't the one to trust. As Edie so nicely puts it, "Mia est une grande vache." (Mia is a big cow). There was one point when even the secondary characters were a little off with Edie, because they thought she went a little far in one argument with Dylan, but I have to say, I was cheering her on so much. Dylan need not have been such a pig at times.
Oh, I really loved this book! It's now official; Sarra Manning is one of my favourite authors. If you haven't read this book yet, you really need to! Now I just have to get my hands on a copy of Kiss and Make Up.
Oh, there are no words to describe how much I loved this book! I finished this book yesterday.
And it was SO GOOD!! yup its kinda typical story of boy-love-girl and girl-love-boy but theres something that its make so good, like the way of the author written it.
I really like the way in which this book was written, its the first book I read that is in diary form. There aren't any chapters. Some are really short and some are super long. At first it really is boring and i dont know if i want to finish this book but when the enties are getting longer and longer (that likes a chapter length), and the details are getting clearer. I actually started to like it.
-----------------
Edie was a great character, but she did annoy me a few times. The girl is 16, she's now at college studying her A-levels, so no longer a school girl - yet she seems to have forgotten this. She talks about how "boy shapes" suffer with "boy disease", and I just kept wanting to shake her, and shout "You're not 12!" And a few times she had these angsty, mopey periods over Dylan which I just felt were more the behaviour of a younger teenager, especially when considering all her friends were 19 - surely you would try to act a little more maturer?
I managed to forgive her all that because of Dylan. Who could fail to be all angsty over the gorgeous Dylan? There was so much sexual tension in this novel, you could have cut it with a knife. He's a bit of a bad boy, but not in that he's mean or gets up to no good, just he simply can't make up his mind! He likes Edie, but not enough to to commit to her - yet he can't stay away from her, and always ends up cornering her for a kiss. Talk about mixed signals! The boy wanted to have his cake and eat it, and ohhh, I wanted to slap him so many times! But this is partially why I enjoyed this book so much - it was real. Things like this do happen; girls get angsty, guys can be infuriating, and even though I wanted to slap them both sometimes, when they were together and not arguing, it was just the most sweetest thing!
The other characters in the book were also pretty cool; Nat and Trent, Edie's gay friends, were awesome in that they were always there for her no matter what. They were just lovely! Shona I had trouble working out at first; she was elusive, then she was nice, then she wasn't, then she was. I always thought, until the French trip, that she was up to something. I didn't realise it was actually Mia who wasn't the one to trust. As Edie so nicely puts it, "Mia est une grande vache." (Mia is a big cow). There was one point when even the secondary characters were a little off with Edie, because they thought she went a little far in one argument with Dylan, but I have to say, I was cheering her on so much. Dylan need not have been such a pig at times.
Oh, I really loved this book! It's now official; Sarra Manning is one of my favourite authors. If you haven't read this book yet, you really need to! Now I just have to get my hands on a copy of Kiss and Make Up.
June 25, 2011
When Edie and Dylan first met an instant attraction sparked between the two of them. As perfect as Dylan seems he has flaws that drives Edie insane and they continue to fight with each other. A trip to Paris will test both Edie and Dylan. The more they continue to fight with each other to more they realize that they can't keep their hands off each other.
This book is really cute. I had fun reading this. This is truly a realistic book. This is different kind of book because it is diary and I can only get a glimpse of what Edie feels and her perspective with the things that happened to her. There were times that I was confused especially the part where everyone seems to hate her but they it was all cleared in the other part of the book. What is very interesting in this book is that the guy lead character is not perceived as a perfect guy. Dylan is just like every guy that we meet everyday except for the part where he is really good looking. There were really times that I hated Dylan because he is being manipulative. He can't seem to make up his mind. In addition to this there's Edie who becomes dumb the moment she sees Dylan. thank goodness that the girl started having a backbone in the middle of the book. When she started telling Dylan a piece of her mind I was like good for you way to go tell him. I was always rooting for Edie it is because I saw that she really did grow up in the book. In the beginning she was this love struck girl who can't even talk to Dylan and was always being pushed around by people like Mia. But as the story progresses she was able to stand up for herself. The character that I really hate was Mia. She is the epitome of evil. She seduces other people's boyfriends and makes stories about everyone especially about Edie. Gosh! I just want to strangle this girl. This girl is the picture of a girl who lacks self-esteem.
Five out of five is what this book deserves for its realistic take on a teenager's story about growing up, friendship, family and love!
This book is really cute. I had fun reading this. This is truly a realistic book. This is different kind of book because it is diary and I can only get a glimpse of what Edie feels and her perspective with the things that happened to her. There were times that I was confused especially the part where everyone seems to hate her but they it was all cleared in the other part of the book. What is very interesting in this book is that the guy lead character is not perceived as a perfect guy. Dylan is just like every guy that we meet everyday except for the part where he is really good looking. There were really times that I hated Dylan because he is being manipulative. He can't seem to make up his mind. In addition to this there's Edie who becomes dumb the moment she sees Dylan. thank goodness that the girl started having a backbone in the middle of the book. When she started telling Dylan a piece of her mind I was like good for you way to go tell him. I was always rooting for Edie it is because I saw that she really did grow up in the book. In the beginning she was this love struck girl who can't even talk to Dylan and was always being pushed around by people like Mia. But as the story progresses she was able to stand up for herself. The character that I really hate was Mia. She is the epitome of evil. She seduces other people's boyfriends and makes stories about everyone especially about Edie. Gosh! I just want to strangle this girl. This girl is the picture of a girl who lacks self-esteem.
Five out of five is what this book deserves for its realistic take on a teenager's story about growing up, friendship, family and love!
January 30, 2014
Review by Charlotte - Year 9
Personally, I loved reading French Kiss. The story is written in diary format, every entry detailed to such an extent you feel as if you are watching the plot unfold like a TV series. Sarra Manning has captured the emotions perfectly, each emotion whether sadness or excitement fuelled my desire to continue reading. The mix of romance versus teen heartache creates an exciting, gripping and relatable book.
French Kiss focuses on a new college student, Edie. At first Edie finds it difficult to make friends in this new environment. She also drawn to a handsome boy named Dylan. Although she doesn’t know him she feels very strongly about him to the point of obsession, he is all she thinks about.
As time progresses Edie settles into her new life in college making a few friends in her art class, Dylan among them. When the class goes on a trip to Paris, things start to heat up between Edie and Dylan.
I is impossible to pick my favourite part, I loved it all. I would definitely read more by Sarra Manning, she has a way of maintaining a thrilling atmosphere, there is never a dull or boring moment. I am definitely going to read the other books in this series, I cannot wait to see what happens with Edie and Dylan.
I would 100% recommend this to 13+ girls. I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and Edie is a stereotypical teen girl who is easy to relate to. If you like romance with high levels of emotion and excitement than this is the book for you.
Personally, I loved reading French Kiss. The story is written in diary format, every entry detailed to such an extent you feel as if you are watching the plot unfold like a TV series. Sarra Manning has captured the emotions perfectly, each emotion whether sadness or excitement fuelled my desire to continue reading. The mix of romance versus teen heartache creates an exciting, gripping and relatable book.
French Kiss focuses on a new college student, Edie. At first Edie finds it difficult to make friends in this new environment. She also drawn to a handsome boy named Dylan. Although she doesn’t know him she feels very strongly about him to the point of obsession, he is all she thinks about.
As time progresses Edie settles into her new life in college making a few friends in her art class, Dylan among them. When the class goes on a trip to Paris, things start to heat up between Edie and Dylan.
I is impossible to pick my favourite part, I loved it all. I would definitely read more by Sarra Manning, she has a way of maintaining a thrilling atmosphere, there is never a dull or boring moment. I am definitely going to read the other books in this series, I cannot wait to see what happens with Edie and Dylan.
I would 100% recommend this to 13+ girls. I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and Edie is a stereotypical teen girl who is easy to relate to. If you like romance with high levels of emotion and excitement than this is the book for you.
November 12, 2012
This book was surprisingly good.
I didn’t actually know what this book was about, and was kind of dreading it. I’m not into diary stories much. But the first paragraph grabbed me for the very simple reason that I too went to university/college before I was eighteen, and it was awkward as hell.
Edie starts off as a shy, overwhelmed, klutz. But enough time spent with her emotionally unstable college pals and she is sharpening up in no time. I liked that she learns quickly that she had to be her own person and accepts that she can't possibly keep up with the vacillating moods of her classmates.
As for Dylan...well, he is an ass. But I can also understand why Edie is attracted to him. There’s something about him. He can be sincere and a real darling but when he bites, well, he bites hard. Dylan’s sort of like an older brother to Edie. He teases her relentlessly but he can be quite naughty about it too. The two share some very delicious kisses.
I’m a real sucker for happy ever afters and I figured from the start that this book wasn’t going to have one. Fortunately, I found myself enjoying the interaction between Edie and all her crazy college pals. Even Dylan’s snarkiness was tolerable because Edie could handle him. I know it seems lame that she still moons over him, but I thought she wasn’t too bad considering her age and Dylan’s appeal.
I didn’t actually know what this book was about, and was kind of dreading it. I’m not into diary stories much. But the first paragraph grabbed me for the very simple reason that I too went to university/college before I was eighteen, and it was awkward as hell.
Edie starts off as a shy, overwhelmed, klutz. But enough time spent with her emotionally unstable college pals and she is sharpening up in no time. I liked that she learns quickly that she had to be her own person and accepts that she can't possibly keep up with the vacillating moods of her classmates.
As for Dylan...well, he is an ass. But I can also understand why Edie is attracted to him. There’s something about him. He can be sincere and a real darling but when he bites, well, he bites hard. Dylan’s sort of like an older brother to Edie. He teases her relentlessly but he can be quite naughty about it too. The two share some very delicious kisses.
I’m a real sucker for happy ever afters and I figured from the start that this book wasn’t going to have one. Fortunately, I found myself enjoying the interaction between Edie and all her crazy college pals. Even Dylan’s snarkiness was tolerable because Edie could handle him. I know it seems lame that she still moons over him, but I thought she wasn’t too bad considering her age and Dylan’s appeal.
June 21, 2011
Reading this was purely as nostalgia trip for me as I am sadly old enough to remember not only when this was seralised in my all-time-favourite teen girls magazine J17 - which, sadly, no longer exists - but to also remember way back when Just 17 changed format, shape, style AND title to become J17. I loved J17 oodles more than Sugar or Bliss or More because it felt more real, less condescending and infinitely more interesting. And just all around cooler, quite simply.
This is the first book in the series of the gathered serialized extracts and I'm putting it on here although I didn't read this exactly. I read the two free books that were given away with J17 in 1999 and 2000 - Diary of a Crush: French Kiss and Diary of a Crush: Losing It. The contents of the free book Losing It appear in this series part two: Kiss and Make up. I do really want to read all the books in this series properly because I loved them so much as a teen.
I love Edie less now than I did at 13 but I still think these books are kind of brilliant and I love all the late 90s/early Noughties references to things I remember all too well: The Stereophonics, combat trousers, lip gloss and buttery clips for the little twists in your hair. Oh, those were the days!
This is the first book in the series of the gathered serialized extracts and I'm putting it on here although I didn't read this exactly. I read the two free books that were given away with J17 in 1999 and 2000 - Diary of a Crush: French Kiss and Diary of a Crush: Losing It. The contents of the free book Losing It appear in this series part two: Kiss and Make up. I do really want to read all the books in this series properly because I loved them so much as a teen.
I love Edie less now than I did at 13 but I still think these books are kind of brilliant and I love all the late 90s/early Noughties references to things I remember all too well: The Stereophonics, combat trousers, lip gloss and buttery clips for the little twists in your hair. Oh, those were the days!
September 16, 2011
I liked it OK. It was fun, quick and easy read. Like no deep thinking needed. The story’s about a girl named Edie who just transferred residence to a new town, and so she’s the new kid, and she has this huge crush on Dylan. We read on her diary, and as diary goes-it’s very self-centered, and she went on and on about her life, mostly her love life. It was like reading a friend’s diary, or talking to a friend about her love life. Though I have to say for a diary, it was too detailed (I can’t imagine writing on my diary that detailed). What I hated about the book was it’s shallowness; they were all so focused on their love life: kissing or snogging, breaking up, hooking up, exchanging partners, and fashion, aand no other problem involved. I mean, I loved all the chicklits I’ve read same as this book, but this is the FIRST time I’ve read something that is just focused on TWO people who always kiss each other, and it’s so obvious they like each other (and I really don’t get what Dylan’s problem is..anyway), and some conversations with some friends. BUT, I have to say I did enjoy reading it. Cute and nice.
January 2, 2022
I’m gonna keep my 5 star rating for the sake of nostalgia - but I’ll tell you what, it is a lot YOUNGER than I remember it being! But I haven’t read it since I was an actual teen. And Edie and Dylan’s relationship is downright toxic in a lot of ways tbh. I don’t think it would fly in current times. Something I didn’t understand/that made me angry was how when Edie finally stood up for herself and gave it to Dylan straight, her friends all acted disgusted with her like she was somehow too cruel?? For sticking up for herself and telling someone when his treatment of her isn’t okay?? What??? But I still see all the things I loved about it, and I love the British teenaged diary vibes. I look forward to seeing how these characters grow as their relationship develops!
May 5, 2014
I don't know what the author is trying to teach the teens (Since it's written for early teens I'm guessing, no young adult in their right mind would like this thing) with this sort of message. The girl was a wrecking mess throughout the book only because a pretty boy with crappy attitude wouldn't go out with her since well I don't know, he's getting it for free dammit! He can kiss her senseless whenever he wants and then go around saying 'We are better off as friends'.
Just gah. Frustrating. 2 stars because I can't rate it 1.5. 1 since that's the lowest you can rate here. 0.5 for holding my attention (Because I wanted to know what happens to this mess) till the end and that's not an easy task.
Just gah. Frustrating. 2 stars because I can't rate it 1.5. 1 since that's the lowest you can rate here. 0.5 for holding my attention (Because I wanted to know what happens to this mess) till the end and that's not an easy task.
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