Author: Jenny Lee
Genre: YA
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: 4 Stars
Book Description: At seventeen, Anna K is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and 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 an 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.
Dazzlingly opulent and emotionally riveting, Anna K: A Love Story is a brilliant reimagining of Leo Tolstoy’s timeless love story, Anna Karenina—but above all, it is a novel about the dizzying, glorious, heart-stopping experience of first love and first heartbreak.
Rating: 4 Stars
Review: This a modern retelling of Anna Karenina set in New York with elite High School Students. I have never read Anna Karenina and I definitely think that was probably better, because I had nothing to compare it to.
For those of you that read my blog, you probably know that I am not a huge YA fan, but for some reason this intrigued me. Maybe it was the reference to Crazy Rich Asians, who knows, but I loved it from the very first chapter.
This has a large array of characters to follow, and I was confused at times, but the 5 or 6 central figures were written with ease. There was love triangles, parties, drugs and alcohol, but never once, did I feel like this was over the top.
Anna K is the star, a beautiful girl who is the perfect relationship, until she meets Vronsky and everything changes. She will question what love really should feel like. But through and through, she was always a good sister, friend and daughter and I just adored her.
If you are looking for a fun read this book will do that for you. I listened to this on audio and mixed it in with actually reading the physical book. The audio was a little trite, but if you can get passed the very acted out fake teenage voices you will be fine.
Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
