Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss is what I call a truly magical book. This book captured the true feeling of being in love and all the troubles that come with it. This book has a sparkling plot with glowing characters that I just fell in love with. This book makes me want to sing, cry, laugh and scream, its so beautiful.

Anna was 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. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris-until she meets Etienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Etienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend. But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true.

This book made my heart melt from when I read the very first page. I loved this so much and its one of my most favorite young adult books so far. I wanted to be Anna half the time, with that beautiful English/American boy. All the characters had so much more than some books that I have read. They all had their own personalities instead of being just names that had no feeling.

In this book was set in the eyes of Anna herself, so there was a lot more insight into her life, emotions and reasons. When reading this book I actually felt everything Anna was feeling, the good parts, the bad parts and everything in between. I could understand her actions quite but sometimes I was clueless. Unexpected parts made me think and react differently to the characters but after I could understand them.

My favorite character was definitely Etienne St. Clair. All his quirks and his description made me fall in love with him. I loved how Stephanie Perkin made him English, I thought that was pretty funny. This was one of the books that me want to be in a character's boots. His character felt real, unlike some other books. He isn't perfect but everything he does has a hidden meaning behind it, which doesn't happen often. Sometimes people do things for the sake of it. His relationship with Anna is beautiful and purely real, not because of her beauty or his looks, real love.

The idea of this book set in Paris is brilliant. What place is better for romance than Paris? The troubles and fights between the characters is real as all friends fight. The plot was vibrant and stunning. I loved this so much. I may read Lola and the Boy Next Door, I hope its as amazing as this one. This great a book is super rare and don't miss this amazing opportunity.

There are some books that make you cry. There are some books that make you laugh. Then there are those that make you laugh so hard that you cry. Anna and the French Kiss falls under the last category. I'm not the biggest fan of contemporary. It was all I really read in High School and Middle School. It's like eating too much cheesecake. You love cheesecake, but since it's the only dessert you ever ate for four years you start to get a little sick of it. Then by the time you reach college the very sight of cheesecake makes you want to gag.


Okay, so the cheesecake metaphor isn't a true story...but you get my gist, right?
I have been dodging contemporary for some time now, but am I glad that I finally dove back in with Stephanie Perkin's novel! It was funny and it felt REAL! All the awkward moments made me feel so bad for Anna and I too felt that awkwardness. It's also very rare (at least for me) to find a light read that has depth. This book had depth. The characters were three dimensional and had emotions and feelings. They weren't there just to throw out some quips. In short, they weren't caricatures...and sometimes I feel like many YA characters become just that.


So yeah, I loved it. I adored it. I want to go to Paris and fall magically in love with an English man. If only. I'm actually from Atlanta, GA...which made it that much more entertaining since Anna is from Atlanta. There is a line about how everyone from GA goes to Panama City Beach...well this is soooo true! I have been to PCB (yes we abbreviate it) or around PCB every year for every Spring Break along with the rest of the state.


Lastly, don't think I forgot...Etienne St. Clair. Who has now taken the position as one of my all time favorite guys in YA. He's English, he's hot, and he's not perfect. Yeah, that last line may be weird...but I adore guys who aren't perfect in books. Because let's face it - that guy DOES NOT exist. Etienne isn't perfect, which makes him more real and give his character more depth. His relationship with Anna is really natural and definitely not insta-love, which is a plus. I swoon. He's the best almost-perfect guy you could get.


I have Lola and the Boy Next Door on my shelf, so I'll be reading that soon. I recommend this book for anyone who wants a good laugh, loves Paris, and who has a soft spot for accents. If you're hesitant to read contemporary like I was, this book may be the best pick-me-up for the genre! Be brave and take a chance! I know I did, and it sure as hell paid off !

I can't think of another book that made me SMILE this much. ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS had me giggling and swooning at the same time. The writing was fantastic, and the romance was pitch perfect. I am prepared to devour the next book.

What a sweet book. It’s long and there are lots of secondary plot lines, but the main takeaway is that this is a sweet book. Anna is bummed when her newly rich dad decides to impress his friends by sending her to Paris for a school year. Sure it’s Paris and all, but she has a life at home in Atlanta. It’s hard to start over in a new school, especially when you don’t even speak the language.

She’s immediately drawn to St. Clair (as is every single girl in the school). He’s handsome and nice and they have lots in common. The only problem is, not only does he have a girlfriend, but the one girl who’s been nice to Anna is secretly madly in love with him. Plus, Anna maybe has a boyfriend back home. It’s best if she and St. Clair are just friends.

Best laid plans and all that jazz…

I love how nice Meredith is to Anna on her first day and every day thereafter. She made all the difference in Anna’s first few days. There are a lot of supporting characters and they are all great. Every one of them is believable, with quirks and personalities. As the friends grow closer as a group, there are lots of opportunities for them to get along and fight and make up, all in very real ways. They make mistakes and learn from them, especially Anna.

The dialogue is perfect, everyone has their own personalities and the dialogue is a great reflection of that. Snappy comebacks and not-so-snappy comebacks. Friendly banter and the more serious stuff. All of it is realistic.

I think Stephanie Perkins must have been a foodie in a past life, because she can paint a yummy picture with her words.

Anyone with a sweet tooth or a love of French food will enjoy this book.

This book is so romantic, it is like a perfect depiction of falling in love. Seriously, this has everything you could want in a teen romance book. It’s sweet and tender, but has typical teenage issues like friendship, jealousy and immaturity.

The Sum Up: A wonderful story about falling in love and growing up. It’s long, but you’ll love every minute of it. This is contemporary ya at its finest.

Let me just start off by saying that "I only read paranormal" or "I only read fantasy" is not a legit excuse for not reading this book. I've never been a fan of published general fiction for some unknown reason, but I don't think I've met a single person yet who hasn't liked this book.

Of course, it helps that this takes place at a boarding school. In France. I think that ought to get anyone interested.

The book starts off with Anna's parents leaving her at her school in France. Practically abandoning her. I found it kind of funny, because really, whose parents just abandon you on a different continent when your kid knows nothing about her school?

Anyways. The characters. Definitely the best part of this book. Anna's narrative is so easy to read and understand, even easier to connect to. Her emotions seemed real and realistic.

I still can't get used to calling St. Clair Etienne, though. That was a problem of mine -- for more than half the book, Anna calls him St. Clair, but then suddenly it's Etienne every time she's talking to him. It seemed to come out of nowhere.

Anna and St. Clair's relationship was never dull. From the moment Anna met him, she was practically in love. (Not that she knew that. But still.) And St. Clair was always so nice and funny . . . . The only problem was his girlfriend.

Throughout the book, St. Clair takes Anna all around Paris, especially to the theaters, since Anna is a film freak. That's another thing I liked about the book - how realistic Anna was. She had a hobby, she wasn't perfect, she didn't understand any French, her emotions were almost never irrational. And St. Clair was that way, too. Maybe not at first. At first, he seemed perfect, and that irritated me, but then you started to see that he was just as human as Anna, that he had his hobbies too.

Another great thing - Etienne had flaws. He was clinging to his old life while basically having an emotional affair the entire book, which you really don't see much of these days.

The only complaint I have about the book is that there was a lot of unnecessary drama. Okay, obviously St. Clair couldn't dump his girlfriend right in the beginning. What kind of story would that be? But like Michelle said, there were about twenty unnecessary pages at the end, all because of a very stupid and pointless thing that St. Clair did. I felt like Perkins was trying to make everything that could go wrong actually go wrong.

But that's the only thing I didn't like. Which is saying something. And on top of being adorable and realistic, Anna and the French Kiss was funny, too. Anna's got some subtle sarcasm that I absolutely loved.

I feel like you'd have to be insane not to like this book.

Read this! What are you waiting for? Trust me. Read.

Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down. Stephanie Perkins has written some well-rounded and believable characters. In addition, her ability to bring Paris to life made the story all the more believable. A great book and a great love story that shows that not all relationships have an easy start!

Reader reviewed by Krystal Larson