Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Dutton/2010/Young Adult/372 pages
Anna is 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. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.
As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year or so, you've probably have seen lots and lots of raving reviews of Stephanie Perkins debut novel, ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. I know I certainly have. But before all of the reviews started coming in, I was intrigued by the fact that the book takes place in PARIS! As someone who will be in AP French this fall and had this
huge obsession with being an exchange student in France not too long ago (sadly my mother ruined those plans), I just had to get my hands on this book.
First off, I have to say that the title of this book is the kind of title that I'm embarrassed to be seen with. I can't help it! But I did enjoy it. It seriously made me smile because like I said, I love the French culture. And I loved that that I could pronounce all of the French names and knew; My French teacher has taught me so well.
Anna--loved that she's a film junkie and that she wants to be a critic, I liked critiquing shows, too! The only thing about that I didn't like is that she kept going on about how her father didn't send her a lot of money like the other parents did but she went to a cinema like everyday and French movie theaters are hella expensive from what my French teacher and
business week says. But that's not important, just me being nit-picky. St. Clair was great. I like this relationship. But also, I really enjoyed Anna's friendship with the other students at the school.
From all the reviews I saw, I expected this book to immediately go on my all times favorite list; however, I only just enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on LOLA, which I hopefully I'll like better!
4 stars out of 5
Cover: D. I hate this cover. I don't like how you can see Anna's face but not St. Clair's. But more than that I just think it's so unoriginal.
Favorite Character: St. Clair!
Put-Down-Ability: 4
*Source: public library
