Wednesday 2 January 2013

Review: Anna and the French Kiss


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 Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publication Date: December 2 2010 
Publisher: Speak 
Length: 386 Pages 
Add it to your TBR PileGoodreads
Buy ItAmazon US / Amazon UK

Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: Cute! But where is Anna's blonde streak in her hair?
Point of View: 1st person, following Anna

My Rating: 5 Stars

le sigh...

I wanted to make sure that my first book in 2013 was a fun happy read and I am pleased to say that Anna and the French Kiss was exactly that.  The setting was lovely, the characters were fun and the overall book was just a joy to read.  This is the third book in the last month that I have read that takes place in Paris and I am dying to return there now.  I obviously missed tons of places I should have gone to the first time. 

 “Welcome to Paris, Anna. I'm glad you've come.”

Anna finds herself being forced by her father to spend her senior year of high school in Paris.  While others would jump at the chance Anna doesn't fancy the idea at all.  She is very closed off and is scared of even leaving the dorms for the first couple of weeks.  Thankfully she meets the girl in the room next to hers, Meredith, who introduces Anna to her group of friends.  There is Josh and Rashmi who are a couple and Étienne (Eh-t-yen) St. Clair.  aaahhhh Étienne St. Clair *swoon*  What a wonderful character.  St. Clair (as his friends call him) is unfortunately dating another friend of the group, Ellie, but she graduated the year before and now that she is in college has stopped hanging around them all.  It is always St. Clair who goes to visit her as her college is nearby.

Slowly Anna and St. Clair get closer and closer and you can see a real friendship building.  Then you can see that friendship turning into romantic feelings.  Since St. Clair has a girlfriend and Anna has a boy back home that she is hoping will wait for her... they have to navigate their feelings without hurting the others in their lives.

 “There are few things worse than having feelings for someone you shouldn't, and I don't like where my thoughts were headed.”

I really enjoyed the chemistry between Anna and Étienne.  It is a tricky situation in a book when one of the characters is dating somebody else because I would never condone cheating.  But thankfully Perkins was able to write the story in a way that the relationship was gradual and no real lines were crossed.  I never felt uncomfortable with what was happening and of course you are wishing for them to end up together so really a few blurred lines are acceptable.

“So what do I wish for? Something I'm not sure I want? Someone I'm not sure I need? Or someone I know I can't have?  Screw it. Let the fates decide.

I wish for the thing that is best for me.”

This was my first book by Stephanie Perkins but I do plan on reading her others.  Lola and the Boy Next Door is out now and Isla and the Happily Ever After is due out in May 2013.  Isla is actually in Anna and the French Kiss so it will be nice to visit that character again.  From what I can tell from the synopsis it appears all of the characters from these three books are somehow connected yet it doesn't appear to be a true trilogy.  So it may be okay to read them as a standalone or as a series.

oooOOOooohhhh and I just wanted to add... this is one book that I would love to be rewritten from Étienne's point of view.  There are so many times when he is away with his girlfriend, Ellie, and it would be nice to see how their relationship starts to change as his friendship with Anna grows.  It would be a little hard in the start seeing him happy with Ellie but then again he can't have been that happy... not really... 

“Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?”

7 comments:

  1. I have heard great things about this book, keep thinking I need to pick it up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooh! I love this review-- and of course, I love the book that it's about! I agree with you about Anna and Etienne's relationship-- no real lines were crossed, but you could see the gradual building of feelings. And if you're like me, (and you are, I can tell! ;P) you were rooting for them to be together no matter what. Quite honestly, if they weren't together, I'm sure I would've thrown the book across the room in a fit of rage. You know what I mean?

    "When Unrequited love is the most expensive thing on the menu, sometimes you'll settle for the daily special."~ Jordan, from Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally. Another author who does good contemporaries-- but in a different way. Have you read anything by her? Random question, LOL.

    Anywho, I've rambled for long enough, but *TWO THUMBS WAY UP* for your review. :D

    Loves,
    Megan@The Book Babe

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm so glad you loved this book! I read it last year and fell in love with it as well. And also: this book from St. Clair's point of view would be brilliant! That should really happen!! I enjoyed Lola as well but not as much. Though Anna and St. Clair appear again and they are even more awesome! Great review! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay, so glad you liked this one! St. Clair makes me swoon, ah!

    Okay, fangirling over. Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Loved Étienne! I can't wait for Isla to come out! My favorite is still Anna and the French Kiss, despite reading Lola. (The boy in that one is still very fan-girl worthy though.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved this book too! Wasn't as thrilled with Lola, but still liked it. I totally agree that this would be a cool book to read from St. Clair's POV. I would definitely be interested to see how his relationship with Ellie was because him hanging on to her for that long felt a little weird after a while! Love your Review!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I LOVED this book! Lola was good, too, but not as good as Anna! I can't wait for Isla to come out!

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear what you have to say! I read and try to respond to every single comment I receive. Knowing there are people out there reading is what makes this all worth it... : )