Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Published by Dutton

Genre: YA

$16.99 (US hardback)

372 pages

What it's about:

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. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.



My thoughts:
This book has been so hyped up and it is definitely for good reasons. This book was perfect.

This wasn't a book that I was sold right from the beginning. It took a little while for me to get in the swing of this book. I normally read paranormal books, and this one is far from it. I also had some slight biases going into this book but quickly got over them. It actually didn't take me long to get into it, and when I did, it was impossible for me to put it down.

Stephanie Perkins writing is seriously brilliant. This book has a build up that is intense and so real. The way she builds up everything, you can feel the tension. The best example of this was the first time Anna and Etienne go to the movies. The whole description of sitting in the dark, with your crush, and when your legs accidentally touch, and the feelings you get from it. It was something everyone should be able to relate to. Everyone knows that butterfly feeling when that happens and Perkins describe it superbly. I was feeling everything right along with Anna, I couldn't believe how many butterflies I got in my stomach while reading this book.

And what can I say about Etienne? He has a french name, has an English accent, but is American. *swoon!!!* I pretty much fell in love with this character from the second Anna meets him. I was so invested in this relationship. It was killing me that these two couldn't seem to get it together, but that is what made it so real. They were both teenagers and were having a very teenagerish relationship. It is what made it so sweet. It was both the forbidden romance and the best friend turned lover romance. Those are my absolute favorites and I got both in one story.

The writing is what really sold me on this book. The way Anna has her little side talks, the tension build up, and the overall feel of the book. I will definitely be picking up the rest of Stephanie's books when they come out.

I do have some questions thought:
1) what is the british two finger flip off????? They mention this on page 55. (if anyone knows what this is, please explain it to me, I was confused at that part. I just know the dirty version of what the two finger salute means).
2) did anyone else automatically think NICHOLAS SPARKS!!!! when Anna describes her dad at the very beginning? It cracked me up.

Rating: 10/10!!
This book left me going "awww" but also confused as to what I'm going to read next. It's going to have to be fantastic for it to keep my attention now.

Favorite Quotes:
I fell in love with the way Perkins described Etienne's hair, so bare with me through these quotes.

"The first thing I notice is his hair--it's the first thing I notice about everyone. It's dark brown and messy and somehow both long and short at the same time. I think of the Beatles, since I've just seen them in Meredith's room. It's artist hair. Musician hair. I-pretend-I-don't-care-but-I-really-do hair.
Beautiful hair." --pg 15.

"He shakes his head. His dark messy hair has a few curls in it today. It's quite breathtaking, really. If there were an Olympics competition in hair, St. Clair would totally win, hands down. Ten-point-oh. Gold medal." --pg 59

"I mean, really. Who sends their kid to boarding school? It's so Hogwarts. Only mine doesn't have cute boy wizards or magic candy or flying lessons." --pg. 5.