My Thoughts: Anna and the French Kiss

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 Etienne St. Clair: 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?






I think I am going to be one of the firsts to say I didn't LOVE Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. For me to love a book, there needs to be something more then what was found in Anna. However, in the same breath, I will say that I did really enjoy the novel. I thought the story was engaging, I never got bored while reading this book. I did laugh when I was supposed to, I groaned in embarrassment when I supposed to, I got mad at all the right moments. Perkins definitely wrote a fun and easy to read book, and what I liked the best about this novel was the characters and how they fit together.

Anna was a likable protagonist. She was sweet and wanted to fit in, which is a natural desire for a girl of 17 who enteres a setting that is unfamiliar to her. What I really appreciated about Anna, was how uncomplicated she was and how uncomplicated she made things. I never rolled my eyes because she wasn't catching onto things the way I thought she needed to. She made an effort to make new friends, and then proceeded to make an effort in finding her place in the new group. Don't get me wrong, Anna was not perfect, she had her insecurities just like every teenaged girl, and sometimes her insecurities would be her downfall. But, for the most part she was able to move beyond them. I didn't love St.Claire as much as every other Anna and the French Kiss Reader. I thought he was a good friend to Anna, a really good friend. But anything beyond a platonic relationship I wasn't sure about.  There were a few decisions that he made regarding his relationship with Anna where I was like "Forget it Anna, he's not good enough". I was very protective of her.  But I did like St.Claire. I just preferred him as Anna's friend, not Anna's boyfriend.  The whole group of friends was something I loved. They were very supportive of one another and very loyal (that's something that I love to read about), they were also very forgiving, and although that is not all that realistic, I found it terribly sweet. 

I liked the way Perkins writes a novel. It's not easy to put down, and not because you can't put it down because you need to know what's going to happen next, but because you don't want to put it down, because its a pleasure to read. She writes in a way that's easy to read. The words flow, and the characters become your friends. I really appreciated that. 

Its safe for me to now say that I am excited for the companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door, which is due to be released in the fall. I, myself look forward to another weekend on my couch with this one.

Happy Reading Everyone!