Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

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?

Review:

Anna and the French Kiss is, without a doubt, one of my favorite books ever! Stephanie Perkins is a fabulous author and she created a romantic, fun, and addicting debut. Considering I visited Paris over the summer this book was even more relevant because I recognized so many of the places Anna and her friends visited. Paris is a beautiful city and the perfect setting for any novel. It made me want to return as soon as possible or even start attending a boarding school there!

Anna Oliphant was an awesome main character. She was so realistic and believable, and best of all, she wasn’t perfect. Anna was an ordinary teenager and reading about her experiences was so much fun. She never failed to add humor to the story and I really wanted to know her in real life. Anna is one of those characters you can’t help but like and want the best for and I was constantly rooting for her throughout the novel. Her family wasn’t perfect either but I enjoyed reading about them. Her father especially. I always find it interesting when a character in a book is an author and Mr. Oliphant was no expectation. He reminded me of Nicholas Sparks in a way, or at least his books and movies did. Sean was a sweet younger brother and he really did love Anna. She had a lot of ups and downs with her friends in America, but I’m satisfied with how everything turned out.

The characters that played the largest role in Anna and the French Kiss were Anna’s friends at the School of America in Paris. It was such an original idea to have Anna go to boarding school in Paris and made the story that much more magical and intriguing then if it was just in the US. All of the people Anna meet in Paris made an impact on both Anna and the reader and I loved them all. Especially her best friends; Meredith, Rashmi, Josh, and St. Clair. They were a great group and each of them played a large role in the story. Especially Etienne St. Clair.

St. Clair deserves his own paragraph in this review- he is just that awesome. I loved his character and every page he was on. St. Clair was not your standard typical, gorgeous, popular guy, but rather a sweet and realistic character that adds so much to the story. I especially liked watching Anna and St. Clair’s friendship grow and develop into something more.

The setting and plot was also great. The idea of attending boarding school in Paris was so original and reading about all the places they visited and people they met was one of my favorite aspects of the novel. Another part of the novel I liked was reading about Anna’s love for movies, especially old classics. Stephanie Perkins wrote a magical and romantic first novel that will steal the hearts of readers everywhere and leave them dying to visit Paris. Anna and St. Clair were awesome main characters and the writing was fabulous. I can’t wait to read Stephanie’s next release!

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

December 2, 2010/Dutton/372 Pages/Young Adult

Source: Teens Read Too (ARC)