Title: Anna and The French Kiss Author: Stephanie Perkins
Published: December 2010
Number of Pages: Hardcover, 374 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Chick-Lit
Plot: 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. 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?
Personal Thoughts: Anna Oliphant and I could have been the same girl in high school - except that she attended her senior year in an American High School, in Paris, France!! Stephanie Perkins (the author) did a fantastic job telling this story from Anna's POV. I felt like I was actually a part of the relationships that Anna was having to create and navigate... making new friends can't be easy, even in a new school in a new country... and keeping up with friends back at home must have been just as difficult. It was really easy to fit into this story as Anna... her feelings and emotions were so easily attainable and understood.
I loved the nod to a Nicholas Sparks type father figure that Anna has... every reference to him made me literally laugh out loud.
While some parts of this particular story were pretty predictable, I liked that Perkins used some pretty creative tactics of teenage life to throw us off the scent of Anna and St Clair finally getting a chance to be together - which is of course what I wanted the whole time I was reading this story. I immersed myself into this book for about three days, just taking in every word on every page, hoping and praying that the outcome I wanted would happen, eventually. I was curious how to things would work out; and how jealousy and learning to grow up would play a huge part in it all.
This book took me, mentally, back to high school. It reminded me what it was like to have that "first love" crush on the boy that is totally unavailable to you. It is full of hopes, dreams, and that search for the place where you "belong" and can call "home." It's a romance with no sex; it's a comedy with no jokes; but it's also a piece of fiction with no fantasy! Truly a decent story that made me want to wonder and dream about what would happen next.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book were:
“French name, English accent, American school. Anna confused.”Recommended Age Level: 13+
“I'm a little distracted by this English French American Boy Masterpiece.”
“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.”
“I don't understand why things always go from perfect to weird with us. It's like we're incapable of normal human interaction.”
Rating: 5
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