Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 372
Challenge: None
My Rating:
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. -summary from goodreads.com
Such a wonderful contemporary YA read. I don’t think I’ve read one bad review on Anna and the French Kiss and this review wont be any different! The story follows eighteen-year-old Anna Oliphant who is sent off to SOAP (School of America in Paris) by her father in a ridiculous show of his newly found “author money”. Here she befriends a new group of classmates and meets the handsome Etienne St. Clair.
I really liked Anna. What I loved best about her, were her realistic traits; Anna is sometimes witty, sometimes smart, sometimes annoying. She’s not notably remarkable at anything, she’s clumsy, and she’s terrible at French. But I loved her persona and I admired how she continued to motivate herself even after her parents pretty much abandoned her in France.
Now, onto St. Claire…. I’ll admit, in the beginning I was a bit hesitant about liking him because he was totally leading Anna on, AND HE ALREADY HAD A GF! But then you learn about his relationship and how its unhealthy, unstable and tearing him apart…. *sigh* St. Clair is full of flaws, which makes him all that more real.
Overall, Anna and the French Kiss is a story about figuring out how to be good to your friends, your parents and yourself. Ms. Perkins was able to perfectly portray how important some people are in life, and how terrible it is to hurt those you love. This book is great on so many levels.
