Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1)

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 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?

• ISBN10: 0525423273
• ISBN13: 9780525423270
• Publish Date: 2 December 2010 (first published 1 December 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: E P Dutton & Co Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780525423270

Reviews

[Jo]

I've been eager to read Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins for such a long time. A romance. A romance set in Paris. A romance set in Paris that's raved about. It sounded really sweet, despite thinking the title is a bit cheesy, and as I've been in a romance mood lately, I decided it was time to buy it. And it was so good!

Anna is moving to Paris to attend her senior year at School of America in Paris, on her father's insistence. He believes he's doing what's right for her. She thinks he's doing what would impress people, which is why he writes cheesy, tragic romances that get made into films. She is being sent away from her home, her friends, and the guy she's crushed on for ages who seems to be interested... to Paris, where she doesn't know anybody or speak the language. But then she meets Étienne St. Clair, an American boy with an English accent and a French name. Beautiful, charming Étienne, who, with his other friends, welcome her into their group. Anna is finding it really hard to fight her attraction to Étienne, but he has a girlfriend. Plus their friend Meredith also really likes him. Plus she's kind of, maybe, possibly going out with Toph back home. Suddenly the language barrier is the least of her problems.

Anna and the French Kiss is so sweet! A really beautiful story set in a beautiful place featuring a beautiful boy! I found the characters a little furstrating, but in a good way; Anna has a penchant for over thinking, to the point where she thinks in so many different directions she ties herself into knots. What could it MEAN?! She's a little blind, because it's obvious Étienne is into her. Yet Étienne is pretty crap at saying things though. He goes for cryptic gestures that Anna is supposed to understand straight away (that I didn't even know meant anything until he pretty much says so), and is walking this line of not wanting to hurt anyone, not wanting to leave his girlfriend, but not being able to stay away from Anna. I know that makes him sound really crappy, but although he makes some crap choices, he's actually a really decent guy who's dealing with a lot, and just doesn't know what the best thing to do is. No wonder the two are so confused. It's a little frustrating, but creates awesome tension, and it's gripping. And well, how can anyone not swoon over Étienne St. Clair?

Like Just One Day by Gayle Forman, Anna and the French Kiss made me desperate to go to Paris! But we see different parts of Paris in Anna and the French Kiss than we do in Just One Day. And in such incredible detail. I want to go to Notre Dame. I want to stand on the star at Point Zero and make my wish. I want to see the chimera! I want to go to the cute one-screen cinemas, and walk past the patisseries. Oh my god, I've got to go to that place! It sounds so beautiful! The detail is fantastic, and it's obvious Perkins went there herself - or just did an awesome amount of research. It sounds incredible; is there really any better place to set a romance?

When it comes to Étienne, there are a few English stereotypes which I, as an Englishwoman, found really annoying - hardly anyone says "pants", for example. I was really worried I would spend the whole book being wound up by how wrong English people are represented, but there weren't too many, fortunately, and most happened early on, so a good portion of the book was eye-roll free. Some of the Briticisms did sound odd though, and I'm not sure if that's because most other people in the book are American, and mostly American terminology is used, so it stands out, or if they weren't used quite right. I say "mate," "bloody," and "sod," but they jarred me slightly whenever they came out of Étienne's mouth.

Although the story was really sweet and beautiful, and I was gripped the whole way through, I'm feeling like it's a little... forgettable? It sounds awful to say. But I finished the book yesterday, and I can't think of much else to say about it. It was a really good story, but I wasn't wowed by it. Saying that, I did enjoy it enough that I've already picked up Lola and the Boy Next Door, and I'm really enjoying it. That's got to say something, right? I feel like I want to read whatever Perkins writes, but I might not necessarily rush out to buy it.

[girlinthepages]

Anna and the French Kiss was a book that I’ve been hearing about in the YA contemporary genre for years. It sounded fluffy, and the cover was so cute yet so cheesy, that I never felt motivated enough to add it to my pile when book buying. Recently the series received a cover-redesign which is absolutely gorgeous, and this coupled with the rave reviews of Isla and the Happily Ever after convinced me to take the plunge and invest in the Anna and the French Kiss series, and I haven’t looked back since.

This book had one of the most authentic teen voices that I’ve read in a contemporary YA novel in a long time. Perkins does a fantastic job at making her teenagers feel like real teenagers, and not stereotypical and typecasted and obviously-written-by-an-adult-who-only-marginally-remembers-what-it’s-like-to-be-a-teenager. Anna was giddy and awkward and sassy and full of life and experienced such a range of emotions that had me reminiscing on how crazy a ride high school can be. Even the drama was well-penned, and rather than rolling my eyes I felt my heart ache for the characters because I remembered how devastating unrequited crushes and backstabbing friends and stolen glances could be. Anna’s friends all felt like authentic teenagers too, from the bickering couple to the aspiring band members to the flirtatious yet taken guys.

Speaking of guys, it’s a predominant theme throughout the novel that Anna is going to fall in love with a boy in Paris. Readers know it’s inevitable, and the beauty of this book is that it doesn’t rush that experience, rather it puts Anna and St.Clair’s friendship through its paces, through all of the messy, complicated stages that lead to admitting your feelings for someone, and then dealing with the fallout. St.Clair himself was a frustrating character much of the time, and at many points I just wanted to shake him and give him a good talking too, but he is a seventeen year old boy, and by the end of the novel it was rewarding to see him grow into himself.

And the setting. It was impossible not to fall in love with this book based solely upon the fact that I could daydream about being in school abroad right alongside Anna. I wanted her cozy little dorm room with its perpetually open window. I coveted the fresh food and the evening walks to the cinemas through the Latin quarter. I envied that their was so much history waiting to be discovered whenever she chose to reach. Anna’s time in Paris is captivating because she indulges in the major tourist spots, but readers also get to see her friends help her explore a more intimate side of Paris, the quieter, more magical side of living abroad and immersing oneself in another culture, and getting to create a new identity. It was all so very charming. I also enjoyed getting to follow Anna back home to Atlanta for her winter break, and to see how her personality has shifted and her expectations changed after having the experience of living on her own abroad. It feels very similar to a the narrative of young adults returning home from college, and realizing how much they’ve changed only after they’ve returned to their roots.

The downside? That one last star is lacking for a few reasons that weren’t enough to seriously put a damper on my overall reading experience. Firstly, I felt that the “bully” Amanda was written in a very formulaic fashion. She’s pretty and has lots of friends, and instantly harasses the new girl. On top of that, she keeps making advances toward St.Clair when he’s blatantly rude to her and disapproving of her behavior. She’s an oblivious, catty, placeholder of a character who is used to drive the plot along, a generic bully, and I was a little surprised by her because I felt that Perkins did such a great job writing all of her other teenage characters. Secondly, while I overall found the book to be charming, I often disliked the way St.Clair treated Anna. I know that high school is often a time before girls are 100% confident in their self-value and self worth and guys are fumbling their way through the dating scene as well, but I felt that some of the stuff St.Clair did (along the lines of leading Anna on) was way unfair to both Ellie and Anna, and I felt that he was only marginally called out for his behavior considering all of the angst that it caused Anna (and that sort of behavior is really distracting in high school). Alas, high school is not usually one’s best representation of moral standards and self esteem, so I hope to see them grow into stronger individuals during their appearances in the next two books in the series.

Favorite Quote:

“How many times can our emotions be tied to someone else’s – be pulled and stretched and twisted – before they snap? Before they can never be mended again?”

Overall: Anna and the French Kiss was not only a gorgeous addition to my bookshelf, but also a charming contemporary that explored all of the angst and joy of high school relationships. It felt authentically written and dealt with teenage drama realistically, and the Parisian setting added a fun layer and different perspective to the contemporary romance. This is a great book for readers who want to see relationships develop through all of the rough and real stages, who love a sweet setting in a boarding school abroad, and who want a relateable protagonist who is a little awkward, a little OCD, and a lot of fun.

This review originally appeared at Girl in the Pages

[Rowena]

Love this book. Like, a lot. St. Clair and Anna were just great. Cannot recommend this book enough.

[Joséphine]

I finally decided to join the party and read Anna and the French Kiss. It’s one of those books I read because I wanted to know what the book was about. It keeps popping up everywhere online—in the blogosphere, on Instagram, as well as Twitter—and all the online bookstores seem to have it under their recommendations right now. At first I did mostly enjoy the book. For the most part, I liked Stephanie Perkins’ writing style, which was well-suited towards a sweet romance. Sadly, towards the last third, prominent cracks started appearing for me.

GROUP DYNAMICS

In the beginning, it took me a while to get past Anna’s whining over being shipped off to boarding school. (Though what’s up with that? For all her whining, I don’t recall a proper reason for her father’s decision to send her to boarding school.)

Once she got over herself and settled into SOAP, things finally got going and I was swept away into the story. It was fun seeing Meredith take Anna under her wing and include her in her clique. I liked how her friendships were developed in individual levels with Meredith, Rashmi, St. Clair and to a limited extent with Josh as well, thus establishing the group dynamics as well.

Very often romance books are so focussed on the couples/triangles/involved parties/whatever, that the other people in their lives hardly feature at all. That is a common gripe for me at least, so I was glad for their clique. I thought it was especially cool that it took Rashmi quite some time to warm up to Anna, and how it took a moment of spilling guts before they finally became truly friends.


LOVE WEB

Love triangles are such weird concepts. A likes B. B likes C. C likes B, not A. See where the problem lies? It’s not a true triangle. But that doesn’t matter because Anna and the French Kiss had a tangle of webs, which in of themselves were fine and dandy but over time just made me want to smack Anna, and St. Clair, and Meredith, and… Scrap that. I want to smack everyone involved.

Basically, this is how their web looked like:

(Clearer version available on original review at Word Revel.)

To recap,

1. Anna kissed Toph before she left Atlanta.
2. Meredith had a long-time crush on St. Clair.
3. St. Clair was together with Ellie for a year already.
4. Bridgette ended up with Toph behind Anna’s back.
5. Anna fell for St. Clair.
Anna briefly had a thing with Dave.

Technically, messy is good. Messy gets the plot going. But when messy relies a lot on clichés, then the details better make the story worth reading. It also means that there should be enough material to not keep moving in circles, which Anna and the French Kiss ultimately did. It went round and round in circles.

Anna missed Toph. Anna discovered St. Clair. St. Clair had a girlfriend. Meredith wanted St. Clair. Anna wanted St. Clair as well. St. Clair wanted Anna. St. Clair rejected her. She wanted Toph. St. Clair fought with Ellie. St. Clair wanted Anna again. She wanted him too. St. Clair rejected her for Ellie. She wanted Toph again. Toph chose Bridgette, leaving Anna to pine after St. Clair. St. Clair wanted her. St. Clair rejected her. Anna picked Dave. St. Clair fought with Ellie. St. Clair wanted Anna. Anna dumped Dave. Anna wanted St. Clair…

There was so much to and fro! It go tiring in the end, if you ask me.

SWEET TOXIC ROMANCE

Anna and Étienne—how sweet when they finally found each other. How wonderful their future might be. Now hold up. He cheated on Ellie. With Anna. Even said so himself:

“I cheated on her every day. In my mind, I thought of you in ways I shouldn’t have, again and again. She was nothing compared to you. I’ve never felt this way about anybody before...”

That’s supposed to sweep me off my feet and compel me to root for their romance? I don’t think so. Once a cheater, always a cheater. I’ve met guys who cheated on my friends. They didn’t just cheat on my friends. They cheated on others before, during, and after. They didn’t change.

What bothers me is that Anna knew all along that he had a girlfriend. Yet she was optimistic about her relationship with Étienne. Sure, she couldn’t help her feelings for him. I get that. She also wanted Ellie to be out of the picture. Also natural. Yet Étienne kept sending her mixed signals and finally made out with her before breaking up with Ellie. That is full-on cheating, which is no good basis for a sweet romance in my books.

To make matters worse, Anna wasn’t worried about Ellie as much as about Meredith. Anna thought that what she did was wrong ultimately because Meredith had feelings for St. Clair as well. Let me point you to the diagram I composed. The romantic link between Meredith and St. Clair is dotted, meaning she had no claim over him. On the other hand, the romantic link between Ellie and St. Clair is solid. Need I say more?

HYPOCRISY

It gets better. Anna felt betrayed when she found out about Bridgette and Toph. They got together around Thanksgiving without telling Anna. Anna cut off all ties with Bridgette as a result. Once again, look at that diagram. Her romantic ties to Toph weren’t official. They kissed but didn’t declare anything between them. Nonetheless, Anna thought Bridgette betrayed her.

In spite of her hurt, Anna made out with a guy who had a girlfriend. She knew the pain of betrayal to a lesser degree yet still went on to do so much worse. I wish someone knocked her off her high horse. Alas, nobody did.

Anna wasn’t alone in her hypocrisy. Lover boy joined her. In fact, he said,

“All I could think about was what that bastard did to you last Christmas. Toph never tried to explain or apologise…”

So what does that make Anna’s wonderful Étienne? An even bigger jerk and a hypocrite to boot, that’s what.


MOVING ON

With that assessment, I’m a bit surprised I ended up giving Anna and the French Kiss 2 stars, instead of 1 star or even 0 stars. See, the thing is, I did enjoy the book at first and like I said, Stephanie Perkins writes in a way that makes you want to smile yourself silly over a sweet romance. Since romance isn’t a favourite genre of mine, that’s saying a lot.

Since I did like the writing style, I do intend to give Lola and the Boy Next Door a chance. If no cheating or hypocrisy is involved, I expect to like it a whole lot more than Anna and the French Kiss.

This review first appeared on Word Revel.

[Amanda]

8/19/2014 reread: Still an adorable book and I love it for the same reasons I did in 2012.

Please excuse me as I squee in my pants (to quote Missie). I don’t know that I have ever really done such an act in a review to date, but it was bound to happen eventually, and Anna and the French Kiss is definitely the kind of book that makes you swoon to embarrassing degrees. I want to crawl into Anna’s world and roll around in it (bonus points if I can roll around with St. Clair). Why have I avoided this book for so long? Oh, right. Because it’s a YA contemporary, and I just. don’t. read. those.

Let’s take a few minutes to kick me for pure idiocy.

Yes, it’s true that I can’t handle angst (Woe! Angst!) and there is definitely some of that here. But! (there’s always a but where a good book is concerned; and, let’s face it, good books always have butts in addition to buts) But more than anything, this book feels real. The characters are real and tangible and accessible. Anna had me completely charmed by page 24. It takes a very well written character to have me admitting to being in love with the book by page 24. I am not always so easily charmed, except maybe by Etienne St. Clair.

Anna and the French Kiss made me feel like I was in the book. I read faster when Anna did something stupid and her thoughts raced on. I wanted to eat the cuteness on every page. If you’ve read the book, I think you understand the sentiment. It had me laughing and smiling and smirking and swooning my fool head off, and it did so on a day that I was feeling down and glum and sad. I wanted to point out every real life moment that could be related to and held a valuable lesson, because this is why books are AWESOME.

I stopped writing this review to go look at quotes from the book to see if I could pull out one of favorite FAVORITE parts and I got distracted by the pure awesomeness that is Stephanie Perkins’s writing. My quote isn’t there, so I’ll sum it up here: there’s a part where a teacher discusses translations and what happens to words and meaning when something is translated. And I just about died at how amazing and insightful this part is, because it’s true. It’s true for the story, it’s true from a language perspective, and it’s true for life. LIFE. I want to huggle this book.

[Nicole Lynn]

Review to follow but ugh so amazing :)

--

*UPDATED: Finally posting my review from my blog :)*

This review was previously posted on my blog, PopCrunchBoom Books


My Review:


It’s Anna’s senior year and she’s definitely looking forward to it. That is until, her father decides to ship her off to Paris, France for the year. To any other teenager that might seem like the perfect adventure away from home, but all Anna can focus on is what she’s leaving behind: her perfect job at the movie theater, her best-friend Bridgette, her little brother Seany and the boy she just recently kissed: Toph. This is the worst possible time to move away.

Then she meets Étienne St. Clair–smart, charming, and beautiful Étienne. He seems to distract her from all her homesick woes. The only catch? He’s got a serious girlfriend. So can Anna stay away or will the City of Light make her wishes come true?

—

Oh the Feels in this novel! It was absolutely adorable and I couldn’t put it down! I have no idea why I waited so long to jump on the Stephanie Perkins train. She’s got awesomeness going on.


Anna is an absolute joy. Yes, her character has some major growth to do throughout the novel, but you never hate her. Her passion for movies and witty inner thoughts had me connecting instantly. Her character wasn’t one-dimensional which I definitely appreciated. This novel could have been just above sub-par if it didn’t have strong characters. I enjoyed reading about Anna’s love for movies the most (I mean a part from the Anna/St. Clair scenes ;) ). When she mentions Robert Osborne, I’m like “YES! Someone else actually watches TCM!” It was great that Anna was able to continue enjoying her passion while in Paris.

St. Clair was a typical, but not so-typical teenage boy. I loved all his nationalities and how Perkins weaved them into his character description and actions. From the English accent to the French “shrug,” he was definitely swoon-worthy! I also loved that he was intelligent. It was great reading about his love of History and definitely made it a clever way to introduce some of the setting. But, as a teenage boy he did have some growing to do. He had me wanting to shake him sometimes (I was right there with Anna!). Though, Anna ended up having to grow just as much as St. Clair did by the end.

I have to admit one of my favorite things about this novel was the setting. I was fortunate enough to visit Pairs while I was studying abroad. I was only there two days and I’m dying to return for a longer stay. Being able to “see” it again through this novel was definitely a highlight. I was freaking out when they finally got to Shakespeare and Company! I basically spent a whole day in that bookstore. It was heaven and the feeling there is just indescribable. It’s like…feeling like you’re home. Anyway, Perkins does a fabulous job describing as well as utilizing the setting.

The romance part of this book was also well done. It wasn’t rushed and was definitely believable. There was uncertainty and road blocks and a lot of “ah-ha!” moments to be had. It made the whole journey worth while. There were tears and laughs and anger and overall good times. Basically a great first love kind of story.

So if you’re in the mood for a great YA Contemporary then I suggest you hop on the Stephanie Perkins train as well! Anna and the French Kiss won’t leave you disappointed!

[Mercy]

He escuchado tanto de este libro y a la mayoría parece que le ha encantado, así que un día me decidí a darle una oportunidad, no voy a decir que no estuvo a la altura de mis expectativas porque realmente no las tenía, esperaba encontrar una simple y bonita historia romántica y a ver, digamos que lo es, pero tiene cosas que no me gustaron nada. No voy a decir que esperaba una gran obra literaria pero vamos, hay muchas mejores que esta. La historia va acerca de Anna, ella es hija de un escritorzuelo autor de novelas de gente con enfermedades terminales y que debido a su éxito han sido llevadas a la gran pantalla, ahora su engreído padre quiere hacer parecer que nada en dinero y la ha mandado a estudiar a la Escuela Americana en París, un internado a donde los ricos estadounidenses envían a sus hijos cuando no los quieren cerca.

Anna, a regañadientes acepta ir pero con todo el odio que es capaz de sentir volcado hacia su padre. Con todo, no tiene otra opción y empieza su proceso de adaptación a un país, un idioma, una escuela y compañeros diferentes. Pero en fin, ya es su último año y ni loca accederá, más adelante, a estudiar la universidad en otro lugar que no fuese USA. Ahí en la escuela, tiene la suerte que desde el primer día hace amigos, empezando por Meredith, la compañera de la habitación de al lado y posteriormente a los amigos de esta: Rashmi y Josh y por supuesto, Ètienne St. Clair, el chico roba suspiros por excelencia, por quien todas en la escuela suspiran, el chico americano con nombre francés y exquisito acento ingles, porque oigan, el nació en América, su padre es francés pero sus abuelos ingleses lo criaron. Es todo un hombre como debe ser. Lo que todas soñamos... Pues a ver, yo lo veo como un chico normal, vale, el acento inglés, lo acepto, pero es todo. Si es dulce y lindo y guapo y se porta de maravilla con todos. Pues bien, me gusta. Pero tampoco es El Hombre. El nombre sí, he de confesar que el nombre Ètienne, me fascina.

Se preguntaran porqué no hablo de la trama del libro... Pero sí eso estoy haciendo, porque de eso se trata, de como Ètienne es tan guapo y sus labios y cabello perfecto y su acento, ohdiosmío, pero tanta belleza y que hombre... ¡De verdad! No es broma. Anna se pasa hablando de su perfección, a cada momento. Es tan irritante. Bueno, si hay más cosas en la historia, pero tampoco son para tirar cohetes. Está el problema de Anna con su papá y sus novelas baratas, también hay un pequeño gran drama en torno al padre de Ètienne que es un ogro horrible... Eso dice él. Y hace cosas muy malas, esto es cierto, pero a mí me hubiese gustado verlo en acción para convencerme un poco. Como ven, los villanos son bastante sosos. También Anna tiene sus problemas en casa, su mejor amiga mintiéndole, su casi novio desilusionándola y de esto mejor no digo mucho, porque la reacción de Anna al final me pareció de lo más ingenua. No es por maldad, pero yo no hubiese aceptado las cosas tan fácilmente; a ver, está clarísimo el hecho en donde tu mejor amiga te traiciona y ahí, no valen justificaciones baratas.

De los nuevos amigos de Anna no tengo mucho que decir, sólo que son amables, divertidos y tienen los problemas que todo el mundo tiene en algún momento o puede tener. No se profundiza en ellos y bien puede decirse que son un mero adorno. Como ven, prácticamente todo el libro gira en torno a la relación de Anna y Ètienne, sus 'problemas' y como los solucionan, muy fácilmente diría yo; su amistad y acercamiento hasta que al fin está claro que estarán juntos forever and ever. Algo que necesito remarcar es la estupidez de Anna. Al principio no me pareció tan grande. Pero conforme leía y ahora que ya ha pasado algún tiempo desde que lo leí, creo que hasta la odio un poco. Armaba tanto drama por una cosa, luego resultaba que en realidad no era tan malo. También tiene serios problemas de identidad. Y esto lo voy a decir: ella es estadounidense, se va a París, ella dice que los parisinos odian a los estadounidenses y por eso no se sentía bien saliendo y que la gente la mire o hable con ella, hasta que llega el bueno de Ètienne y le regala una bandera canadiense para colgar en su mochila y ahí, ella ya se siente muy segura. Me fastidió tanto. ¿Qué tenía de malo que la gente sepa de donde es? ¿Acaso es ella alguien importante para que a los parisinos les importara? ¿No que extrañaba tanto a su país? Entonces ¿para que avergonzarse de él? De verdad, es así de absurda.

Otra: Anna quiere ser crítica de cine, tiene un blog donde hace reseñas de las películas que ve. Y en París, se pasa la vida en el cine. Pero hay algo, que en un principio, me pareció bastante estúpido pues ella al saber que se iba a Francia, no investigó nada del país ni siquiera para llevar un año más o menos bueno. Ya que no tenía como evitar irse, ver que podía hacer para ayudarse. Y en cuanto a lo que desea estudiar... ¿Va a hacer sólo criticas de películas de su país? ¿Pueden creer que no sabía que Francia ama el cine? ¿Qué Francia es el cine? Y así muchas cosas más, tantas que si me pongo a enumerar nunca terminaré, por eso lo dejaré aquí.

En conclusión, es un libro súper sencillo, narrado de forma amena, con momentos divertidos, personajes agradables, menos Anna que como dije me pareció bastante estúpida. La trama muy sencilla, ambientado en París, de acá no puedo decir mucho dado que no conozco pero me ha gustado, Anna y sus amigos visitan algunos lugares emblemáticos y ha sido interesante. Además gracias a Ètienne que ama la historia pude aprender un par de datos. No me ha parecido una maravilla como a muchos, pero me divertí, —excepto con las partes donde Anna babea (literalmente) por Ètienne, cosa muy frecuente— pero me reí y entretuve por unas horas. Lo que es necesario apuntar es que, aunque la impresión que tuve justo después de leerlo fue de 'me gusto', así, a secas, pero conforme ha pasado el tiempo a ido bajando a 'estuvo bien' y ahora, hasta me enferma un poco recordar la estupidez de Anna.

¿Lo recomiendo? Hmmm, no a lectores exigentes. Y bueno, a muchos le ha gustado. Es una lectura ideal cuando quieres algo simple y sin tanto alboroto. Como cuando estás enfermo —yo estaba así cuando lo leí— y deseas leer algo sencillo y que no te haga romper la cabeza tratando de descifrar el asunto.

[Ashley]

Nose Graze — Young Adult book reviews

1.5 Stars

Anna and the French Kiss was the book I read to make up for Just One Day... well that obviously failed.

I wanted another cute, romantic, Paris book. Anna and the French Kiss did start off kind of cute, but after the half-way point, it tanked hard. I could not finish this book fast enough. In the last quarter in particular I was whipping through those pages because I just wanted it to end!

Honestly, I don't even have enough desire or energy to talk about "the good" in this book, so I'm only going to talk about the bad.

Anna.

I didn't mind Anna at first. I didn't start to dislike her at all until the second half of the book. I hated her when she expected Étienne to leave his girlfriend for her. I hated her when she went out with another guy as a "rebound". I hated that she did things with that other guy (Dave) that she didn't want to do, and she probably just did them to make Étienne jealous. I hated when she got drunk and acted like a complete and total bitch. Also, this paragraph makes her sound totally lame:

Why have I never drunk before? I was such an idiot—it's not a big deal. I totally understand why people drink now. I'm not sure what I've been drinking, but I do know it was something fruity. It started out disgusting, but the more I drank, the better it got. Or the less I noticed it. Something like that. Man, I feel weird. Powerful.

Maybe it's just because I'm not a party girl, but I thought that was a pathetic sounding paragraph.

But I really started to hate Anna when she let Étienne cheat on his girlfriend with her (and that's also when I started hating Étienne). Cheating isn't suddenly "okay" just because the guy is doing it to be with the main character. I don't care if the MC is the one benefitting.. cheating is still horrible and quite frankly, I don't want to read about it. Cheating is a quick and easy way to make me hate any book, and this was no exception.

Then, that was followed up with another doozy. I still don't understand this..

Amanda (the stuck up, queen bee bitch of the school) spends the whole year making fun of Anna here and there. She calls Anna a skunk (because of her hair style), a slut, and just throws in insults all the time. But what pushed Anna to the edge was when Amanda called Anna's best friend a dyke (to Anna, not to the friend). Anna got pissed and kind of tackled/hit Amanda. When they got called into the principal's office, Anna refused to tell the principal what Amanda said that provoked her... WHY? Well, apparently because:

The detention was divided unfairly because I refused to tell her what Amanda said. Because I hate that word. Like being gay is something to be ashamed of.

You hate the word so you refuse to tell the principal when someone uses the word in a derogatory way? WHERE IS THE LOGIC HERE??? Amanda was a freaking bitch using derogatory words and you just let her get away with it because you "hate that word". What the hell??? I literally feel like there's no logic here, and it's still bugging me even after finishing the book.

So as a result of Anna's silence, Anna got two weeks of detention and Amanda got like nothing. Nice one, Anna. I hope you feel like you've accomplished something.

Then after this point, Anna continued to annoy me with her "OMG Étienne hates me" attitude, when he so obviously liked her. It was painful. Everyone knew Étienne liked Anna, despite the fact that he refused to break up with his girlfriend (which was also annoying).. but Anna went around moping and crying about how he hates her and doesn't want to talk to her—boo hoo.

Seriously, towards the end it was just pathetic high school drama that made me want to finish the book as quickly as possible. Ugh.

Signing off,
The Black Sheep

[jnikkir]

4.5 stars

I was (and still consider myself to be) fairly new to the straight-up contemporary romance genre when I decided to pick up Anna and the French Kiss. I normally stick almost exclusively to speculative fiction (fantasy, dystopian, sci-fi, etc). But I've always really enjoyed a good romance in the midst of the paranormal/scifi/fantasy elements, and I've always known that I'm a huge fan of believable and well-developed characters. I just used to think I needed the extra elements to make me like the book. But... I think I'm coming to realize that as much as I love those elements, you can take them all away and be left with great characters and a sweet romance, and I'm still a huge fan.

Anna and the French Kiss is exactly the book I needed to confirm that I have avoided this genre for far too long.

Firstly, the entire cast of characters is fantastic. Anna is a strong, relatable young woman who rings completely true as a high-school senior. There was something about her that I immediately connected to. She's definitely got plenty of issues, especially with how she treats other people, but her growth throughout the book is one thing that I really enjoyed about her. Étienne St. Clair is, unsurprisingly, amazing. He's probably not the most realistic guy in the world, but he's one every girl wishes she could meet and fall for. Totally swoon-worthy.

The supporting characters were amazing, as well. I know now that some of them will be coming back in Isla and the Happily Ever After, which is probably why they feel so well-rounded already, but it's something that I really appreciated all the same.

One thing I wasn't expecting when I started this book was how long it takes St. Clair and Anna to get together. I hadn't read many details about the book before jumping in, but that one one thing that surprised me. St. Clair and Anna have great chemistry from the moment they meet, but St. Clair has a girlfriend for the majority of the book. But I think what that allowed for, with St. Clair and Anna, was for them to become incredibly close as friends first, which I really appreciated. As much as they had amazing chemistry, their friendship was the highlight of the book, for me. And that friendship I think is what makes their later romantic relationship (by the end of this book, and actually into Lola and the Boy Next Door) all the better. And though St. Clair does leave his girlfriend for Anna, which might have left me feeling questionably about the way St. Clair handled said previous girlfriend, I thought it was handled well (if not perfectly).

I also loved the fact that Anna, despite being a contemporary romance where, yes, the love story is very important - it also feels like two individual stories, Anna's and St. Clair's. They both have to overcome family issues and friendship issues, and there are some really emotional story-arc's for both of them. I appreciated that they were forced to get their own lives in order and take responsibility for their own happiness, before they finally ended up together in the end. It added more depth to their characters and stories, and I loved that.

In conclusion...
Anna and the French Kiss is definitely a book that fans of contemporary romance should check out (or maybe I'm the last one standing? Everyone has already read this, haven't they? lol). But even if this genre isn't normally your thing, I would highly recommend giving this a try anyway if you're ever looking for a sweet, lighter story. The characters are great, the writing is engaging and often funny... It's just a good book, which I think would appeal to many readers.
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{ Find this and other reviews at my blog, There were books involved... }

[nitzan_schwarz]

4.5 lovely stars
Here is a book I've been meaning to read for a long, long time. But as it often is with me and books... for some reason, I didn't.
Anybody cares to join me in beating myself up over that? I'm really happy that when I won a giveaway for a book of my choice from a list, I chose this one, as Anna and the French kiss was just sooo good; it was gripping, well written, with captivating characters and a sweet romance and it was just so. damn. cute! If you haven't read this one yet, I suggest you do.

I think one of the best thing about this book is Anna's voice, who is both the main character and the storyteller. It is just so authentic. I felt like her voice captured the essence, behavior and 'sound' and kids that age (i.e: my age!) so it was wonderful to read the story through her eyes.

Aside for that, she is a great main character. She's smart, awkward, funny, a good friend (even when she messes up), generous, a bit of a neat-freak, really attentive, sweet, strong but also weak at places. Plus, she likes writing movie reviews, which, as a reviewer myself (not a movie reviewer, though), has made me connect to her even more than I normally would.

Then there is Etienne (which I have no idea how to pronounce. St. Clair is easier to say, but Etienne is Etienne, so I'll use his real name anyways), who is bloody fantastic...

To read the rest of this review go to my blog; Drugs Called Books