Tori's Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Hardcover - 384 pages
Price: $16.99
ISBN 10: 0525423273
ISBN 13: 978-0525423270
Released: December 2, 2010

Stephanie's Website
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Obtained: ARC Tours
Genre: Contemporary YA
Series:
1. Anna & the French Kiss

Anna was 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. So she's 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? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.

My Rating:

This book has received The Faerie of Honor rating. (What is this?)

My Opinion:
I, like the majority of reviewers on GoodReads, absolutely loved this book. And it's a contemporary to boot! (Which is something that I try to avoid like the plague)

The dialogue was probably my favorite part about this entire story. Perkins effortlessly captured the dynamics of a friendly, lighthearted conversation amongst friends whenever she had her characters interact. I found myself truly wishing I had friends like these people in high school, and that my friends and I had the easygoing atmosphere that seemingly followed this group around wherever they went.

I felt Anna and St. Clair's flirting/attraction ooze off the pages, which made me grin. I seriously cannot get over how lighthearted, fun, and flirty this book was. When dialogue is this successful, it's clear the author's got an intimate understanding of his/her characters. Anna, St. Clair, and the rest of the cast were three dimensional and well rounded. None were lacking. They will stick with me for a while.

If things couldn't get any better, the plot intrigued me too. I feel like I would have reacted the exact same way Anna did, had I been abandoned like she was in Europe. In high school, I always said how much I was dying to get out of the States and travel, yet deep down, I would never have the courage to do it alone. And, knowing my luck, I wouldn't make friends so quickly. But this plot? It would be the perfect way to experience a foreign country. And now I'm going to be daydreaming about the possibilities of not only traveling, but also of meeting new and exciting people.

This book has ruined me for paranormal romances. If all YA-contemporaries were like ANNA & THE FRENCH KISS, I think I would ditch my paranormal romances in a heartbeat; that is how much I adored this book. I enjoyed it so much it's in my top five list for the 2010 year. Perhaps even all time. I've already pre-ordered this title, and I know I will be rereading it often. Very often.

I want to learn French now, too.

I highly suggest checking out ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, no matter what type of reader you are. This is a refreshingly unique and brief read that is sure to appeal to anyone interested in traveling. Stephanie Perkins astonished me with the amount of humor in this book.  So much, in fact, that she has now become an auto-buy for me.