Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Book: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton
Release Date: December 2nd 2010
Pages: 372
Source: Bought
Date Read: 2/3/2011

From Goodreads:


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?

Yani's Analysis:
I kept hearing about this book from other people/blogs and they just can't stop raving about it. I feel thought that when a book is hyped so much, it usually doesn't live up to the expectations. Anna and the French Kiss broke the odds, and actually surpassed my expectations.

I thought it would be a fun, light, and cute read. And while it was fun and cute, it was a deep and romantic novel. Anna voice was genuine and I could imagine a girl like her really existed out there. She seems like the average girl, funny, nice, good student... but with a little bit of sass. She stands up for what she wants and believes in. I liked how she never saw going to Paris for school as some sort of vacation. She was realistic about it, she missed her friends and family, even after she started making friends there.

I also liked how neither Anna nor Etienne are perfect. Its not some fairytale love story. Its about chemistry and friendship and how love can blossom from that. Perkins is a great writer. The characters are so well developed, imperfections and all, and the some of the scenes jut made you smile to yourself while reading. In fact one of the notes I took while reading the book was "This scene is too cute." I am usually more descriptive than that, but it really just made me smile.

There where some things that got on my nerves a little bit, but I don't want to give anything away. But I seriously can't wait for Stephanie's next book Lola and the Boy the Next Door. I have always been a sucker for those type of stories.

Ratings:

Plot: 4/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Uniqueness: 4/5
Characters: 5/5

Memorable Quotes:

The only french word I know is oui, which mean "yes," and only recently did I learn it's spelled o-u-i and not w-e-e.

His eyes pop at the rumble, and I'm alarmed by how big and brown they are. As if he needed any further weapons against the female race.