BOOK REVIEW: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

06 May 2015

Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss #1)
by Stephanie Perkins (Goodreads, Twitter)
Published by Speak on July 16th, 2013
Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Format: Paperback (372 pages)
Source: Purchased
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

ADD TO GOODREADS
Can Anna find love in the City of Light?

Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year.

But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken —and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's waiting for?



Young Adult is a genre I am usually wary to explore—despite the fantastic book covers— because for various reasons; particularly, character personalization. For some reason, most YA characters are either immensely immature or straight up annoying. It's rare unusual for me to meet fascinating characters in a YA book—let alone in a romance filled with fluff—and let me just say, Stephanie Perkins was able to work her magic on me.

Out of the blue, Anna's parents decided her education to be continued in Paris and without her say on the matter, she ends up finding herself in the City of Love. A little bitter for leaving behind a couple of friends and a crush in her hometown, Anna finds herself realizing that Paris isn't so bad after all with a couple of new found friends at her side especially a cute American born Brit boy (woah, boy) by the name Etienne St. Clair.

"Soap?"
"School of America in Paris," he explains. "SOAP."
Nice. My father sent me here to be cleansed.

The story plot isn't original, per se; basically about a girl crushing on a guy whom already has a girlfriend. The typical girl's life story: I like you but you like her; however, with a couple of twists and quirks, Stephanie Perkins created a swoonworthy tale of friendship and young love with a couple of cute and quirky characters.

Anna is one of the most relatable characters I've ever come across in my reading career and everything about her screams 'ME'. Her actions, her way of speech and her weird antics, I could label her as my book character persona. Not only is she as awkward as I am, but she's also a movie enthusiast and a blogger. How cool is that?

Meanwhile, Anna's unrequited crush and love interest, Etienne St. Clair has the finest name I've ever read or heard about. Etienne. I mean, seriously, try saying it out loud; the after effect leaves you somehow breathless, and nothing else can leave you swooning than a cute bilingual Brit boy up and ready to tour you around a gorgeous city.

I came to love a lot of things from this book despite my wary feelings at the start. The introduction of Paris was on point, with a couple of highlights provided with more detail than I usual. It wasn't information overload at all as the details most of us should already be familiar with, just to clarify, but still, I couldn't help but feel a sense amusement at the sight of Parisian culture through Anna's tourist eyes and I was just fascinated. Another thing was how realistic the characters were. I was glad to find these characters to be enjoyable and relatable which had me reading further.

I definitely enjoyed the slow burn of the romance; the sweet friendship that bloomed first between Anna and St. Clair was captivating and made me feel all giddy. It might sound boring to some readers, but it all depends on the author's style on how the slow burn romance should be executed and I would like to point out that Stephanie Perkins did a great job in that aspect.

To say Anna and the French Kiss was cute would be an understatement. This book is all types of adorable, I couldn't help my giggles, despite how much I tried to be as subtle as possible while reading around the family. I'll have you know I ended up looking like I had allergies as I tried to choke back a couple of laughs. It's a quick, light read; fast paced and a feel good novel and definitely the to-go book when in need of a little bit of fluff and cuteness overload. 

26 comments

  1. Yay! We read this at the same time. I listened to the audio, and I couldn't help but smile every time the narrator said his name. I want to visit Paris now. You're right, this is an adorable read. :)

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    1. Glad to know you loved it too! Gah, I should've tried the audio too just to hear how they say his name. I'm obsessed with his whole name, it's so beautiful. Can't wait to hear your thoughts about it, Grace!

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  2. So glad you read this. It is still my favorite in the series and why I fell in love with Perkins's writing.

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    1. I can't wait to get on to the second book. We'll see which will stay as my most favorite from the series. :D

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  3. I'm glad to see that you enjoyed this one! I absolutely loved this one too. I have yet to read the rest of Perkins's books though. Etienne was the greatest. Awesome review! :)
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

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    1. Etienne is fantastic. I just want to keep saying his name over and over again. Hahaha! Thanks Krystianna! :)

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  4. It's been a while, but Etienne will always have a place in my heart. :)

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    1. Etienne is etched on my list of book boyfriends, he'll never be taken down from that list. Hah!

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  5. I have been contemplating whether I should read this book, as I rarely read contemporary romance. But this book seemed cool. AND PARIS HAHA.

    Maryam @ Captain Swan Bookishhh

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    1. YES, PARIS! Haha! Hope you do pick this up! Thanks for stopping by, Maryam! :)

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  6. I am so glad you loved this! I mean, who would not? I don't want this to end! I want their story to continue and continue forever. But that would be over-rated. Sad to that I have not reviewed Anna and The French Kiss. I just don't know how to review this. Glad you got the guts! I agree on you: I can't help my giggles, too! <3

    Yani @ Paper Boulevard

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    1. I know right? But sadly, yes, it would be too overrated. I don't like reading series of the same couple anyway, because it gets too much sometimes. Thanks Yani! :)

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  7. Etienne is a beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world, too pure

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    1. A cinnamon roll I would so badly want to eat, yes.

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  8. I know so many had issues with the way Anna and Étienne begun their romance, but you can't fault how utterly adorable this book is. I loved it too Blessie! I loved that we were taken around the quirky spots around Paris and the romance was much more that the usual tropes, it was an adventure! Do you find yourself using the word 'pants' now too? :D

    Wonderful review poppet, reminded me of how much I loved this one too <3

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    1. I know right? And yes, OMG PANTS!!! I almost forgot about that! Gah!!!

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  9. I've seen this book around a lot, but I haven't seen it with this cove before! I've always avoided it because I hated the old cover, but this one is so much prettier. Also, it sounds a lot better than I thought it would be! I love a slow burn sort of romance!

    You've convinced me to finally pick this one up!

    Thanks for an awesome review as always, Blessie! :)

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    1. Ahhhh, you should! It's just too cute and adorable! And same girl, I didn't like the other editions too, they look weird, lol. I'm glad I've convinced you to pick this up, hoho! ;D

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  10. Yes this one is amazing!! I wasn't too sold on the romance at the start but Etienne is too beautiful to resist. Have you read Lola yet? It's my favourite of the series ^.^

    Nice review <33

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    1. Right? It was just too cute! I haven't read the rest of the series yet but I plan to real soon! :D

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  11. Ooooh!! I won this book in a giveaway a while ago but still haven't picked it up yet! I'm glad to hear Anna is actually relatable! That's so hard to find these days! I feel like most female MCs are so annoying! Can't wait to read this one! The quote in your review cracked me up! Haha! (:

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    1. I know right? It's hard to find a main character that's actually very relatable, for me at least. I hope you get the time to pick this up and enjoy it like I did! Hahaha! I laughed so hard when I read that part, I was like "Touche, Anna." Haha!

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  12. I totally loved that Anna was a blogger, too! It warms my heart to see main characters that blog because DUH so relatable! The only thing I didn't like about this book was Etienne is always flirting with Anna even when he was with his girlfriend. Like dude, break up with your girl before quasi-dating another one. But it was mega cute so I still loved it. <3

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    1. My thoughts exactly, Sarah. But everything was just too adorable! ;D

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  13. SUCH A GREAT BOOK! JUST AGH!!!!! ANNNAAAAAA <3

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    1. More like ETIENEEEE <3 Hahahahaha! Thanks for stopping by! :D

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