Book Review- Anna and the French Kiss

By Stephanie Perkins

Published by Dutton (Penguin)

Released on- December 2nd, 2010 TODAY!!

Source- ARC from Penguin

5 Stars- I Want To Go To Paris!

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? 

It takes a certain style of writing and an element of charm, romance, realism, and characters who I completely fall for, for me to truly fall in love with a chick lit book. Let me just say Stephanie Perkins delivered all this and more in Anna and the French Kiss.

I completely love Anna, our main character who I related to on some levels. She's a little bit uptight, a little OCD, and what I loved most about her character is how fun she is and independent she becomes. Her character grows a lot through the course of the book. Anna's famous father, a southern romance author, decides she needs to spend her senior year abroad, in Paris. If that's horrifying enough, she'll be by herself. No friends, no family and in a country she's never been to before.

Once Anna is at the boarding school, she discovers herself, new friends and of course her own Mr Darcy in the form of Etinne St. Clair. Have you ever hit it off with someone so well, only to realize that the connection you have with them may never go further than friends? That's exactly what it's like for Anna. Etinne is the perfect match for Anna. They have a lot of fun together and an amazing chemistry, but the only problem is he's got a girlfriend. Stephanie captured the romantic tensions between the two perfectly! I felt that I went from the reader, to being there with the group and watching Anna and Etinne interact with each other. Their stolen glances, their undeniable attraction to one another, even though they both deny it. Etinne, known as St. Clair is a modern day Mr Darcy. He's the hot guy, with a great accent, has silly quirks and completely grounded. Plus he loves history, which I loved about him. It was so unexpected. Who wouldn't want to fall for him? Anna is the more reserved, quiet type, who dreams of being a film critic. Together the two of them have such a realistic chemistry that I just wanted to shove the two of them together and tell them to live happily ever after. Like life, their friendship and relationship isn't forced, but one that continues to grow and isn't without doubt, fear, love and insecurities.

Anna and St Clair bring the best and the hidden things out with each other. They confide in each other, and through the course of their realistic relationship of ups and downs, frustrations, happiness and fear, they both find something within each other, and that's an inner strength. Anna goes from being scared to be away from home and to walk around Paris by herself, it finding it's okay to be on your own. By the end of the book she's ventures out on her own and ends up enjoying where she is in life. St Clair is the hot guy on campus, who doesn't seem to ever let anything effect him. What he's hidden from everyone else, is the one thing that Anna helps him find the courage to face. I won't lie, Stephanie sure knows how to write a heart breaking scene.

Let me talk about the setting for moment.... Paris! Can I just say I'd like to book a round trip ticket to Paris please. Having never been, I felt that I just taken a guided tour of Paris, thanks to Stephanie's richly detailed tours that Anna goes on with her friends. From the descriptions to the people, the theater, the land marks and food. It's breathtaking and vividly beautiful.

There's so much more I'd love to say about Anna and The French Kiss, but that would mean I'd mention spoilers, which I won't do. I freely admit that Anna and The French Kiss now has a place on my favorite reads shelf. I'm still blown away that this is Stephanie's debut book! I am really excited to know she has more books coming out and I can't wait to read them. I highly recommend picking up this book TODAY!!!