Welcome to week #3 in our #ReadIsla campaign.
Today we're featuring the first Stephanie Perkins book we ever read and totally fell in love with, Anna and the French Kiss. This book also happens to be one of our all time favorite Mundie Mom reads.
*sigh* Etienne.....
It feels like just yesterday I sat down to read this book. In looking through my Stephanie Perkins feed on the blog I realized it was back in 2010 when I first read it. I can't believe it's been that long ago. It's amazing that even though it was a few years ago, this is a book that still stands out to me when countless other books that I read between then and now have long been forgotten about. This was a book I couldn't wait to read. Not only was I getting to read a debut author's books, but the book itself was one of the first contemporary books that I was excited about. Stephanie is one of the first authors that made me realize I really do love a well written contemporary. How could I not love it? With a setting like Paris, some great charters and an epic love story, this was a book made of win! Check out my original review for it here.
Anna's covers.... let's talk about these to just a moment. I loved the original Anna and the French Kiss cover. Normally I'm not a fan of cover changes, but I've come to love the new covers for Stephanie's books. I think the new covers are just as fitting as the original covers.
About the Book:
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?
In December of 2010, I had the chance to interview Stephanie about her book. I loved it so much, I had to know more about it, and Stephanie graciously said yes. Here are some of my favorite Q&A's from that interview, which you can read in full here.
MMs: I absolutely love Anna and the French Kiss, the characters are real and the setting made me feel like I'd just had a private tour of Paris. What inspired you to choose Paris as your setting and have you ever been before?
SP: Thank you! The inspiration arrived in a dream — a beautiful boy with a French name and an English accent sitting on the steps of the Panthéon — and it was impossible to resist. Or, more accurately, THE BOY was impossible to resist.
I’d only visited Paris when I was very young, so my memories weren’t exactly reliable. And when I got this idea, my husband and I didn’t have the money to travel. This meant years of research — books, film, music, food, language classes, etc. Anything and everything French that I could get my hands on! Last January, I was fortunate enough to have spent an entire (glorious, glorious) month in the center of Paris, but by that point, Anna’s story was already said and done.
In other words, it was all research. Never underestimate the power of good research!
MMs: I'm having a hard time picking a favorite character from Anna and the French Kiss, as not only are Anna and St. Clair fabulous, relatable characters, but so are the secondary characters. Which character surprised you the most in terms of how much they grew from the beginning of the story to the end?
SP: Oh my word, definitely Anna. Story-wise AND process-wise. In my first draft, she was an empty character. I knew who St. Clair was, but I had no idea what type of person his ideal match would be. I rounded her out by giving her several of my own obsessions — both positive and negative. In fact, I gave her TOO MANY of my negative habits! My editor and I worked hard to scale things back again, to make her both likeable and worthy of such an interesting boy.
MMs: I think St Clair is a modern day Mr. Darcy, as he's the good looking, real, down to earth guy who has some quirkiness to him. Who inspired his character?
THAT IS THE MOST AWESOME COMPLIMENT EVER.
Ah hem.
Well, of course, the boy in my dream was the biggest influence. I was lucky in that Étienne St. Clair arrived nearly fully formed! But I fleshed him out with romantic influences, that’s for sure. To be honest, there’s definitely some Darcy in him. A dash of Meg Cabot’s Michael Moscovitz. And a heaping tablespoon of one particular actor who shall remain nameless!
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Need a quick refresher for Anna? You're in luck! You can read the ANNA & the French Kiss digital chapter sampler. When you're done reading it, be sure to read this ANNA & the French Kiss deleted scene.
- Purchase your copy of ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER from one of the 55 independent bookstores and you could get a signed first edition + swag and tell everyone you know to do the same!
- While you're waiting for the book's release to get here (August 14), 2014 release, read the ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER sampler.
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