Anna and the French Kiss

June 1, 2011 Uncategorized 8

Anna and the French Kiss

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton Books (Penguin Group)
Publication Date: December 2, 2010
Pages: 372
Source: Purchased


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?



My Thoughts: SO, this is one of those books that I hadn’t heard anything about and just randomly picked up… HA! Just kidding. Nearly EVERY ONE of my bookish friends (and I am not exaggerating when I say that) has been raving about this book. It is totally my kind of book; I just could never find the time to read it. Foolish, foolish girl! I should have made time sooner. Who needs sleep! Work? Overrated. Seriously. If you’ve been meaning to read this one do it and do it now. 


This review was incredibly hard to write. Every time I sat down to start it I’d pick the book up and get lost in rereading my favorite parts. Turns out basically the whole book is my favorite part so that was a bit distracting! As I sit here now I have moved the book to a shelf downstairs and will not allow myself to go look at it. The fact that I had to put the book on time-out to write my review should tell you how deep my love is for it!


Ms. Perkins does an amazing job of writing characters that are authentic. They aren’t perfect but we love them anyway (Well, at least we love the nice ones! Nobody likes Amanda!) Anna’s neatness and St. Clair’s thing about heights only make them more endearing. Not that they needed it… seriously? They may be two of my favorite characters ever. I mean, I didn’t write my name with St. Clair’s surrounded by hearts or anything. Really. I didn’t. ***runs to hide notebook*** But seriously. ALL of the characters are well written. As the reader I felt like I knew them. They weren’t just place holders or obligatory additions to show the school actually had students. 


I’m already getting long winded but I can’t wrap this up without raving about the setting. Paris! A boarding school! Perfection! I loved “visiting” the sights with Anna. Paris is a city that I long to see. Books like this keep me checking flight prices! 


When I turned the last page of Anna and the French Kiss I wanted to flip to the front and start reading all over again. This NEVER happens! The book was that good. It’s a fabulous romance that leaves the reader sighing in contentment. 

Random things I loved:
*The Star Wars mentions (Especially when Anna plays w/ Sean over break!)
*St. Clair’s love for history and sharing his random knowledge 
*St. Clair’s British accent… sign me up!
*Anna’s obsession with theater
*The times when Anna’s southern drawl slips out
*The email exchange between Anna and St. Clair
*The kissing scenes! (No shame here! I love me some romance!)
*The fact that Stephanie Perkins manages to make the Canadian flag romantic. 


Follow Stephanie Perkins on twitter and check out her website!

8 Responses to “Anna and the French Kiss”

  1. Two Readers Reviews

    I love this book SO much! I could re read it a million times and, like you, when I was writing the review I re read my favorite parts! This is such a fantastic book and is on my all time favorites list! 🙂 Great review!

  2. Erin

    Great review. You made me want to read the book over again! Agree with everything on your “random things” list. I would also add that I loved the space between Anna’s front teeth. It was like Stephanie Perkins was subtly saying, “Hey, she’s not perfect!” Which made Anna even more relatable.

    Thanks for sharing!

    Erin @ Quitting My Day Job

  3. The Story Queen

    Heh, welcome to the dark side 😉 I absolutely LOVED this book (who didn’t?!). Etienne… *sigh*

    Are you implying that the Canadian flag isn’t normally romantic? 😉 Haha, I loved that part! Anna is welcome to join us up here 🙂 (As long as she brings Etienne along..) Great review!

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