Anna And The French Kiss

By Stephanie Perkins

Summary: Anna was 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. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris — until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.


My Thoughts: As most of you know who follow my blog I have been wanting this book so bad!!!! So when it came as a surprise, I started jumping up and down yelling Yes, Yes, Yes! I read it the night I got it until late, than got up the next morning to finish it. I had a migrane so bad from not getting much sleep the next morning but it was worth every single second! My boyfriend wanted to turn off the bedroom light and I kept begging for 10 more minutes, 10 more minutes please! I didn't want to stop! Stephanie Perkins, how did you manage to make me fall in love with this book the way you did? I mean, I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't think anything except how wonderful Anna is and how now I must go to Paris! I've always wanted to go to Paris but now I must go there! HEHE!

I'm going to start off this review and just break down all the elements of the story I liked. I don't want to give away major spoilers but I must talk about this book! I could talk and talk and talk and talk forever! Nothing I could say will describe how much I loved this book.

First off, we start off getting to know a little bit about Anna Oliphant. Her father is a published author, her brother Sean is allergic to red dye #40 (I thought I was the only one) her mom seems nice enough, and she is starting her senior year in a foreign country (nope not at Clairemont High as planned). She has friends at Clairemont named Bridgette (her best friend), Matt (her ex-boyfriend aka friend) and of course Toph (her soon to be boyfriend aka co-worker). She is going to miss prom, miss senior year classes, miss senior year activities, ARRGG!

Her father sends her away to a new school, a new city, a new life. Her first night in Paris and she meets new friends. Meredith, who is her neighbor and the cute guy she bumps into in the hallway just outside Meredith's room. Who is he? Etienne St Clair!! He has dark brown messy hair, he's short, brown eyes, beautiful, and English. Of course as soon as they lay eyes on one another, the chemistry is there. The next day she gets introduced to the other people of the group, Rashmi and Josh. There were so many characters throughout the book and I loved them all. Well, except for Ellie (St Clair's girlfriend). Of course I wanted her out of the picture from day one! All the characters were great and each had their own personality and brought a lot to the book. Anna was constantly around them so it made for a lot of laughs, deep conversations, etc.

Anna also loved movies. She loved reviewing them. I love movies so I can understand how seeing old classics on the screen for her was like a dream come true. Anna was such a sweet character. She was nice, she was easy to get along with, I just felt like she became my friend while reading the book.

The scenery in the book was beautiful. Perkins did such a great job describing everything I actually felt like I was in Paris. I could see the people walking around, I could taste the coffee, I could just feel the foreign presence of everything.

The emotional aspect of the book made me want to cry for St Clair. His mom gets sick, and its so hard on him. He's such a tough guy most of the time that I just wanted to hold his hand and let him cry in my lap. Sorry Anna, but if he comes knocking at my door I will answer! (LOL).

Some of the scenes, okay most of the scenes were so freaking amazing. When he scoots his boot over to grab the nasty note about Anna before the teacher does, when they go see movies together, when he turns around and packs her clothes while she changes, and he glances up and their eyes meet in the mirror (oops). Every scene was amazing! I even loved how he was afraid of heights and he was short! Most of the time I forgot he was short, he had so much confidence about him that he just came off as such a great wonderful guy. St Clair and Anna make the perfect pair; best friends/movie watchers/sleep mates/lovers. And girl scout cookies, oh my! Thin mints are my favorite and I loved how Perkins included this scene! She put everything I want in a book in her book! She is an amazing debut author!!!

Next, I want to talk about Anna and St Clair. The romantic tension was so hot I felt like I was going to pass out. There were moments I laughed, but mostly there were moments I was in love. I usually stay away from the sex aspects in book reviews because I feel like once a character jumps into bed with another character, I start to get bored. I want to see sexual chemistry where the characters don't fall into bed with each other right away. I want to see them fall in love with each other. I want to see their love grow before anything happens. Does that make sense? Well, Perkins does this in exactly the way I want and it blew me totally away. St Claire is amazing. The way he comes to her rescue with Dave, the way he runs to Ellie after the night of the kiss, the way he paces across his room floor. How can you not fall in love with this guy? Even while Anna went home for a few weeks, and St Clair was in California and their only communication was emails/phone conversations I still fell more in love with him.

The chemistry and tension between Anna and St Clair is not only hot but sexy,interesting, charming, and just freaking awesome! The way they steal glances at one another, the way they talk, the way she notices his bottom teeth and how they are a bit crooked (HOT), the way he calls her beautiful, the way they dance together on the dance floor, his accent,the way when he finally kisses her I had a big grin on my face!

I can't say much more about Anna And The French Kiss that won't be said a million times by fans. Anna is amazing. Anna is a book you do not want to miss. If you read one book this whole entire year, please let it be Anna!!!!

Sneak Peak-DO NOT READ THIS if you don't want a sneak peak into the bed scene. Why are you still reading? LOL Snippets of the bed scene: He stops before me, scanning my face. "Would it be okay if I stayed with you? I don't want to make you uncomfortable-" "No! I mean... My head swims. I can hardly think straight. "Yes, Yes, of course, it's okay."

Overall: Was Anna as amazing as I had hoped for? Oui! This review is long! I could write 10 more paragraphs about it though! HAHA! I read a lot of books (as most of you know) and I'm introduced to a lot of good books but Anna And The French Kiss had that sort of element that Jennifer Echols Forget You had. If you've read my review for that, you know how much I loved that book. It's been a while since I've fallen so completely in love with a book and Perkins brought me back to that feeling. That feeling where I wish the book was real life and I was the main character! Anna was a dream come true! Perkins took everything I wished someone would write and made it a reality for me. Merci beaucoup.

Cover: Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful! I love every little detail about the cover!

What I'd Give It: