Sunday, April 14, 2013

Anna & The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins Book Review

This book was finished on April 13, 2013.

I gave this book 4 stars.

After reading Lola & The Boy Next Door, I was a little skeptical about the hype surrounding Stephanie Perkins' novels. However, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised in reading Anna & The French Kiss.

Anna is a rising senior from Atlanta, Georgia who's father sends her off to spend her last year in high school at the American School of Paris. Crazy as it sounds, Anna is UPSET that her father would do something as wonderful as give her an all expensive paid YEAR in Paris! So grudgingly, she enters her final year of high school in a distant land where she doesn't speak the language. However, once Anna is there, she meets a group of amazing friends and starts off a year full of new beginnings. There's just one problem....she ends up falling for a boy who is taken.


While Anna's' character is somewhat cliche, her storyline isn't overly unbearable. Perkins adds depth to the storyline by pairing Anna's trials and tribulations with different viewings of cinema or books that the character studies in school or goes to see in her free time. I really enjoyed this maneuver by Perkins because unlike in Lola's story, Anna's dream of becoming a film critic are acted on subtly instead of drastically. This allowed me to not feel overpowered by the extraness of Anna's character. The interweaving of movie knowledge within Anna's story also gave me something to draw comparison's to in Anna and St. Clair's (i.e., her French crush) encounters.

In addition to this, I enjoyed the fact that Perkins' novel was set in the romantic atmosphere of Paris, but she didn't try to beat readers over the head with too much romance too quick. She spoonfeeds her readers Anna and St. Clair's story in a way that isn't tedious or too overbearing. ***SPOILER*** Yet, I was a little peeved that one of Anna and St. Clair's other friends was hurt in the process of the two becoming a couple. I would've preferred if Perkins didn't insert an extra girl for Anna to have to compete with within her own circle of friends to date St. Clair. This just seemed extra brutal in terms of the standard rules of friendship do's and dont's.***SPOILER***

This being said, while this book isn't fully original in plot or theme, I did truly enjoy it. I would definitely reread and recommend this book to others. I'm seriously really looking forward to Isla & The Happy Ever After to come out in September after reading this novel.


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