Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: December 2, 2010
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Review:

I finally decided to read Anna and the French Kiss at the urgings of Rachel from Beauty and The Bookshelf and Courageous Grace. I bought a signed copy at the RT Convention in Kansas City but was still kind of on the fence about the whole thing. Admit it, the title of this book is beyond cheesy and I was actually somewhat embarrassed when people asked what I was reading. I was shocked to discover that despite the cheesiness factor I loved this novel!

Anna was instantly likable. Her Dad is basically the next Nicholas Sparks and ships her off to France to become more “cultured”, despite being excited to go to France Anna is upset because she was never given the choice. She was told what she was going to do and that would piss anyone off. Initially, Anna struggles to adjust but as she finds a group of friends she undergoes some serious character development and ends up being a better person for it. 

I really liked the friend group Anna develops in France; Josh, Roshmi, Meredith, and of course Etienne or “St. Clair”. I liked that at first Anna is just trying to find people to hang out with and despite being attracted to Etienne, as most girls are, she realizes he has a girlfriend and that the relationship probably won’t go anywhere. This situation felt true to life (don’t all hot, great guys have girlfriends?) and I think the fact that Anna and St. Clair were friends first made me like the romance between them so much more.

Now on to the romance itself, I just loved everything about it. Etienne and Anna were painfully cute and I was always rooting for them to be together (I think everyone was). There was so much miscommunication between the characters that in the end I wasn’t even sure if they were going to be together or leave France as just friends. Luckily, there is an HEA. 

I also want to briefly mention that this book is funny! Like laugh out loud, goofy smile kind of funny and no one told me that it was going to be. I expected a cute love story but I did not expect to laugh as much as I did. The humor each of the characters brought to the story made me like them so much more and it made it feel like I was a part of their friend group rather then just an observing reader.

Overall, Anna and the French Kiss despite the cheesy title was a very cute, very fun read and I am now excited to begin the companion novel Lola and the Boy Next Door, which I’ve heard features cameos by Anna and Etienne.

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Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins