Bookanista Review: ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS

There has been so much buzz around ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS (and all of it good buzz) that I found myself a little skeptical. Seriously, how can that many people – some of them harsh critics – all love the same book? So, it was with a dubious spirit that I picked up ANNA on a plane ride from Orange County to my home in San Francisco. Read below to see what I thought.

Here’s the official blurb from the publisher:

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?

You know how when a song starts playing on a radio and you like it, but then the song is background fodder on every TV show you watch (whether it makes sense or not) and every time you walk into the bank or Forever 21 or you’re sitting at the movie theater listening to the piped music – there’s that damned song again and why won’t it freaking go away? Sometimes when a thing is talked about a LOT, I worry it will become like that song – a nice thing I might like, but a thing that can’t live up to the hype. I’m happy to say that ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS is not like that song. ANNA is a total keeper and completely shelf-worthy.

On the short flight home, I surprised myself by slamming through the first 81 pages and thoroughly enjoying those 81 pages. And then swearing I would finish it the next day, I trudged home with my luggage, so exhausted that I planned to jump into bed. Except I didn’t. I picked up ANNA again, and damn it if it wasn’t 2 AM when I finished it. The book is so charming and sweet that I smiled my way through the pages.

Stephanie Perkins has some of the best playful dialogue I’ve seen in YA. It reminded me of some of my favorite old “feel good” black-and-white romantic flicks like You Can’t Take It With You and It Started with Eve. Nothing shocking or crude. Just well-written conversations that work because the characters have been finely crafted. Anna and Etienne are full-bodied characters with faults and strengths that make them real.

And Stephanie does something in ANNA that was so, so VERY refreshing. She allows the romance to develop slowly. Many YA novels rely on instant physical attraction, which is fine, but sometimes I feel like the bond never evolves from that place of arbitrary attraction to that deeper connection where you know someone’s faults but still love them. I LOVED how Stephanie doesn’t rush things, but lets the romance bubble and simmer. The gorgeous setting only helps things along!

If you’ve avoided reading ANNA because of all the buzz, avoid it no longer. Go read this book and prepare to enjoy it!

Check out the links below to see what the other Bookanistas are talking about!