Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I knew I would enjoy this book. But I didn’t expect to love it this much.

5/5 stars

 

Amazon description of Anna and the French Kiss:

Anna can’t wait for her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a good job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she’s not too thrilled when her father unexpectedly ships her off to boarding school in Paris – until she meets Etienne St. Clair, the perfect boy. The only problem? He’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her crush back home. Will a year of romantic near-misses end in the French kiss Anna awaits?

This book takes every trope of ChickLit and does it in a slightly better way. The romance developed perfectly, without too much over-the-top drama, while still being emotionally moving. Both Anna and St. Clair are great characters. Neither of them felt cliche or overdone. They were realistic and lovable and I was shipping the pair within the first chapter. I loved Anna’s voice and felt that it worked well within the dynamic of the story.

The secondary characters were well-written also. The group of friends Anna gets involved with felt real, with the inevitable drama and awkwardness of friendships put through the ringer of high school life. Each of the secondary characters got their own subplots without overpowering the rest of the story. Unlike many books that try to do this, Perkins was able to balance the friends’ conflicts with the more important issues in Anna’s life.

The pacing of this book was great. The story of Anna and St. Clair falling in love felt natural and inevitable , vastly different from what I’ve come to assume of YA contemporary romance.

The book made me laugh out loud and (almost) made me cry. Every subplot wove together to enhance the main plot without being cheesy or overly THIS IS THE THEME OF THE BOOK. Where most books would have been hyper-dramatic and overdone, Perkins knew that subtle conflicts can be even more captivating. Even the plot points I saw coming surprised me with the slight twist Perkins put on them.

There isn’t much more I can say about this book without spoiling it. All I’ll say is that anyone who enjoys ChickLit, or who just wants to read a book that will put a smile on their face, should pick up this book as soon as possible and READ IT.

I could go on and on about this book, but it’s Friday and I am brain dead, so I’ll end this review here. I can’t wait to read books two and three!