Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Review: Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna And The French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Published: December 2nd 2010
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
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Caution: May contain spoilers

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. 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?

My Thoughts:

With as many rave reviews as there are for a book, sometimes you can't help but buy into the hype. Of course, some books are more hype than awesome so you have to be careful. Then there are the other books--the ones that are seriously epic in every sense and leave you a tingling mess of swooning and sighing. This book falls into the last category. It's hard to pin this book down into a brief review. There's too much to say. So I'm going to focus on what I liked the most.

Anna's personal journey was pretty amazing in my opinion. What was nice is that while she learned some things from other people, including Étienne, she learned a lot on her own. That, I believe, is the best thing a person can do for themselves--learn on their own. It's good when people can help point you in the right directions, but it's so much better when you wrap your head around something yourself.

Now, the relationship between Anna and Étienne? I cannot begin to express the extent of the swooning incurred as I read their interactions. There's something about their friendship and love that is purely iconic. The way they are together is something that feels like it's out of a movie and real life at the same time. If that makes any sense! I mean, it's so perfect it feels like it's a movie, on the other hand, it's so imperfect it feels like it's real. Does that make sense? It makes sense to me.

Anna And The French Kiss is a book I could probably read about fifty times and never get sick of reading. Not only is the romance full of awesome, but the way all the rest of the characters intermix in Anna's life creates for this perfect blend of tension and comical conversations. You just can't help yourself from getting sucked into this world and wanting to just BE in this world. Stephanie Perkins just blew me away with the way she writes. I cannot wait to get my hands on her other books.

My Rating:

12 comments:

  1. I loved this one as well! Like you said, the relationship was so great. If they ever make a movie of Anna, I am so there ;)
    Ninja Girl

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    1. YES, I agree--I would LOVE to see them make this into a movie. :D

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  2. I still haven't read this one :( I think I'm a little afraid because everyone else seems to love this one so much that I worry I'll be the odd one out!

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    1. Aw, you won't be the odd one out. Not every book is for everyone. There's something about this one though that you may really like. You should give it a try. :)

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  3. I feeeeel so sad and a loner, because I didn't like this book. I can see WHY everybody loves it so much, but it just didn't work for me. I'm happy that you agree with all the others though :D

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    1. I'm sorry you didn't like it! I've been there with some books that are hyped though and feel like I must be crazy, but just because everyone else likes it doesn't mean I have to. Lol. ;)

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  4. I'm so glad you finally read this book and loved it too! It's one of my all-time favourites. I totally get what you mean about it feeling like a movie but also real life - that's a good way to describe it. It's crazy romantic like a movie, but it's *just* believable enough to be like real life too - the heartache, the struggle, all of it. Great review, Jess. :-)

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    1. Me too! It's one of mine now too. And exactly! You get it (of course you do, we're kindred spirits after all) and I love the way you worded it. Thanks! :D

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  5. This book is definitely worth the hype! Stephanie Perkins' writing is so funny and awesome. I'm so glad you liked this book! And I totally agree, it's something you could read over and over again. And Etienne St. Clair...*swoon* Great review!

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    1. Absolutely! I am too, it's nice when a book lives up to its reputation. And Etienne... oh yes, swoon indeed!!! <3 Thanks!

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  6. Yes! Etienne/Anna's romance was SO movie-esque but not in that cheesy way, either. I just fell so hard for them both times I read this... I couldn't help it. Because like you said, it also was really REAL. :D

    So happy you loved ANNA, girl!

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    1. Oh yeah, I fell for their romance pretty hard too. ;) I'm happy too! <3

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Thank you for commenting and happy reading!