Anna & The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Series: Anna & The French Kiss, #1
# of Pages: 372
Publication: December 2nd, 2010
Source: Personal Copy
Genre: YA Contemporary, Romance
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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?

Quick Facts Review (Overview of the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly)

  -Anna is a loveable character who never attempts to be anyone but herself. 

           -There is a grey area of whether a main character is actively cheating on his girlfriend

           -The setting of the novel is phenomenal. 

I always feel as though I’m the last person on earth to have read this book and started this series; however, I’m glad that I did start the series because I really enjoyed this book. There were likeable characters, the writing was easy to follow, and I love a cute, cheesy romance. All of these elements worked so well together and it really made for a fast, engaging novel.

Characters:

The characters were phenomenal. I’m really picky about whether an author effectively develops characters that I can either relate to or understand and Stephanie Perkins did such an amazing job. I could not directly relate with Anna because she came from a decent family with a good enough income to send her to boarding school in Paris; however, she was extremely likeable. There was never a moment when I felt as though Ana was disingenuous or attempting to be herself. She was different from the rest of the girls in the novel and that’s what made her stand out. Like the other characters, Anna does have her flaws but they seem to make her more human. A character that did take me awhile to understand and appreciate was St. Claire. He had a lot of trouble determining how he could break up with his girlfriend so he could start dating Anna and it irritated me that he kept hurting Anna. However, honestly when I realized that St. Claire exhibited traits that were complicated, but human I began to appreciate him more and of course he treated Anna like a gem.

Plot:

The plot of this story was not extravagant or complex. It was mainly a plot based around whether Anna and St. Claire would ever have the opportunity to explore a relationship. However, there were other elements of the plot that defined the personalities of the characters and made the story more enjoyable. For example, it was hard to watch Anna betray one of her close friends by accident when she developed feelings for St. Claire; however, it led to some complex moments and it really defined how Anna viewed her friendships with the other characters as she pursued a relationship with St. Claire. I liked the back and forth between Anna and St. Claire. I’m sure that it annoyed some readers, but the thrill of never knowing when their opportunity was going to arise made the story that much more enjoyable. I went into the book expecting nothing more than a fluffy contemporary; however, I was granted with the opportunity to learn so much more about the characters

Writing:

The writing of the book was simplistic, but entertaining. Stephanie Perkins understands how to write a story that is simple in nature, but has complex characters that translate into a complex plot. I read this book in about two days because Perkins writing was so accessible. I do not categorize it as a fully contemporary; however, it is easy in nature.

Honestly if you enjoy contemporaries at all then I would recommend checking out this book and series. As I’m writing this review, I have already finished the second book and plan to read the third book sometime soon.