Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Plot

Anna is a seventeen year-old who has been forced to go to an American boarding school in Paris by her parents.  Anna has to leave her mother and brother and her novelist father for a year for the world’s romantic city where she not only meets some fun, new friends but, of course, a handsome, charming and understanding French-American boy, with a British accent, called Étienne St. Clair.  Anna and Étienne strike up a friendship closer than any other she has ever had but Étienne has a girlfriend, Anna has a love interest left behind in America and she realises she has to become accustomed to her new life in Paris before she can sort out her love life.

Good points

Although it took a couple of chapters to decide whether or not I liked Anna, I eventually decided that, once I had got the measure of her she was actually a very funny and likeable protagonist.  She had a lot of wit and despite being completely in love with Étienne she tried not to take herself and their relationship too seriously when she was with him.

I also really enjoyed how the story was set in Paris; just to mix things up a bit.  Perkins describes Paris so beautifully that I just wanted to also travel to Paris and be there with the characters!

Bad points

Towards the end my tolerance with Anna did start to tail off a little bit.  Despite knowing from the very beginning that her friend Meredith is also in love with Étienne, she still pursues her relationship with him and when it all blows up in her face it was a bit of a ‘I told you so’ moment.   The whole way through she’s worried about the fact that Étienne has a girlfriend and not about the fact she’s breaking the friends’ code of conduct.

Summary

Nevertheless, I didn’t think this was enough to ruin the story.  The setting was beautiful and, all in all, I really liked the characters. Therefore...

Rating = 5 stars

Additional points

I really loved the writing so I am quite excited that the next book in the series is coming out in the UK very soon – Lola and the Boy Next Door!



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