Becoming Books: [Review] Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #1

Authors: Stephanie Perkins [Twitter | Website]

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, an imprint of Penguin Books

Genre: Young Adult Fiction - Contemporary, Romance

Release Date: December 2, 2010

Source: Audiobook borrowed via library, opinions are honest and my own. – review policy here.

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? - via Goodreads

Oh my sweet, dear, innocent Anna...

Anna's innocence is so sweet it's almost painful. Accepting this fact about Anna allowed me to limit my eye rolling throughout the book. Don't get me wrong, my love for Anna is forged into my younger teenage self. I adore her, her cluelessness, her love for movies, and her strength made for a romantic heroine I could root for even if she was the other woman.

Her narration is endearing, relatable and kept me wanting for more of her adventures in Paris. If anything I wanted more on her exploration of Paris and how it influences her transition into adulthood.

A Saint? Not really?

Étienne St. Clair is something else. Okay, he's kind of a hot mess. I don't want to get spoilery but there's a lot going on here. Anna's description of him is dreamy and lust-worthy. He has that charm that makes you swoon or seriously suspicious. While listening I became increasing protective of Anna so I found him kind of suspicious... haha.

In the end my character attachment to St. Clair became impatient. I needed to hear his side of the story. I needed to know what was going on in that head of pretty hair. I NEEDED his voice. Alas, I had to be patient and wait for Anna to discover St. Clair.

Super cute and filled with LOLs

Overall the plot is cute, filled with quirks, high school drama, mean girls... and boys. The dialogue and character development is entertaining, swoony, but also gave us some depth of real life. I laughed so many time, yelled at the characters, cheered them on. The whole works. Many surprises as I tried to predict the plot. That soon turned into a game of cat and mouse...

The downside came with the pacing and some plotting. The story became a game of tug-o-war with the entire story storyline dragging out conflict to fill pages. The entire story could've been cut by 50-100 pages with the same result. It did make some plot points sweeter but I was a few eye rolls deep.

Love is messy, complicated and confusing...
while it's probably a bit simpler when you're younger I think it hurts more. Perkins does a great job with giving her characters complicated love scenarios that reflect the maturity of expats in Europe. The author also throws us into the concept of being attracted to others when they're unavailable. I think it's handled well, even if the situation is less than ideal. We all grow up a little when there's no parent supervision. ;)

I really enjoyed trying to figure out how the next two companion novels tie into the first book. Mini spoiler... you do meet Isla but no Lola. Can't wait to continue on!!