My first book review: Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 372
Published: December 2nd 2010
Author: Stephanie Perkins


Summary from Goodreads:
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 Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?


My review:
Even before reading this book, reading the summary have made me swoon over one character: Etienne St. Clair. His name is very beautiful and it's very French. I've been reading mostly YA books that are not realistic. Vampires, werewolves, faeries, etc have always been the theme of the books I've read. But, when I saw many positive reviews about this novel, I thought I had to pick it! I ended up getting one and read it non-stop for a day. This novel tells the story of Anna who didn't want to go to SOAP (School of America in Paris) when her father forced her to go. She had a crush back home (who might become her boyfriend) and a best friend. She never thought that she would fall in love with Etienne St. Clair (a.k.a St. Clair or Etienne). What I love most about this story is that Stephanie Perkins introduces you to Paris while developing the love story between Anna and Etienne. Paris is a very romantic city and it's a very perfect setting for this novel. Anna is a wonderful character. She really tries to understand St. Clair, never asking to develop their friendship further until the end (which I will not spoil for those of you who haven't read this book). St. Clair is probably the first character I fell in love who is not perfect. In the world of YA, most male characters are almost perfect and it's really hard to believe that they exist in the world somewhere. But with St. Clair, he's not perfect. He has a crooked smile, not tall but BRITISH ACCENT (swoon-worthy!), speaks French, English and he's American! Definitely swoon-worthy! It is quite annoying for St. Clair to develop his friendship with Anna more than just 'friends' when he is someone else's boyfriend. Though, you're forgiven St. Clair because you did what you had to do in the end! 


Friendship, relationships, Paris, Love are few words I can summarize for this book. I've read this book twice in a week and I've never done this before with other YA books. Usually, it takes me about a month to read the book again or probably a week. This book is really breath-taking. Every single page is very enjoyable and not only do we get to see the love building between Anna and St. Clair, but  a view of the most romantic city in the world, PARIS! This is a must read for everyone! Merci, Stephanie Perkins for writing this spectacular novel. 


Overall: One word: WOW! Bored with paranormal YA books, male characters that seems too perfect to find in reality? This book promises a whole lot of things we can find in our lives. Someone who truly loves you and understand who you are!

5 forget-me-not flowers rating for Anna and the French Kiss!

Note: Lola and the Boy Next Door, Stephanie Perkins's companion novel for Anna and the French Kiss is going to be out 29th September! Grab it as soon as possible if you loved Anna and the French Kiss novel!