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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Reading Level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 372 pages

PublisherDutton; 1st edition (December 2nd 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10
0525423273
ISBN-13
9780525423270
Source: Purchased from Book Depository
First Sentence: "Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amelie and Moulin Rouge."
Favorite Line from the Book
"How many times can our emotions be tied to someone else's - be pulled and stretched and twisted - before they snap? Before they can never be mended again?
Book Summary:  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. Claire: 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?
So I just finished reading this book... and I read it TWICE!  It was that wonderful!

Anna and the French Kiss is a love story... BUT it is definitely not the "love at first sight" or "i'm in love 'coz you're such a hunk" or even "too good to be true" kind of love story.  The love story of Anna and Etienne was wonderfully written and slowly building.  The first few chapters of the book was really dedicated to Anna's struggle in her new school at a totally different country.  With this part of the novel, we see Anna build friendships, come out of her shell, and even become passionate again about her love of theaters.  It was very well written that you can picture the world of Anna - Paris, the lovers' capital, the most romantic place on earth.  The author was able to vividly capture Paris and seemed like she was able to deliver the city to me right through the book!

Anna's and Etienne's friendship is just so true and pure and seeing them slowly fall in love just made me giddy and made me really smile.  But, what I admired about how the author wrote this second part of the story was that it is not all about just falling in love and showing all the wonderful things that love can do to you, but she was also able to include the awkward moments, the insecurities, the denial, and the unpopular, bad decisions.  All of these are so realistic that I could feel what Anna was feeling.  I could very well relate to her.  The scene which I love best and I still cannot (will not) forget about is when Anna finally realized that she's in love with Etienne.  It was so raw and heart-breaking and yet so beautifully written and felt like a light-bulb moment for Anna.  I even imagined her to be Cher in Clueless when she suddenly realized that she fell in love with her ex-step-brother, Josh.

Overall, I ultimately loved (still love) this book!  This novel is not only about romance, but also about building friendships.  This is not only about glamorous Paris, but also about a girl trying to survive alone at one of the most wonderful cities in the world.  This is about growing up, self-discovery, making bad decisions and facing their consequences, and above all, self acceptance.

For anyone who hasn't read this yet, let me tell you that you are missing out on something really, really great!

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4 comments:

Amber

Thanks for the wonderful review! This novel is in my TBR pile and I can't wait to get to, especially since you loved it so much. I love the fact that this is about building relationships and that you saw Anna as Cher a bit!

Edil

I always feel good whenever other bookworms love this book. I'd love to reread it! Great review!

popofly

Hello! How do you buy bookd from Book Depository? There are quite a few numbers of good books being reviewed in the internet that I couldn't find in local bookstores but I have never tried buying anything online. SHould I be needing a credit card for this? I only have my EPS and my mom wouldnt let me borrow her credit card. LOL. Thank you!

Yas

hey there! unfortunately, i bought them using a credit card. but i guess you can email powerbooks and fully booked to check if they still have it or they can order for you. although if you do that, it might be a lot expensive.

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