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?
I've never been into a contemporary YA read before nor have I ever been more in love with a contemporary YA boy before. Three words. Étienne St. Clair.
Anna and the French Kiss is a book that falls in the Why haven't I read this as soon as I got it category. There were many reasons at that time, I am sure. Perhaps I didn't want the hype and rave reviews influence me in my reading of the book and my opinions and give me high hopes. There's this and that reason.
But for all the waiting I was not disappointed - I LOVED IT. And not just because of Étienne St. Clair but also for Meredith, Rashmi, Josh and especially Anna Oliphant, the heroine. I liked her character because she was realistic and easy to relate to. There were a few instances where I would bash her in the head for saying stupid things but I reminded myself that she was reacting in the only way she could what anyone would do in that situation no matter whether she was a teenager or an adult.
Stephanie Perkins painted a world showed and described Paris all too well that I'm finding myself wanting to go to a French boarding school, no matter how snobby it is, and go to a nearby crêperie when the cafeteria was closed. I never imagined myself being in Paris before except for doing touristy stuff but the book made me want to just live there even for just awhile. Of course, reading the book is also excellent timing for me since I'd be going abroad soon and Anna's misgivings about being in a foreign land got to me. But I also took to heart on how she overcome those feelings and just enjoyed being there, experienced everything it had to offer and came away with more than pictures.
No comments:
Post a Comment