Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Pages: 384

Source: Personal Ebook

Anna Oliphant’s is a high school senior. She leads a fairly normal life but her senior year is about to change in a very substantial way. She must leave her friends, her job, her school and her crush. Her best-selling novelist father decides to culture his daughter, and decides that she must go abroad to boarding school. She’s being shipped off to Paris. It may be the city of romance, but Anna is terror-stricken. She can’t speak french, she doesn’t want to leave her little brother behind, and what will her best friend do without her? There is little relief in knowing that her schoolmates will be fellow Americans, but Anna is expecting the worst. When she arrives to the school, and her parents walk away, Anna breaks down and the tear begin to fall. Anna is relieved when a fellow student comes to her rescue. Meredith can’t help but hear Anna crying through the thin walls, and she takes her under her wing and welcomes her into her group of friends. Anna’s first morning in the cafeteria is perplexing when she realizes the menu is all in french. Meredith’s friend Etienne, or St.Clair as he is known, offers to assist her, within a couple of weeks the duo are inseparable. St. Clair is in a relationship but it doesn’t seem to be going well. Anna is enamoured with St. Clair, but she knows that anything more than friends is not likely. As much as she loves the time she is spending with St. Clair, she can’t help but try to keep her feelings under control. Their relationship begins to change when St. Clair deals with difficult family matters. Anna is always there for him, but she’s not sure how much more she can offer him. Meredith is pushing away from Anna, jealousy is obviously the issue. Her best friend back home has kept a VERY big secret from her, and Anna is stuck between two worlds.

A fantastic read! I picked this book up, because so many bloggers were raving about it. I thought I should give it a chance, see what all the fuss was about. I was initially skeptical, the cover gave me the impression that it was just another sweet, teen romance. I was wrong. This book surpassed my expectations. Anna was a true to life teen, a young girl trying to figure out her path in life. Her emotions were real, she’s dealing with many issues. She’s homesick, she’s angry, and she’s lonely. Her friends at home are moving on without her, and she’s not sure how to deal with this. While she’s lucky to have met the friends she has in Paris, it takes awhile to bond with them. The city she lives in terrifies her, she simply can not speak the language, she’s afraid to leave campus. Her relationship with Etienne is not all sweet, and exemplary. Circumstances with Etienne’s family forces Anna not to confront all their issues. The few friends she does have are not friends she’s known all her life, she’s afraid of being left alone. Stephanie Perkins conveys readers into a tangible teenage relationship. This is one I highly recommend, a young adult book that is meant for all ages.

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