Anna and the French Kiss

Find this review and more at On The Shelf! So what can I say about Anna and the French Kiss? It was absolutely, brilliantly, marvelously AMAZING!! I am so glad I lsitened to all of the bloggers who raved about this book because it is simply wonderwul. I am definitely a fan of Stephanie Perkins now and will most likely read everything she publishes. There are so many things that make this book great. One thing is how realistic and relatable it is. I’m reading this whole book thinking “Wow I have definitely been there before.” The story is real, tbe place is real, the characters are real. I feel like I really know these characters and I could tell you about them as if they were someone I’ve known for quite some time. They may be fictional characters, but they have very real personalities. Mmmm, St. Clair. I was drooling over this boy from the first time Anna met him. He has certainly become a new favorite book boyfriend. He may even be #1! Edward Cullen can suck it! And how great was Anna? Awesomely so. Her freak outs, excitement, meltdowns, everything was put perfectly on the page. The descriptions of Paris are lovely, and though I have been to France, I didn’t get the chance to see Paris. It is a beautiful country and the author portays Paris beautifully. I have to make sure I get to go back and visit Paris. There have been books that have made me giggle here and there, but this book has me laughing so foten. It was such a fun read and I look forward to her other novels. This story will remind you of what it’s like to fall in love. Fabulous characters, wonderful story, humorous, playful writing, MUST READ!!

First of 3 : Anna and the French Kiss series. YA, romance.In her last year of school, Anna's father decides to send her to a new school. In a different city. In Paris, France, in fact. As well as being the new kid in school, Anna feels out of place in Paris, since she's never learned French before (only Spanish, which she keeps speaking accidentally).Thanks to Meredith, who has the room next door, she soon makes new friends, though, including Étienne St Clair who is funny and friendly and charming. Everyone likes St Clair; but maybe Anna more than likes him. She knows Meredith likes him, too, but he already has a girlfriend. And anyway, there's Toph, who kissed Anna on her last day at home, so she might already have a boyfriend.Will Anna get her French kiss before her year in Paris is over?This was a strongly written debut, and though it was from the YA section of the library, the characters had depth. There wasn't too much teen angst (which I've seen as a point against other YA books), though there were the usual romantic misunderstandings. I like the way that Paris and the Parisienne way of life featured throughout the book. I've been to Paris a few times (a while ago) and recognised some of the major landmarks, although I have no idea how accurate it actually is (the Latin Quarter, for instance), but it felt authentic, and the way it was brought into the story felt natural and not forced. There are other books in the series, but I suspect they deal with different characters. Though some of the resolutions at the end felt a little hasty, the story wraps up well (with a happy ending), so it works as a stand-alone novel.I picked this up (outside my usual comfort zone) based on heaps of favourable LT recommendations, and I have to agree with them. i enjoyed reading this book; once I had time to sit down to read it properly, it was very easy to keep going to the end. I'm glad there were no villainous villains to spoil things, and I do like happy endings. I also liked the fact that the 'hero', while good-looking and charming, wasn't especially tall i.e. wasn't 'flawless'. This was a 'feel good' book. I liked it so much, I think I'll hunt down a copy for my own shelves, so I can re-read it whenever I need some cheering up.

This and other reviews can be found on Reading Between Classes

Cover Impressions: The cover is cute, but pretty typical of YA romance novels. Not something that would grab my attention on a shelf.

The Gist: Anna has been sent to Paris against her will. Her father has signed her up for a year at the School of America in Paris. There she meets Etienne, suave, charming and ... taken. As they grow closer, Anna learns about friendship, desire and love.

Review: Anna and the French kiss is one of those books that everyone seems to love. It was remarkable 1) how many of my Goodreads friends had read it and 2) how many of them raved about it.

I was not able to join them.

The writing was great. The romantic scenes were sweet and exciting. You cannot beat a setting like Paris. However, I hated both Anna and Etienne. When characters or scenes annoy me, I have a tendency to skip or skim over them. But while listening to the audio book, I wasn't able to do that. Instead, I found myself yelling at both Anna and Etienne for being idiots. They were both hypocritical and got angry at each other (and the other characters) for actions that they themselves committed earlier or later. They danced around each other for an entire book and were constantly doubting the other's feelings. Etienne was the "beautiful boy" that every girl wanted and Anna was the girl that every boy immediately lusted after. Come on. No girl is so hot that every male within sight falls at her feet and she HAS NO IDEA! This called for some serious eye rolling.

I read several reviews that claimed that this book was HILARIOUS. I did not get that. The only humorous passages that I can recall were where Anna was being a complete klutz (I hate the typical pretty, klutzy girl character) or acting like a moron - which annoyed me more than they amused me. The other characters only served to move the plot along and/or reveal information and did not really get a life of their own.

I could rant and rave about all the nit-picky things that I didn't like about this book BUT I can completely understand why teens love it. It was cute and romantic (even though I only wanted the characters together so that they wouldn't force their special brand of idocracy on anybody else).

No more Stephanie Perkins for me. I am far too cynical for this type of book.


Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 16 and up
Gender: Female
Sex: Kissing, Talk of sex
Violence: Physical fighting
Inappropriate Language: Dick, Bastard, Shit, Prick, Fuck, Slut, Bitch
Substance Use/Abuse: Underage drinking

For more reviews, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.Before I launch into what will be, for this book, a fairly negative review, I want to get some things straight. First, I don’t think Anna and the French Kiss is a bad book; in fact, I think it’s good, but in some ways not good for the particular person I am. Second, this review’s going to be somewhat ranty, but I really did like and sometimes even love much of Anna and the French Kiss. If my ranting will upset you because you love everything about this book, I’m envious that you had all the feels and send you on your way with my blessing.Perkins most definitely has the makings of a contemporary author who will write books that I personally will love. Even though this hasn’t been an entirely positive experience for me, I will undoubtedly be reading the rest of her books. She has great snappy dialogue and tons of pop culture references, both things that are total Christina bait. Plus, I totally adore the setting at SOAP (School of America Paris) with it’s dorm rooms that are small and awful to Anna but absurdly amazing as dorm rooms go. It’s great too because most boarding school books end up being so depressing and full of intense melodrama, but Anna and the French Kiss is free of that.The familial relationships and friendships in Anna and the French Kiss were largely great too. Anna’s father, James Ashley, an obvious reference to Nicholas Sparks, amused me no end. He forced her to go to Paris, so he can feel cultured. Initially, she’s very anti-Paris and doing the poor me having to go to France thing, but it’s really that her agency was taken away and not that Paris is awful. Plus, Anna’s very afraid of being rude or doing something wrong, which is something I can relate to in her fear of venturing out in France not knowing the language.I like the way that Anna’s new friends draw her out of her shell. She could, had she not found good friends, have ended up like Cath, shut up in her dorm room for much or all of her year at SOAP. Instead, she discovers resources within herself she never knew she had and ends up having an amazing experience.[Aside: St. Clair takes her out for panini and she's amazed at this rare and unusual sandwich, but this book came out in 2010 and Panera is everywhere. There are all kinds of sandwich places in Atlanta that serve paninis. It's possible, but seriously?] I think the whole crew of friends is interesting, though I would have liked to get to know Josh, Rashmi and Mer a bit better. I think Rashmi ends up getting the best development and their relationship helps Anna reevaluate a lot of how she perceives others.The problem is, though, that, in a romance, you’re pretty much sunk if you don’t ship the ship. Thankfully, I don’t quite unship the ship. For a while, I was walking up to board. I had my ticket purchased and my bags packed, ready to depart. Unfortunately, I got about three steps onboard, realized I didn’t like where it was headed and ran back off. This metaphor may have gotten out of my control a bit.What you need to understand about me is that I tend to have a very black and white sense of justice. I’m a bit like Darcy: “my good opinion once lost is lost forever.” Actually, like him, that’s not entirely true, but it is difficult to convince me to change my mind. My problems lie almost entirely with the character of St. Clair. I’ve tried to forgive him because he’s young and stupid, which is true, and because it’s believable, but I can’t. The last two chapters completely sealed me not wanting these characters to get together or at least not feeling happy that they are together.Anna and the French Kiss takes place over the course of almost a complete school year. During almost that entire time, St. Clair has a girlfriend called Ellie, who’s off at uni nearby. He spends the whole year alternately ignoring all of his friends and hanging out with Ellie or ignoring Ellie and hanging out with his friends, which also includes flirting with Anna. The flirting initially is mild, just some casual but intentional leg brushes, which is okay I guess. What bothered me from the start was the way that St. Clair would flip flop from friends to girlfriend, blowing off one then the other, like he can’t be a good boyfriend and a good friend at one time; it’s or the other. When he’s actually there, he’s great and so is the banter, but he’s not dependable.I’d be warned about the cheating thing and, honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I expected in some ways. If the reactions to it had been different, I actually wouldn’t have been bothered so much by this particular scenario. Of course, it’s all gray areas with what counts as actually cheating and blah blah blah, but using the most common definition, St. Clair doesn’t behave too badly. View Spoiler » That I could live with if St. Clair was really incredibly apologetic, which he sort of was but also wasn’t. I’ll move into spoiler tags now for safety.St. Clair makes so many excuses, which okay he doesn’t want to be alone because his mother is dying, but he also has tons of good friends and doesn’t really like his girlfriend. Why the fuck is he still with Ellie when he’s liked Anna since the very first day he met her? He’s been wishing on that fucking zero point in Paris for her to want him ALL YEAR. He tells her, once they’re together, that he’s never felt this way about anyone. And yet, the amount that he cares for Anna still isn’t enough to make St. Clair risk having to be single. We’re meant to forgive him for sticking with the girlfriend because she’s vaguely horrible in her couple of scenes, an easy target. Plus, he didn’t have sex with Ellie again after the admittedly incredibly adorable Christmas email exchange. Let’s ignore the fact that a couple that was having regular sex just stops for months and neither of them will FUCKING END IT.St. Clair, despite having a girlfriend, is jealous any time a guy pays attention to Anna. He shames her for kissing someone else, when she has made no promises to anyone. Once everything comes out, he accuses her of being part of the problem because she lied and pretended he hadn’t confessed feelings for her back in November when St. Clair was drunk off his ass. Yup, clearly Anna’s fault that you kept dating a girl you didn’t like anymore. He basically says it’s all also her fault because she wasn’t willing to speak up about her feelings, which is so incredibly unfair and dickish that I cannot even with this guy. And, yeah, they’re young and stupid but there’s nothing in the book to say that this isn’t cool. Anna believes everything he says and takes a share of the blame. Yes, she sometimes pushed him away, but ONLY BECAUSE HE HAD A GIRLFRIEND. Pretty sure she would have eventually said or done something had he been single that whole time. It’s not her job to watch out for his relationship, but she did a better job of that than he did.Then, once they resolve everything and get together, they’re so damn cheesy and insufferable, which I can’t handle with how un-sorry St. Clair is. He gets everything he wanted and that whole situation worked out fabulously for him. He decides to go to California for her (365), not for his mother or to obtain freedom from his father. They’re not even dating yet! I mean, I know they were best friends most of the year, but he obviously was planning this before he’d broken up with his girlfriend, because of when college applications have to be in. Then the last three lines: “For the two of us, home isn’t a place. It’s a person. And we’re finally home.”I cannot. I can’t. The ability to can has been suspended. This about a guy who claims to have loved her basically all year but who kept dating another girl for pretty much all of that year. I wouldn’t build my home on that sort of a foundation, but best of luck to you Anna.So yeah, that didn’t really turn out like anybody hoped. There are lots of good things about it, but I also have many non-happy feelings about one of the most loved YA guys. I has a sad.

I’ve been avoiding writing this review, and even now, I’m having a hard time with it. I think this review would be easier to write if I loved or hated Anna and the French Kiss, but I didn’t. Even now, more than a week after finishing, I’m having a hard time figuring out my feelings for it.

Honestly, I think I just expected more from it. This is a book that I have been seeing people rave about online for months, so I think I just had too high of expectations. But it wasn’t terrible either. I know that I tend to not be a huge contemporary fan, but I have found some that I’ve loved, so I know that isn’t the only factor at play here.

I think the biggest problem for me was that I just didn’t connect with Anna or St. Clair. Anna seemed whiny to me. I get it. You were sent away to a foreign country, where you don’t know anyone or the language, and you miss everyone at home. But ugh. I just had had enough of it very quickly. Also, St. Clair seemed likable enough, but there was nothing swoon-worthy about him for me. Also, I felt like every time their relationship started to get interesting, one of them would just say or do something stupid to ruin it. It was insanely frustrating for me.

Another thing that I think this book had against it for me is that, unlike most people, I’m not a fan of France. Reading French words frustrates me, and while I think it might be nice to visit Paris, I don’t really have any strong desire to go there. I know, I’m totally the odd duck with this because most people DREAM about Paris, the city of love, but I just have no interest in it. (*runs and hides*)

What I did like about Anna and the French Kiss is that there was no insta-love. There was instant attraction on Anna’s part, but she didn’t think that she was in love with St. Clair right away. I liked that St. Clair had a British accent (I was DYING for an audiobook when I found that out! lol) I liked that Anna wasn’t a jerk when she realized she had feelings for St. Clair. She didn’t immediately set out to steal him from his girlfriend or anything, which did make me respect her some. There were also several funny moments.

Overall, I thought that Anna and the French Kiss was an okay book, but that it just wasn’t the right book for me. I think I had too high of expectations based on how many people I’ve seen love it, and was just left disappointed. However, I definitely see how many people would love this book, especially if you love Contemporaries, Romance, or Paris.

This review is also posted on my blog

I picked up this book because every YA reader and blogger I knew had reviewed it, and raved about it. I trust their opinions, so I knew I had to read it for myself. I wasn't disappointed! It's everything you could want in a YA novel - adventure, romance, heartbreak (ok, I guess you might not WANT heartbreak, but it's necessary!). Anna Oliphant is going to Paris! Sounds like fun, right? Except she's being sent away by her parents, she'll miss the senior year at her high school in Atlanta, and she'll have to attend a boarding school with other Americans. On top of all that, she's leaving behind her little brother she adores, her best friend, and the boy she was maybe-kinda starting something with. Understandably, Anna isn't too happy when she first arrives in Paris. Thankfully classmates take her under their wings and she grows to love the city. She even finds another boy to maybe-kinda start something with! Except there's one hitch… he has a girlfriend.

Mmmm meringue. Teen fantasy and angst whipped up into a froth and slowly baked into a sweet little story.

This was a very cliché book from the start, but it was a hidden guilty pleasure book of mine. Made me think back to my old favorite type of YA books I used to read.Could have had a bit more substance, in my opinion, but overall cute book to pass time on.

What do I say to explain this perfect book? The book is about Anna going off to Paris for her last year in high school. Truthfully, I didn't expect much of this book. I thought it would be a fun book to read over the Christmas break, but I was wrong. The book turned from a regular young adult romance novel into one of my favorite books. And it was because of how Stephanie Perkins writing style. The characters were the most relatable characters I've read. Anna and Etienne's romance which made me root for them from the beginning.

Specifically, Anna has to be one of my favorite fictional characters. I grew up as a military brat and while I never had to move around a lot, my sister did. I have heard her stories of all the moves she had to make, and I'm glad because it made me relate more to Anna. Anna may me slightly annoying at the beginning, to some people, but when you're forced to leave everything you know and not just go somewhere else for your senior year of high school, but to another country. Her anger and annoyance are justified. I love hear character and she grows a lot while in Paris. I couldn't have asked for a better book or a better character.

I loved everything about this book and have no complaints. I plan on re-reading it during the summer before I leave for London.

5/5

I have had this book on my e-reader for a few months, and with a push from a friend I finally started reading it at 2:00 p.m. today! From the very first page I couldn't stop reading. Anna and the French Kiss is sorta your typical YA romance, but with so much more.
We start off meeting Anna as her parents are dropping her off at a boarding school in Paris. Her dorm neighbor Meredith (Mer) comes in shortly after her parents leave, and while I have never been to a boarding school, i don't think that friendships are really formed as fast as these two formed a friendship. I did like the interaction with Etienne St. Clair from the beginning and I must say, he does make for one swoon worthy character. He is nice to Anna from the beginning, as are most of Mer's friends from the previous year.
We do run into a few snags along the way... Anna starts to like St. Clair, as he is called by his friends, and in turn we start to see St. Clair fall for Anna...but he's with Ellie, and has been for over a year now. And we can't forget Anna's almost but not quite boyfriend Toph!! So, where does that leave our to budding lovers?
The story progresses with some twists and turns that I wasn't expecting and I was so glad to see that most of them were resolved. Stephanie could easily make this into a series of books, but alas we are all left to dream about what really happens with Anna and St. Clair after the story ends.

While I am an AVID reader of YA, I tend to steer clear of the romances, Stephanie is a wonderful writer and while this is mainly a romance, you do get to see a lot of Paris through Anna's eyes, and we meet some great additional characters in Rashmi, Meredith, St. Clair and even Josh. There are always the bad characters, you know the ones I am talking about, that you know are going to make trouble every time they are mentioned, and we get that with Amanda and Dave. But thankfully those two are handled in the book. Overall I really enjoyed the book ( seeing as i finished it in 7 hours!) and i will more than likely come back to it again and again when I am in the mood for a fluffy read.

"For the two of us, home isn't a place. It's a person. And we're finally home."I am actually giving this about 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed it and I agree with others that you will quickly find yourself flying through the story.This is a book about young love and you are put through a roller-coaster of teenage emotions. At times, some of this was repetitive and annoying, but then again it is about teenagers and was pretty realistic. One moment the character was on cloud 9, and the next not knowing what she was living for. How is that for real life with a teenage girl?I will say, this did keep my interest and the writing had a great flow to it. This was the first Stephanie Perkins book I have read, and I will continue to read the rest of the series.

I really enjoyed that this book approached teenagers in a realistic fashion. It's wonderful read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a young love story. With some twists and turns throughout but of course the best type of happy ending.

Ok, I have to admit, this book was cute. A boarding school in Paris, a British-French-American love interest, references to movies classic and modern. That was good. But maybe I have aged out of high school romance books or something. Some of the feelings and writing felt too cheesy. The 1st person really grated as well. I had been getting used to it by reading so much other YA. But this was annoying. Too bad, I can see why people like this book. It had real conflict, both in the romance and in the friendship department. And in the family department. My favorite parts of the book were when the characters had to negotiate the changing relationships with their parents as they become independent adults.

His book was cute. If you don't mind cheesy highschool romantic description, then this book is great!

Darn it, Stephanie Perkins keeping me up until 2 am just so I could finish this book. I loved this story set in the dreamy city of Paris. Anna's parents send her to an American boarding school in Paris against her wishes. She thinks life is over for her since its her senior year. Little does she know how Paris will quickly become a city she loves. Friendships are made and the hope of love is in the air, obviously as it is the city of love.

One of the best ones in this genre. Really good.

I often say "You couldn't pay me enough to be in high school, again."I will start keeping a copy of Anna and the French Kiss for my primary evidence of this statement.I waited so long to read this book because I thought it was just silly, romantic fun but it is so much more than that.What could have been a cheesy, fluffy storyline builds into a remarkable book filled with loyalty, lust, betrayal, and self discovery.High school senior, Anna, is shipped off to a prestigious French high school in Paris by her cheesy, romance author dad. At first, it's miserable, as is to be expected. What 17 year old wants to curtail her life at the end of school to hack it with complete strangers in a totally strange land?As is imevitable, Anna makes her way through the year, making a close group of friends, succeeding in school, and ultimately finding herself crashing into love with both her best friend and her new city.There is a complex network of relationship trouble, both friendship and romantic, as well as the requisite Mean Kid cliques on both sides of the Atlantic.I can handle love related frustration. That's half the fun of romance novels. I can handle feeling out of place. That's been the human life story for as long as we gave existed. What Perkins does so well, though, is that utterly infuriating bullying that exists in every group in every country, in every decade.Part of the reason I am going into the feild of therapy is because I know that when bullies act out, that viciousness comes from internal hurt. It still doesn't make it ok but it does explain a few things. I have about zero tolerance for meanness but it does help to read about it because we've all been there.This really as s a gorgeous little book and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I'm about to pick up the next two books in the set and I have high hopes for the rest of the story.

Just like EVERYONE else has stated...."this book is nothing short of awesome"! I will read and read and read this over and over again.

When I was 13, this would have been my favorite book in the world. Drama--love--drama--friends--drama--motherf'ing PARIS. I am too old at this point not to see some flaws, but I am not so old that I cannot access that adolescent girl who would have read this a hundred times. I read this for the Read Harder Challenge, and getting a chance to read things like this, things I would never otherwise read, is why I love this challenge. So this middle aged woman, with all respect for the target audience says 4 stars (and knows that when I was 13 I would have given this all the stars. Every damn one.)

For some reason I felt like I wouldn't like this book which is why it took me so long to finally read it. I was totally wrong. Such a fun romantic story! Poor Anna gets sent off to boarding school in France for her senior year of high school. She totally hates the idea of leaving her family, school and friends in the US but quickly meets a group of friends in France who make her feel at home. I love all the characters, they all compliment each other very well and add to the story in unique ways. They do make some silly mistakes but nothing out of the ordinary for their age. I'll definitely be checking out the other books in this series!

TOTALLY lives up to the hype.

I knew this book was good when I was so engrossed that I almost missed my train stop last night.

It started off a little bit slowly--but that's just because I am impatient with descriptions and things. A personal thing of mine, nothing wrong the author did. In fact, when I go to reread it, I know I'll be glad to read the descriptions of Paris. The beauty of this book is that it can be read quickly, then reread for savoring purposes.

Lots of funny things, complicated and complex relationships. Nothing was easy or simple. I liked that. I did feel like Amanda the Villain was a bit cliched, but the author acknowledged it and kind of made fun of that. I can respect an author who pokes fun at herself and her works.

I loved that the St. Clair/Etienne wasn't this one dimensional perfect boy. He had a temper. He was also super kind. He made dumb decisions. But he was loveable just the same. He was REAL and 3-dimensional without being a total jerk. Plus, he was British. Yum!

Anna is the kind of girl I'd love to hang out with. She just seems super cool. And definitely not a Mary Sue.

I was satisfied with the book. Contemporary, thick, and complex. :) I look forward to reading more from this author.

Yay! I finally got over the book slump!! I'm usually a fantasy reader and not very much into contemporaries but this book was exactly what I needed to start reading again. it was an easy read and I couldn't stop reading until I finished it at 2 AM. I have three exams waiting for me and I'm expected to study more than 10 hours a day (do every high school seniors around the world go through this or is it just the Japanese education system?) Well done, me. Anyways, enjoyed this book a lot and I'm looking forward to reading the next book (though not soon because I really really need to study)

Much like the teen years in general, Anna and the French Kiss is a roller-coaster of emotion and drama! There were times I loved the main characters, times I hated them, times I thought they were insane...in summary, I feel that Stephanie Perkins has a real talent for creating wonderfully entertaining and flawed characters who grow and change.

I love that Perkins made Anna's character a film buff, and recommend readers some great movies. The international setting was a great escape. Although admittedly, it took me a while to process that anyone would NOT want to go to France.

Looking forward to finishing the other books in the series and what Perkins has in store for the future.

I loved this book!

Absolutely lovely.

<3

Seriously, if you haven't read this, you need to.

Well? What are you waiting for?

Cute, girly, funny romance.

its sooooooooo cute omgggggggg (to be honest i liked anna and etienne more in lola and the boy next-door, but whatever)

This was a very cute, fun read. I didn't think this would be my type of book, but I read a blog entry by Stephanie Perkins that made me want to pick this up. It turns out that, no, this actually ISN'T my type of book - but I found it completely engrossing anyway.The story is predictable, but it's the well-written characters that make it worth it. (However, a quibble: Just because you give a character a passion or a flaw doesn't actually make them fleshed out. Though this mostly happened with secondary characters anyway.)Overall, I really enjoyed Anna's voice, which is what kept me going. I think this is a very adorable and satisfying story for anyone that likes contemporary teen romance.

Anna's father, a famous although embarrassingly sappy writer, decides that she needs to get some culture. Instead of taking her on a trip or something small, he enrolls her at a Paris boarding school. Anna is not excited to spend her senior year making new friends, trying to fit in to a new culture, and learning a whole new language when she should have been hanging out with her best friends, getting closer to a new guy, and just enjoying her senior year in Atlanta. Lucky for Anna, upon arriving in Paris, she is approached by some really nice people who turn out to be great friends. One in particular is not only a great friend, but an attractive one as well. Etienne St. Clair is perfect except for one thing, he has a girlfriend and anyway, Anna has a boyfriend, well, sort of.This book was FABULOUS! Seriously, best book I've read for awhile. I instantly loved the characters, the setting, and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. Stephanie Perkins has written the sweetest, most believable love story I think I've ever read. I know lots of other people have already said this, but the relationships in this story were wonderful. No one fell in love at first sight, or harped on how attractive someone was without ever noticing their personality. I especially liked that St. Clair is described as being 3 inches shorter than Anna. As a tall girl, I appreciate relationships between tall ladies and less tall fellas (although, yes, my husband is taller than me, but not by much). The setting for this novel was perfect. It made me feel like I really was in Paris. I have been to Paris before and it was really cool to read about so many places I've been, as well as places that made me think, "Oh no, how did I miss that?!" I suppose I don't have to tell you much about how fun it is to read a love story set in Paris, but really really, it was fab.I won't say much more, because I know pretty much every book blog out there has been singing the praises of this one. All I have left to say is, read this with a cup of hot chocolate (or chocolate chaud) and you'll be the happiest little bookworm around. AND, for those of you who've already read it, were you as in love with the little old Frenchman from the movie theater as I was?

This book was wonderful for what it is and marketed as: an angsty teen romance. If you are looking for something else, then you will disappointed.I found this to be a refreshing romance novel that was funny in parts and even though I am 28 and happily married, I could empathize with the confusion and trials of a budding teen romance. Also, the relationship is healthier than in most teen romance novels. Sure, I got tired of Etienne's capricious behavior. However, it is not his story we hear. We hear Anna's relation of the events, as it is in her point of view.My heart crushes for Etienne, and his struggle to leave a safe relationship for a stronger love. He is not a jerk, but rather a flawed and insecure character that is afraid to take risk. I liked Perkins's portrayal of her hero as not stereotypically male, but a romantically flawed individual that is not so different from Anna.Anna and Etienne both ignore the positive portions of their relationship and only look at the negative to reinforce their own fear of leaping into a new and potentially hurtful relationship.