Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss
Series: Anna and the French Kiss
by: Stephanie Perkins
Check it Out: Goodreads

Anna can’t wait for her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a good job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she’s not too thrilled when her father unexpectedly ships her off to boarding school in Paris – until she meets Etienne St. Clair, the perfect boy. The only problem? He’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her crush back home. Will a year of romantic near-misses end in the French kiss Anna awaits?

I’m still shocked that I actually enjoyed this one. For what seems like forever, I’ve always seen people bashing this book. Seriously, I thought everyone hated this book.  While it’s not a new all-time favorite for me, I really did enjoy reading it. 

I guess what really grabbed me was how it honestly felt like I was back in high school. Anna came off relateable to me because she made so many of the choices I did back them. Pining after guys who were taken and led you on, dating someone just to have someone, and trying to work out my friendships. I’m not saying that she’s a saint or perfect, just that she came off like a real high school girl. 

I was shocked that the relationship between Anna and St. Clair started off so casually. Yes, she thought he was attractive but they became friends. We had so many pages and chapters dedicated to them becoming friends and learning about one another and leaning on each other for support.  From reading other reviews I didn’t see that coming. 

“Why is it that the right people never wind up together? Why are people so afraid to leave a relationship, even if they know it’s a bad one?” 

Yes, there was gray area cheating and a moment of physical cheating. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. With the way their relationship was formed, it made me understand how it happened and why it did. Even though that happened, I still honestly really did enjoy Anna and St. Claire together. As friends and a couple.

fan art found on Riveted Teen website. Artist is Irena Freitas. 

I liked how they understood each other and had the same humor. So many of their interactions felt natural and like they knew each other longer than what they actually did. 

Two reasons I couldn’t give this book 4 stars like I originally wanted to was because of the cheating as I mentioned before and also because there was a lot of slut-shaming towards the third of this book. It never really gets resolved or even said why a certain character started it in the first place. 

While this book was nowhere near perfect, I did enjoy the story and characters. I hope to soon start Lola and the Boy Next Door soon.

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