Release Date: December 2010
Publisher: Dutton Books
Summary: Anna was 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. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris — until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.
But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.
Review: So. So. Everyone knows this isn't a review blog. It's a writing blog where we discuss books and I've only ever reviewed a few. I don't like to review books that I don't like because I'm not exactly doing the author a favor and I feel like I should help out. Because writers should help each other out. And I am so glad to be helping Stephanie Perkins out. So incredibly glad.
Anna, of Anna and the French Kiss, is leaving her home of Atlanta against her wishes and being sent to the School of America in Paris (SOAP, for short). She's leaving behind her fabulous best friend, her seven year old brother and Toph, her sort of but not really boyfriend. In Paris she finds the very good looking, super nice, and already taken St. Claire.
This book. Wow. I don't read contemporary to the dismay of my sisters. You have to force feed me it with a magic spoon. This isn't anything against the genre! It's just I have enough crap in my life to deal with and I like the escapism and real life cloaked in fantasy of speculative fiction. Anyway. The point. I opened up this book last night (because I felt I should read it before I send it off to a friend) and couldn't put it down until I finished it today. Ten minutes ago.
This book, at it's heart, is about friendship. Good friendship, bad friendship and how friendship can sustain and drain you. It's beautiful and moving and shows what friendship can become over the course of a year. And the characters! God - I loved every single one of the main cast. They are diverse and vibrant and real. They make mistakes and own up to them. They make mistakes and avoid them.
And God, St. Claire! He is wonderful. He's not flawless and perfect- he makes mistakes - so many mistakes - and owns up to them. He and Anna both grow over the course of a year. By the last page my grin was so wide my face hurt and my boss was wondering what in the world I was reading.
So do I recommend this book? Yes. Yes. SO MUCH. When it comes out in December, run to the stores and buy it. It is well worth the wait!
