~Ubber cuteness: Anna and the French Kiss!~

                Welcome back.  So if you read my Favorite Books of 2014 post then you may remember that Annaand the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins made the list.  At the time I hadn’t read the two companions, Lola and the Boy Next Door or Isla and the Happily Ever After.  I had been holding off expecting to do one big review of the series after finishing, but now that I have and each story has its own unique story and couple, with some events from the previous ones overlapping I decided they deserve their own reviews.  I’m writing them all together so they should post relatively close together, provided no technical issues.

                Anna is simply adorable.  I could gush over this book, this series really, for hours and not be done.  It centers on Anna, go figure, who is perfectly happy with her life in Atlanta.  She has friends and a crush on someone she works with that is starting to possibly go somewhere.  Then her dad decides to ship her off to boarding school in Paris for her senior year, even if she doesn’t speak any French.  With all that against her Anna still meets some new friends, including the handsome Etienne St. Clair, whom she bonds with instantly and is a total catch.  Only he’s taken…and Anna may be as well back home in the states.  With a year of romantic hits and misses how will the year end, in her fairytale French romance or heartache? 

                Aside from being super cute, the characters were so relatable.  Sure they are in Paris, which is a beautiful backdrop full of amazing and colorful things to play off of.  The city is a character in and of itself.  There is still the usual high school type things happening in the story with school, friends, and boy drama.  Being set in a location where the rules and standards on some things are less strict than in the US, i.e. the drinking age, pretty free reign on the campus/dorms for a high school.  Overall students are treated more as adults, or what you would find more on a college campus vs. high school. 

                You watch as the year progresses as Anna deals with everything, but more than that comes into her own and takes charge of her own life.  It’s uplifting to see and can inspire the reader to take a look at things in their own life and how they can take charge instead of having excuses or letting things passively happen to them.  I mean I wasn’t always a fan of Etienne.  He seemed great and he was in parts but he also had some serious flaws that he also had to grow as well.  He seemed to lead one girl on while still with another, and his redeeming quality in that situation was that he wasn’t doing it maliciously.  He’s kind of adorkable that way.  His being far from perfect, despite some perfect aspects of him like being a combo French/English/American, is probably why he won everyone over.  He is good to his friends, and those friends welcome Anna into their group and give her a place to feel welcome in an unfamiliar place. The camaraderie and even tension in the group through the story felt natural.

The original hardcover image,
before the publishers made all
the hardcovers match! Thank you!

Not much else I can say without totally spoiling the book for you and I refuse to do that.  It’s too cute to ruin.  I can’t say it enough, Anna and the French Kiss is ubber adorable.  It made my heart get all flip floppy in the best of ways.  I felt that way will all 3 books honestly.  I don’t read a ton of contemporary books, no particular reason because I do enjoy them so much.  This was such a sweet and fun read.  I have already regulated this series to a special re-read often spot on my shelf and put her as an auto buy author for future works.  If I’m in a slump or just need a break from reading I feel picking up Anna, Lola, or Isla will perk me right up. 

Rating: 5 Canadian Flag Patches!