Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Right out of the gates, let me say, I finished the second half of this 372 page book in one evening. I wasn’t sleepless; I was just wide awake and couldn’t find a good stopping spot. I know I picked it up after 10pm. I refused to look at the time when I finished because I didn’t want to know. But I haven’t stayed up to finish a book, let alone half of a book, in a very. Long. Time.

And yet, as much as I enjoyed it, I will not rant and rave about it. It is definitely chick-lit. It is romance. It is summer reading. It is guilty pleasure. Everyone needs one of those once in a while. Even me.

Anna is going to be a high school senior. She should be excited. She should finally be at the top of the totem pole. This should be the time of her life. But her father, a popular, best-selling, novelist has decided that she needs to study abroad. He sends her to SOAP, the School of America in Paris. It is a boarding school that traditionally caters to the children of senators and ambassadors and well-to-do socialites. Anna doesn’t have the money to fit in nor does she have the friends for support and encouragement. Oh, and she cannot speak French.

Luckily the dorm room walls are thin and Anna sobs hard into her pillow. Her next door neighbor, Meredith, comes to the rescue with chocolat chaud as an offering as well as an invitation to hang out with a ready-made group of friends. Anna makes the group five strong. Two boys and three girls. Four seniors and one junior. One couple, two singles, and half of a pair.

Very quickly, Anna becomes close friends with one of the group, Ètienne St. Clair. His mother is an American artist. His father is a French art curator. He was born in San Francisco so he is American, but he was raised in London so he speaks with an English accent – exotic. Unfortunately, he is the “half of a pair.” St. Clair’s girlfriend is also in Paris but at a graduate school nearby. Anna tries not to be concerned. She has a boy, waiting for her at home, sort of.

But St. Clair is gorgeous. Aren’t they all? And funny. And smart, especially where history is concerned. He is a protector and a flirt. Yes, he’s short, but Anna cannot help falling for him. What’s more, he seems to be interested in her. But she won’t be that girl. The one to break up a relationship. Besides, Meredith is obviously interested in St. Clair as well.

This book is classic love triangles, misunderstandings and miscommunications. And everyone viewing the situation from the outside can see what those involved cannot. It reminds me very much of how my husband and I met. We became good friends quickly, but we were both already in serious “relationships”. Relationships that were rapidly running towards the end. I still remember how my mom knew what I didn’t. I was already “in love”, but unable to admit it. I always said we were “just friends” and we were. But my mom could hear the love in the way I said his name, “Christopher”. In this way, the book rang true for me.

This book is a 2013 Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee. There are references to sex, but no sex. There is some kissing. There is drinking, but the kids are in Paris where they are of age. Unfortunately, they drink too much, on two occasions. Relatively tame from my experience. I would have no problem recommending it high school girls. There is some language and brief violence, but these would be gone if we could rid the world of bullies.