Anna and the French Kiss is written by Stephanie Perkins. The book is about teenage girl, Anna Oliphant, who is sent off to boarding school, in France, because her dad feels like she should gain experience in a different culture. Initially, Anna isn't so happy because she isn't ready to leave behind her home: Atlanta, Georgia as well as her friends and her crush who can potentially become something more. She's also weary about starting her senior year in a different country, with different customs, trying to make new friends, and learning who she is and what she really wants.
What initially drew me to this book is the cover, I know the saying: Don't judge a book by its cover. The thing is, I do judge a book by its cover, if the cover is appealing in any way to me than chances are I'll pick it up and read the summary on the book. When I saw the spine on Anna and the French Kiss, it immediately drew me in because the Eiffel Tower was on it. Since I'm totally in love with anything French related I knew I had to try this book, so I did and I didn't regret it.
Lately I've been reading a lot of paranormal books so it was refreshing to take a break from those and to immerse myself into this book which was like a scoop of strawberry ice cream!
I loved the quirky character, Anna and I loved seeing how she got through this huge change. If I were in her place though, I think I'd be ecstatic to go to Paris! True, I'd miss the people I care about but it's not like I'd cut them out of my life completely. Anna wasn't happy at all going to a boarding school in Paris but she eventually grew to love it. In the end she didn't consider it her home, she didn't consider Atlanta home either but she did find something else that she considered home and it was super adorable!
The romance, was definitely something I adored about this book. It was something typical and something everyone is able to relate to because like all of us, Anna can't help but wonder if the guy she likes is into her as well.
This book was really cute, I loved how the story takes place in France, Anna is amazingly quirky and easy to relate to, all the other characters like St. Clair and Mer are really fun to read about, and the romance in this book was adorable! I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.
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Ever since I can remember I have always had this fascination with France and anything French related. I'm not exactly sure why, it's just the truth. France has always been the number one place I have always wanted to go and hopefully one day I do go, that would be amazing! I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a place, the place, they would love to go to one day if they haven't already. For some it could be Russia, Uruguay, Mexico, Germany, others it could be Spain, or Madagascar but for me it's France.
Reasons I would love to go to France one day include:
- The language. I'm bilingual which means I can speak two languages pretty fluently, English and Spanish. But just because I speak two languages already doesn't mean I don't want to learn any more languages! Since I'm taking Spanish right now to further improve it and since I'm going to be a senior next year, I decided that I would take AP Spanish as well as French at my school, which I'm excited to do! The French language is so beautiful!
- It's history. France's history is fascinating to me for a reason, especially in the age of monarchy's and eventually the time of Absolute monarchy. Last year I wanted to learn more about France and its history so I decided that I would take European history as a sophomore at my school and I'm so glad I did! Europe is amazing overall but I loved learning about The French Revolution and Marie Antoinette's marriage to Louis XVI, the Napoleonic Era and all of that other good stuff.
- Paris, France is one of the fashion capitals like London, Milan, and our own New York. Fashion is not as important to me as to other people but I do respect the fact that Paris, France is considered to be one of the fashion capitals of the world, I find it kind of cool!
- The places you can visit seem endless! There are so many places I want to go to in France but to name a few those places include The Eiffel Tower, it's the number one place I really have to see one day, especially at night because in the picture the tower looks breathtaking! Another place is a place I learned about in my AP European History class sophomore year and it's the Palace of Versailles. The palace is so beautiful in pictures and I'm pretty sure it's even better in person just like the rest of the country!
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