Anna And The French Kiss

Anna is 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. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

Where do I start with this book? It had my heart melting to the ground and I squealed and swooned and invited crazy faces from my brother. Sure I heard great things about this book, but I had to read it to know what they were talking about. This book made me SO HAPPY, like giddy-schoolgirl-in-a-killer-crush happy. I'm majorly crushing on this book. Just like I'm majorly crushing on Stephanie Perkins.
We even had a little marriage-proposal-ring-exchange-merry dance ceremony on twitter. I swear. And I'd plug in those tweets if only I was tech-savy enough to do so.

Anyway.

Anna And The French Kiss. ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. I want to print the name across the sky, 'cause this is that book which makes you giggle and gurgle in delight. If you're down and out, pick this up. I swear this works as therapy. If you're not down and out, never mind, pick this up - an overdose of happiness is always appreciated.

I don't know how I feel about out and out romances. Especially ones where you can guess what's gonna happen. And lets be honest, the title here doesn't make much of a secret of it. You can get the feeling where this book is headed. But don't let that stop you, DON'T. 'Cause, oh my, this is a joy of a read. Crushes are the sweetest thing and Perkins' portrayal of that does-he-like-me-does-he-not feeling is done to perfection.

Anna is a most charming narrator. Her voice is spot on. At times she reminded me of Meg Cabot's Mia Thermopolis - smart yet so teenager-y. And then there's St. Clair. Etienne St. Clair, who in spite of his shortcomings is so droolworthy. And the best thing? The friendship between the two, and how important is friendship is before it transpires into anything else.

The entire cast of characters are diverse and multi-faceted and I have to go back to re-read to analyse how she constructed such great chemistry between them all. Despite the length of the novel, this chemistry is what kept me on my edge, making me feet tingle, turning the page in the rush to know what happens next.

Other things I liked in this novel:

~Paris! PARIS! Need I say more?

~ The setting is evoked beautifully. I could feel myself out on the streets there.

~ Oh good lord, the food. I just want to be in France right now.

~ Anna's obsession with films. It was interesting and original.

~ Pretty much of the global guy in St. Clair. French name, British accent, American citizen.

~ The friendships.
~ The host of lovable and relatable secondary characters.
~ The conversations between Anna and Etienne.

I loved this book to bits. It still has me goofily smiling at the screen as I write this. The author's skill in making a rather ordinary storyline into such an unputdownable read makes this book yummier than a chocolate eclair.

Stephanie Perkins recently revealed her next book:

For budding costume designer Lola Nolan, the more outrageous the outfit—more sparkly, more fun, more wild—the better. But even though Lola's style is outrageous, she's a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins move back into the house next door.

When the family returns and Cricket—a gifted inventor and engineer—steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

(Taken from here)

I know I can't wait for September already.