Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

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?

For some reason I don't read romance novels.  Short romance stories is acceptable but a novel, NO!  I'm tired of  they-met-each-other-and-they-are-now-in-a-relationship stories. The romance genre have repeated the concept of falling in love over and over again that it bores me.

Then people are freaking out to share their experience after reading Anna and the French Kiss. Well, I just say "They are girls, it's natural to them to giggle and jerk while reading a SWEET romance novels." Did I said sweet? Is the novel sweet? I still don't want to read it. But I saw the vlog video of John Green about 8 things he loves. He loves Anna and the French Kiss. I think something is going on in this novel.

So I bought my copy and read it. And read it. And read it. And read it. Okay, do the book comes with an adhesive to stick on your hands all day? Yes, it is. Anna and the French Kiss has this spell that when you started reading it, you will not stop. I can still remember the time I finished the book: 5:11AM.

The characters are SO good. You can feel them that they are real and not just written words on a page. Well, though I cannot relate to Anna, or their friend-group, there is this feeling that I enjoy being with their group.  Ms. Perkins created her characters real by not making them perfect. Yes, the characters are not perfect. Let's take for example the guy, Etienne St. Clair. In most novels, this character will have almost all the perfectness in the world. BUT in Anna and the French Kiss, he have crooked teeth, short (poor I'm short too!) and this inability to make decisions. Anna is sometimes so dumb that I want myself to enter the book and knock her head and tell her, why don't you tell him? What are you waiting for? That makes the characters dimensional. Even the minors were given life in the novel. They develop in some ways during the timeline of the story.

I want the setting. Yes, it's also my dream to take my college at American University on Paris. I mean, all in one. One whole world in one city. When you study there, you have the atmosphere that will encourage you to study more. Just walks from your home, you're in Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and Seine river. The city is full of history, art, science and language. Perfectly fitting itself in the novel since the characters are students. 

I now know why the title is Anna and the French Kiss. I wondered if why didn't the author make the French Kiss, French Man? (Oh, St. Clair is not a french) or Anna in France? Well, of course, the kiss was the basis. In the book, the kissings are elaborated so if you don't like those scenes, just skip the pages. SEE, I'm not telling you NOT to read it because of the kissings, just skip the pages, because this book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 

The style of writing also contributed in the character of Anna and her relationship to readers. Ms. Perkins has the ultimate talent for style of writing I ever know, as of now! It feels like Anna is talking to you. It was like a diary, minus the dates and Dear Diary headings. It is like you are listening to her story instead of reading her story. I really adore the writing style! Really Really Really!

I'm kinda sad when I finished the book. Not because I'm not satisfied but because why good stories need to end. This should have a sequel. But I don't think making a sequel to this is good because all the nice happenings, sweetness, flaws and virtues were already given. So let's accept this. Let us leave Anna and Etienne to their new romantic life :)