Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Amazon Description: "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 Etienne St. Clair: 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?"

My Review: Anna and the French Kiss is one of the best romances I've read in a long time, and here's why. Most romance books, they don't really show the chemistry between the girl and guy. It's like, they meet and insta-attraction! Which is so fake and cheesy and clearly aimed at Edward Cullen fangirl types. However, this was not the case for this book! Anna and Etienne had great chemistry. The book was fairly long for a fluffy chick-lit book and it really went into depth about their relationship: how they met, how they slowly became friends and then best friends. It showed all the highs and lows of their friendship and relationship, and it basically just felt like their relationship was very realistic! It had its highs and lows, its ups and downs, its amazing moments and its complications. Aside from their relationship, I like how there were several other plot lines in the book: the problems with St. Clair's mother and father, the relationship struggles between her friends, the issues Anna had with dealing with her family and friends back in America, the struggles and joys Anna found in dealing with living in another country. It all was very well-developed, realistic, honest---and funny! It never became too brooding. I loved how all the characters were very well-developed and well-rounded; they really added to the story and made it more enjoyable. And I loved the descriptions of Paris, and how they totally added to the fun atmosphere of the book. Lastly, I just loved Anna in general. She was smart yet silly at times, nice yet she could get unkind, shy yet she had her hobbies and passions, funny yet she could be lame and awkward---in short, she seemed like a REAL girl. That's what truly made this book a keeper.

Cover: This cover is cute. The font is sweet and I like the Eiffel Tower in the background, and the pink and green colors. Pink and green always seem so fresh and preppy, don't they? However, while browsing, I found this alternate cover, and I liked it a lot better; it seemed to capture the romantic Parisian mood a lot better. To see it, click here!

Overall Grade: A+