Anna is sent to a Paris boarding school against her will, meets the almost-perfect Etienne St. Clair, and spends a year being miserable about it in the most beautiful city in the world.
About This Book
A American teenager is dispatched, against her wishes, to spend her senior year at an English-language boarding school in Paris, where, lonely and homesick at first, she is taken in by a warm group of friends and falls hard for a charming, witty, unfairly attractive classmate who is, inconveniently, already in a relationship, and the two circle each other through a year of longing, misunderstanding, and the intoxicating backdrop of the city itself. Perkins writes a warm, funny, swoony young adult romance that captures the giddy intensity of first love and the specific magic of Paris, letting the slow-burn attraction and the will-they-won't-they tension build through genuine friendship, banter, and the ordinary anxieties of teenage life abroad. The tone is light and charming, the romance the heart of the book, with real emotional beats beneath the sweetness. This suits readers who want a delightful, feel-good young adult romance with a dreamy setting, a charismatic love interest, and a satisfying slow burn, and anyone who enjoys a swoony coming-of-age love story. It fits less well anyone wanting high stakes or literary depth, since the book is light and romance-focused. The detail that the whole giddy romance unfolds against a year at a Paris boarding school gives the book its irresistible setting. Warm, funny, and swoony, it rewards readers seeking a charming romance. Those wanting substance may find it slight, but its charm and its Paris setting are exactly what made it beloved.
Who This Is For
Best for readers who want something warm and easy, comfort reading at its best. The prose is accessible: you can read this quickly and it never asks too much of you. It moves quickly: once you're in, it's hard to stop. Not a book for when you want something that challenges or lingers.
Best Read When
Best read when you're in the mood for something light and life-affirming, and a read that's fast and propulsive.
What It Explores
Anna and the French Kiss explores love in its most complicated forms, identity and the gap between who we are and who we pretend to be, and growing up and what gets lost in the process.
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