Sailing in a Sea of Words

Book: Anna and the French Kiss

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Genre: Teen/Romance/High School

Summary: Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So, she's less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Etienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken - and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's been waiting for? - Penguin Group, 2010.

This book is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. It's a YA novel that some may find overly dramatic and hormonal, but I find it easier to forgive - it's about teenagers! Of course it's going to be hormonal! It's a sweet little story that's very nicely and it captures the voice of the American teenager well too.

This review will be spoiler free, as usual.

Anna, who has never been outside of the U.S. before, has suddenly found herself spending her senior year at a high school for Americans in Paris. Believing herself to be alone and miserable, Anna soon makes friends and finds romance as well.

In this story, you get a really good look at Paris through the eyes of someone who has never been there before. It's not your typical tourist experience in Paris where she goes to all of the recognizable monuments. While I'm sure they do go to the typical tourist spots, Perkins doesn't waste time and story on going through the motions. The reader only goes where Anna wants to go or where it's necessary for the story.

The story itself is a very fresh, engaging story and a nice coming-of-age tale. The romance is really sweet and ultimately satisfying at the end. All of the characters were good and memorable - a little stereotypical, but it's forgivable trait since it's a YA novel.

The plot has similar plot lines to typical teen shows and novels, but they're universal themes everyone can benefit from visiting and re-visiting. Like I said before, it's a nice quick little guilty pleasure novel and I recommend it as such and it's a sugary sweet tale. Her other books are of the same vein so you can't go wrong in choosing any of them. It has some nice life lessons for teens so they can learn through Anna's conflict.

I give Anna and the French Kiss an A.

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