BOOK REVIEW: Anna and the French Kiss

Hello All,

I am chugging along in my goal of reading 12 books this year. I don't think I'll exceed it but I do believe that I will at least meet it by reading fifteen books. If you've missed out on the pass reviews you can read them: As Old As Time, Since You've Been Gone, Just One Day and When It Happens which I never got around to reviewing. So, without further ado here's my book review for Anna and the French Kiss.

Anna and the French Kiss follows the main character Anna during her senior year of high school while she studies at the American Academy in France. When she first arrives she is miserable because she didn't want to leave her high school in Atlanta, her best friend Bridget and the boy who maybe might be her boyfriend, Toph. But after a few weeks Anna isn't thinking about Atlanta as much because she's made a new friends and meet a new boy named Etienne St. Clair. Soon her heart is conflicted between the boy back home and the cute boy with an English accent. 

This book became part of my To-be read list because many book-tubers compared it to my favorite contemporary novel To All The Boys I Loved Before (Find it on Good Reads). Within the first few pages I knew that I didn't have the same feeling and magic that I felt when I read To All the Boys I Loved Before. That doesn't mean this it wasn't good, it was just too obvious to me. 

When it came to the romance of the novel it was good. From the summary you know exactly who Anna is going to end up with. And you see the good of him and the bad. He feels like someone that you could potential fall in love with if that is the personality you're into. But Anna is an annoying cliche of young adult character who seems to know exactly who she is into but is to stubborn to admit it to herself. Because of that the romance felt to drawn out,  especially during the last few chapters. 

There were a few side characters. And although I don't believe that side characters need to be looked at too in depth I do appreciate when they are. The author looked into one of the character's past and who she is. But every time I became invested in the character she would move on with the story and almost forget her. 

My final complaint of the book is that there were too many love triangles. Everyone was interested in either Anna or St. Clair which felt somewhat unrealistic to me. Like is there really no other appealing people at their high school? 

I know I've done a lot of complaining but don't get me wrong there were pieces I loved. I love reading a book that took place in France and the description of different areas that people who live there would go rather then touristy places. There were also references to old movies which I loved as well because I love movies.

I know I just crapped on the romance a few paragraphs ago but there were certain parts of their relationships I loved. The build up to their first kiss gave me butterflies. There were other small moments that made giddy but I don't want to give to much away. I think for a first love story that the characters are experiencing it's a great story and brings you back to that high school puppy love feels.

On my ranking scales of 1 to 5 stars with 1 being horrible and 5 being amazing I ranked Anna and the French Kiss a 3.85. I really enjoyed the love story but some of the other technical parts of the book that I didn't really enjoy.

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Have you read Anna and the French Kiss? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments down below.