Well. I am really tempted to write a rant of a post about how much I hated Stephanie Perkins' ( the hyperlink is to her blog where she begs you to buy her books) Anna and the French Kiss.
Where, oh where, to start? Firstly, I didn't like Anna. I thought she was unintelligent, ( everyone at least knows a little bit of french/about Paris!) and very ungrateful. I would have LOVED to go to a boarding school in Paris in my senior year! I was just building and building with rage as she rattled on and on ( and like, and like, and like a daft 13 year old like totally) about disliking her life. Her thoughts about His Holiness, St.Clair, made me want to vomit also. I found her very un-relate able, and unbelievable. I just didn't understand her at all. I thought her hair sounded ugly also. It sounds funny, but it's true.
Which brings me to the other half of this book that I hated, St.Clair. What a TOOL. If ANY guy I knew was trying to flirt/hook up/waste my time like that when he had a girlfriend, I wouldn't spend one thought on him, and he sure as hell wouldn't be spending the night in my bed. In my opinion, if I were Anna, I would see his behaviour as a huge character flaw and kick him to the curb. She has very horrible taste in men in my opinion.
I could go on ( and on) about all the reasons I didn't like this one, but I think I'll stop there and move on to the positives. I thought it was awesome when Anna put a Canadian flag on her pack, made me feel pretty patriotic. Best part in the book. Perkins' writing isn't bad either, I'm not hating on that at all, the story actually flowed well for nearly 400 pages of Anna annoying me.
Mostly, I just realized how much I love reading. That even though I was curled up on my couch spending time with a book I hated, I was still enjoying myself. I was relaxed, it was a quick read and it's another book done of my tbr list. I guess that's when you really know you've got a true love for reading, when it almost doesn't matter what you're reading, your just grateful there was time in your day you could. On that note, I have A LOT of books beside me I'm going to pound out before they're due back to the library, so you'll be hearing from me soon. <3
As for this one, it gets a 1/5.
Here is the goodreads synopsis for those ( unlike myself) who may enjoy it.
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?
