Anna and the French Kiss // a light-hearted YA contemporary novel

Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of MINI-REVIEW-9

Hello everyone!

I was in the mood to read a fluffy YA romance this summer and Anna and the French Kiss was just the book I needed. I was swept away by Anna, her quirky friends, and the sweet and charming Etienne.

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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 Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all…including a serious girlfriend. 

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

What I Liked

Love the characters. Anna liked to stick to her comfort zone. She’d rather stay in Atlanta where her mom and her friends were than move to a foreign country where she didn’t know the people and the language. She was at first hesitant about learning French and exploring the city of Paris, until she met new friends who drew her out of her shell. Anna was relatable and had a sense of humour. I loved watching her grow throughout the book, as she learned about friendships and expanding her comfort zone. I also liked Etienne as well as Anna’s friends. They each had their own personalities and quirks and their own lives to live.

There was chemistry between Anna and Etienne. I enjoyed reading the snappy and witty dialogue and their inside jokes. Their relationship was not perfect but absolutely believable. I couldn’t help but root for Anna to get her guy.

Besides the romantic relationships, I also liked reading about the friendships in this book. Each of Anna’s friendships had a different dynamic and none of them were perfect which made them believable.

This was a longer book for its genre (contemporary YA) however it was so addictive and easy to read. Because of the lovable characters, the electric chemistry and the simple readable language, I sped through this book in no time. This was a fun and light read.

What I Didn’t Like

There was drama. A LOT of drama. People cried a lot. It got too much at times and some scenes were melodramatic. Sometimes it got a tad too cheesy.

It was predictable. I was able to predict the main conflicts and the ending. However because of the characters, I was still on the edge of my seat wondering how they would get from A to B.

It was a bit long. There were scenes that I felt were unnecessary, and I feel the story could be made more concise.

As you guys can tell from the Goodreads description, Etienne already had a girlfriend, so this book was kind of about… cheating. I am not too sure how I feel about this aspect in a book. What do you guys think?

The Bottom Line: 3.5/5 stars!

Anna and the French Kiss was a fun and light-hearted YA contemporary romance, perfect for any time of the year!

Blog_4stars

Blog_letschatDo you have a favourite YA contemporary read this summer? How do you feel about cheating in a book?

23 responses to “Anna and the French Kiss // a light-hearted YA contemporary novel”

  1. Lovely review, Sophie! I’m happy you enjoyed this book overall, it was such a fun and sweet read. I flew through it when I read it a little while ago. I liked Anna a lot, but I wasn’t totally okay with that cheating part, either :/ Still, I think the book was a fun read. Do you plan on reading the rest of the series? 😀

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    1. Yeah I was unsure about the cheating part… If someone cheats then I think they’re likely to cheat again, so although I liked the chemistry between Anna and Etienne I think this made me have less faith in their relationship if that makes sense haha 🙂
      Still it was a fun read 🙂 I like the sound of the other books in the series so I might be reading them as well. Did you read these and what do you think?

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      1. Yeah that makes perfect sense, unfortunately :/
        I hope you’ll get to them! I had a hard time with Lola, I didn’t really enjoy her as much as Anna, but I LOVED Isla’s book so, very much. .It was my favorite and felt the most relatable to me, too 😀

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      2. I’ve been hearing good things about Isla’s book so far, and the goodreads summary sounds great (introspective cartoonists are my type haha!) so I might just skip to that one 🙂

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      3. YAY! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about it 🙂

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  2. Great review, Sophie! I haven’t read this one yet, but I can definitely see why the cheating might bug some readers (myself, included! lol). Still sounds like a cute read though! ❤

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    1. Hello Kelly 🙂
      It was a cute and fun read! But yeah I just wasn’t too pleased by the cheating part. Thank you ❤

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  3. I liked this book, but I liked Isla and the Happily Ever After (#3) even more!

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    1. Glad to hear that you liked this one as well Hailey. I’ve been hearing great things about Isla’s book so I might skip the second and go on to this one 🙂

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  4. Great review for this book Sophie, and I’m glad you enjoyed it as well. 🙂 ❤ Sometimes we do need a light and fluffy YA contemporary in between all the harder fantasy and so on reads right? I can't remember how long this book actually is, but I don't remember it being as long as it actually was (I really hope that makes sense). I think like you said in your review because of the enjoyable characters and the writing style it was easy to fly through this one wasn't it? 🙂
    Do you plan to read the others in the series soon? If you do I hope you enjoy them more than this one (there's no real cheating aspect in the next two so hopefully you will.) 😀

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    1. When I grabbed the book from the library shelf, I remember thinking that it is longer than the average YA contemporary book, however you are right in that it didn’t feel long at all. I definitely breezed through it 🙂 I’ve been hearing good things about the next two books in the series so I think I want to read them at some point in the future. Which is your favourite? Thank you Beth ❤

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      1. I think the type of story it is it kind of let’s you breeze through it. If there was a lot of angst or it was a fantasy book it would feel a lot longer I’m sure. 🙂
        I think my favourite is the third on, Isla and the Happily Ever After. It’s definitely a tie between book one and book three either way.
        That’s all right. 🙂 ❤️

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      2. I’ve heard good things about Isla and the Happily Ever After! Glad to hear that you also liked it since it gives me motivation to continue the series 🙂

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      3. Yay, hopefully you won’t regret it and you’ll think Isla is the best of the lot too. 😀

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      4. Looking forward to reading it 🙂

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  5. I felt the exact same way about the third book in the series! (I skipped the first two because honestly, they didn’t look as appealing as the third one hahaha)

    I really enjoyed the characters and the relationship between the two main ones – they were just SO CUTE ❤ But there was so much drama, too… I felt so annoyed by some of the things that happened, the misunderstandings, the avoidance, the overall teenage angst that everyone goes through at one time or another… And I get it, it was about teenagers. It was meant to be angsty. But still, a little bit less drama wouldn't have hurt.

    Nevertheless, it was still just as addictive as you describe this one, and definitely a quick read. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it for the most part, Sophie, and that it filled your swoony romance quota for this summer ❤

    Amazing review, hon! 🙂

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    1. I forgot to mention: yeah, the cheating would have put me off quite a lot and I don’t know if I’d be able to read a book about it or root for them to stay together when there was a third party involved… I mean, I know real life is not that black and white and feelings change and whatnot but just break up your girlfriend first, dude. It’s not rocket science!

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      1. Yeah, exactly! I was annoyed by how indecisive the male MC was throughout the book, and he definitely should have broken up with his girlfriend much earlier. I wasn’t sure whether to root for this guy or not. In my opinion, once a cheater always a cheater!

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      2. Ugh, that would annoy me so much! Again, real life can get messy and complicated but for the love of God, be a decent person and do the right thing. Or at least be honest about it.
        I absolutely agree! I would never date anyone who had cheated on their girlfriend or left them for me. I wouldn’t trust him not to do the same later on…

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      3. Yeah, I understand that the book might be trying to show a different point of view when it comes to cheating, however personally I definitely wouldn’t date a cheater for the reason you mentioned!

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    2. Haha yes this definitely filled my romance quota for the summer 🙂 I know what you mean in that sometimes cheesiness and melodrama crosses the line and it becomes over-the-top! Thank you Sophie ❤

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  6. I think my teen had read this some time ago. I don’t know how she liked it. If it was fun for you then good. Ain’t nobody should be judgin’ around here.

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  7. […] Of the books that I’ve read that takes place in other countries, I realized that actually not many have a cover that features said countries hahahaha. For this question, I decided to go with Anna and the French Kiss. There are two versions of the cover and by a landslide, I like the first one (pink and red) so much more than the second. (Check out my review here.) […]

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