Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



When people read these types of books they are typically looking for an escape. They want the happy ending and mildly predicatable road to get there. They want to try to relate to the characters and we swept up in the magic and love. But here's the problem: Most authors take it too far. They cling a little too tightly to the Disney effect: perfect/popular/rich falls in love with average/unpopular/but secretly more exciting counterpart. Loose ends get tied up to easily. Everything just flows a little too nicely.

Like I said .. people want this .. thus it sells. But sometimes people want a touch of realism. They want the boy to be cute but not perfect. The girl relatable. Their budding relationship plausible.

Stephanie Perkins did this. It is still the same old story. But this one has had some of the sugar knocked off. It has it's moment of complete predictability but overall it seems like there may be some real life stuck in there too.

I enjoyed the whole story. It was quick and let me smiling at the end. I only had one complaint:

The title is terrible. Anna and the French Kiss? Really?! I can think of a dozen better titles that would widen the appeal of this book. I am sure many people may even read that and think 'no way' without even taking a closer look. It's a shame. I actually took half a star away for that.

But then all I got to thinking about one last thing:

I wonder how Nicholas Sparks feels about being made so villanized. I personally don't care for him so I actually liked that part. And with that I regifted the half a star.



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