Asheley Re-Reads! Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins {Audiobook} #CFMonth13

Posted May 6, 2013 by Asheley in Uncategorized / 20 Comments

Anna and the French Kiss 
by Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #1
Published by Dutton
Publish Date: December 2, 2010
372 Pages
Source: Print – Bought, Audiobook – Library

Find it on: Goodreads / Amazon / B&N 



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? -(from Goodreads) 


Anna and the French Kiss 
by Stephanie Perkins



My Thoughts:  Last year around the time of this Contemporary Month event, I read Anna and the French Kiss for the first time. It was a Sunday afternoon, if I remember correctly, and I read the whole thing pretty much at once. I remember thinking OH HOW CUTE. And then that was it – for awhile. Then I thought about it for a while longer. And the more I thought about the book, I just didn’t like it. And that made me so sad. 


Not only did it make me sad, but it made me feel SO DISCONNECTED from the entire world of contemporary-reading people. I could go into my reasons for not liking it, but I’m not going to because they don’t really matter right now. Actually, you people love some St. Clair and frankly, I’m a little afraid. So…


Here is what’s important


Back in March, I wrote this post about how I like to re-read books that I didn’t love the first time. This book is included in that post. I knew that with this Contemporary Month event coming up, Anna and the French Kiss would be a book that I would re-read because I didn’t feel like I gave it a good chance before (the reasons why are in that post) and because I haven’t read Lola and the Boy Next Door yet. SO Y’ALL I RE-READ THE BOOK. With an open(er) mind. And of course, I did my audiobook + print thing. The verdict: this time I liked it. 

YAY! Right? 

WELL, FRIENDS: There are things about Anna and the French Kiss that just make my heart clinch up and squeeze up and hurt so much. My heart isn’t supposed to hurt when I read this book! So why does it? 

WELL –

I get Anna. I do. She’s the high-schooler with the crush that turns into love – but you see, she falls in love with her guy friend. And this guy friend has a girlfriend. So what does she do? She just keeps being a really good friend to him while her heart just breaks over and over. Sure, there’s more to it than that. But not really. 

And St. Clair. So swoony, this guy. Such a fun friend and then OOPS! he falls in love with Anna. Still, he stays with his girlfriend. While he is in love with his friend. Who is also in love with him. Yes, there’s more to it than that. But not really. 

I MEAN, IT AIN’T LIKE THEY DON’T KNOW THEY’RE IN LOVE. 
GAH.

So…sometimes in high school, young people fall in love. With each other. And sometimes it’s while they’re dating other people. I GET THAT. I really do. And I think that part of this book is so good. But I tell you all with a serious face, I am a big kid now and it is heartbreaking to read these stories about people that just can’t talk about their feelings. I mean GOOD GRACIOUS this story has the romance everywhere and the chances for these two are just so many, but no, no, no…

ALSO –

I LOVE guy/girl friendships. I do. Y’all have seen me talk about them. You’ve seen me talk positively about books that promote them like this one that is one of my favorites, forever. I freakin love my guy friends. So it isn’t that I’m trying to take the focus off of Anna and St. Clair as friends – I just wish that as friends they could’ve been truer to their feelings. Friendships are the best when they can be open and honest and talk about things. 

So, the second time around, I liked Anna and the French Kiss. I liked the cheesy romance and the cliches with the great setting and the fantastic pop culture references (ily forever, Danny Boyle!). And it is because I liked it that I felt these things as I was reading it and listening to it. The first time, I felt nothing and remember basically nothing from the story. So this re-read was a very positive experience for me, albeit a painful one in terms of my heart, even though it is a HEA. Don’t feel sad for me – I love the doomed/impossible/tough relationships and I love guy/girl friendships, so I had a great time. I just wanted these two to talk a lot earlier and kiss a lot more. 

Audiobook Notes: The Anna and the French Kiss audiobook is published by Listening Library and is 10 hours, 29 minutes long, Unabridged. The book is narrated by Kim Mai Guest who does a pretty good job with all of the accent parts and non-accent parts. More than anything else, I appreciate that this narrator is able to capture all of the happiness, all of the frustration, all of the confusion, all of the everything – all of the emotions that go along with this period of time in a young person’s life and this situation in particular. Certainly listening to the audiobook as a re-read enhanced my enjoyment of this book and I would recommend it to other audiobook readers. 

********************************************************************

Anna and the French Kiss will appeal to fans of:

YA Contemporary Romance
Romance: kind-of a reverse love triangle?
(I should leave this to the expert on triangles. Discuss, please.)
Great setting: Paris

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
is currently available for purchase.

********************************************************************

See, friends!?
THIS is a perfect example of a successful
re-read when the first time wasn’t so great. 

GO AHEAD. TELL ME HOW HAPPY YOU ARE
THAT I GAVE THIS ONE ANOTHER CHANCE. 
DO IT!

It’s not the only contemp I gave another chance!

I’m still pretty broken up about the talking-thing. 
That’s not going to change. 
Friends need to TALK. 
But whatever. Onto Lola! 


Holla for Contemporary. Two Months, you guys.



Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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20 responses to “Asheley Re-Reads! Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins {Audiobook} #CFMonth13

  1. I still worry that I'm not a "true" contemp fan since I didn't like AatFK either. : I'm not sure I'm willing to reread it, but I DO want to read Lola. I'm glad you had happy feelings on your reread, though!

    • I liked it better the second time but I don't think I'll ever really love it. But I can absolutely appreciate it a TON more this time around. I just checked the audiobook for Lola out from the library so I'll be reading that one as soon as I finish Requiem. I just found myself getting so frustrated with St. Clair! But I liked him a little bit too, but I was more frustrated than anything. Grr.

    • It was definitely the refuses-to-break-up-with-hi-girlfriend-but-still-kisses-Anna thing that bugged me. Though I did kinda like St. Clair overall. And I loveloveloved the setting! Will you be reviewing Lola for Contemp Month? 😀

    • Yes! I'll be reviewing Lola. I'm a bit nervous about it because I hear mixed reviews – but then again, you know how I love mixed reviews! As soon as I finish the audiobook for Requiem, I'll be ready to start the audio + print for Lola! (probably this weekend – eep!)

  2. I loved Anna and the French Kiss, but it does bother me that he stays with his girlfriend for so long once he knows he loves Anna…I HATE THAT. Another book I read recently, The Reece Malcolm List, featured a plot like that and it kept me from loving the book as much as I wanted to. Sigh.

    • You know, when I read it the first time, I hated St. Clair because he stayed with his girlfriend. That's pretty much the only thing I remembered from the plot. This time, I was a little bit more sympathetic to both he and Anna as friends, but I still just don't understand his reasons for staying with his girlfriend that long. The reasons given in the story just don't make sense to me and made me frustrated. More than that, they broke my heart for Anna. BUT…Anna wasn't exactly open with her feelings either. I liked this one so much more the second time but I think the beating my poor heart took will take forever to heal. (But I love those kind of romantic beatings, don't get me wrong.) BUT STILL. Break up with your girlfriend, St. Clair. Geez.

  3. While I remember LOVING this book, I think I liked the friend aspect more than the romance. I think that's what I fell in love with. I wonder how I would feel about Anna after reading it again… Maybe I should give that a try! Very glad you liked this one more the second time around though; I think the audio might have helped!

  4. Yay! I'm so glad this re-read worked out so well for you. Like you, I really connected and GOT Anna, so her journey and narration was amazing. I was worried about reading Lola after this, but I recently picked it up a few months back and enjoyed that one too, although not as much as Anna. And YAY for re-reads! And audio books! 🙂

    • I'm so glad I gave this one a second chance. It was a SUCCESSFUL re-read. It broke my heart in just the right way, in the way that I like, even though I still just do not understand St. Clair. I loved the friendship between he and Anna and I think that's (maybe) the best part of the book. I just grabbed the Lola audiobook from the library and will be checking that one out along with my print copy as soon as I finish Requiem! I'm a little nervous about it because I've heard mixed things!

  5. Yay I'm so glad you were able to enjoy this book through re-reading it. Seriously, I think that makes you so unique as a book blogger that, while so many people aren't willing to give a book they're not enjoying even one true chance, you're willing to return back to a book you didn't love at a later date and re-evaluate your thoughts. That's just awesome. 🙂
    I liked Anna and the French Kiss far more than I expected to. It's cheesy and frustrating at times, true, but there's definitely some substance that can still be found within its pages.

    • You're right – it was cheesy and frustrating, but it was enjoyable enough. It was WAY more enjoyable for me the second time so I'm really glad I gave it another chance. Honestly, if I wouldn't have liked it on the second read, I wouldn't be pursuing the rest of the series, which would be sad. So now onto Lola!

  6. I did enjoy Anna and the French Kiss when I first read it. But once I read Lola and the Boy Next Door, I was like – St. Clair WHO? I love Cricket. And Lola. And that book. Can't wait for you to read it!

    • I've heard about half say St. Clair and about half way Cricket – I guess I'll have to see! I have no clue about Lola at all – no idea about the story. I'm going in totally blind! I'm kind of excited about it but a little bit nervous because I had such a hard time with Anna. I don't want to have to re-do Lola again next year!

  7. Somehow I missed this review last week!

    Yeah, you know I am a St. Clair fan. And an Anna fan. Maybe her even more than St. Clair because his wishy washy-ness pissed me off in this book. BUT. But, I still love him, and them, and this book as a whole.:)

    And yes, more kissing would have been good but that kiss they finally do have? THE kiss? Have mercy. That was hot. 🙂

    Great review! I need to read Lola too! Let's read it together (if you haven't already!) Must meet this Cricket guy:)

    • I totally understand your feelings for both Anna AND St. Clair because now on the re-read I think I feel similarly. I don't agree with St. Clair, but I don't always agree with people. He was such a great friend, and I think the friendship was my favorite part – you KNOW how I just fall for those guy/gal friendships. But I wish they'd have kissed a bit more. 🙂

      I'm gonna be starting Lola in the next few days – if you want to jump on that would be awesome. I'm going into it TOTALLY BLIND. I know nothing about the story at all except that hideous cover (I don't have the awesome new ones!). I've heard some people like Cricket better than St. Clair – I guess we'll have to see. 🙂

  8. I remember talking about this one with you recently. I think one of your issues was also one of mine – St. Clair. As much as I enjoyed this book, I couldn't fall in love with it because of him. I liked so much about him BUT the whole girlfriend/stringing along/making excuses thing just drove me crazy.

    I'm a Cricket girl through and through – can't wait for you to meet him!

  9. I sooo loved this book. I wasn't as big a fan of Lola though. This was pretty much one of my first Contemps.. and I fell hard. <3

    Glad you liked it better the second time around.

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