ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS: The Quad-Review, Part 2

Yesterday we brought you the first part of our epic Anna and the French Kiss quad-review, when we talked about ANNA's general awesomeness, the characters and friendships, and sexy hobbits.

Today, part two!

ON PARIS AND STUDYING ABROAD:

Donna: As silly as it sounds, you really feel like Anna enters a world that has already fully been existing before she came on the scene. That's strong world-building.

Sara: Definitely.

Janine: Paris makes everything better.

Sara: And I love how Paris becomes more than a setting, it's almost a character too.

Frankie: So does French kissing! And the food--I told Janine that if we ever get to Paris, I might have to go non-vegan for a bit.

Janine: She really captured the essence of Paris, I think, without being too or over descriptive. I really felt like I was there, but it was truly a feeling, not an image in my head.

Sara: It was a taste in my mouth.

Frankie: In my heart!

Sara: Every page FEELS like Paris.

Donna: Anyone can research details of a city (she hadn't even BEEN there when she wrote this!), but she got the heart of the city -- from the perspective of an outsider who becomes an insider. What I also loved was that, though Anna was in Paris, it wasn't like her pre-Paris life ceased to exist. She still had complications at home, and when she went home for break, life hadn't stopped without her. 

Frankie: Oh yes, that feeling of coming home again after you've been away--and you're heart and soul feel like they're somewhere else and nothing feels right anymore!

Janine: The aspects of adjusting to international life--and life back home--were very realistic.

Donna: Yes! All four of us have been there, and I agree.

Sara: The reverse culture shock over Anna's Christmas break was perfect.

Janine: It's very disorienting, and I could relate to what Anna was experiencing.

Sara: Me too. It reminded me so strongly of my winter break during my Junior year abroad in England.

Donna: And when I came home from my semester in Australia.

Frankie: It just reminded me of every break I had at Cornell. I was a state away and still...

Sara: How you think your home life was on pause for the past three months because you weren't there.

Janine: I found myself thinking of my first flight home from Japan and parting with my traveling partners at the airport. I was so happy to see my family, but they had no idea what I had experienced.

ON CHARACTER GROWTH AND BRITISH-ACCENTED BOYS:

Sara: Oh, and can I say how much I love that a) Anna has interests outside of pining over a boy and b) that college was totally brushed over and not a big deal?

Donna: The novel really was about her YEAR in Paris, not just the OMG CUTE BOY part of her year. Like Frankie said, she and Etienne were real friends.

Janine: And that Anna, as much as we loved her from the beginning, she really does grow as a character from beginning to end, and Paris and Etienne were a part of that growth.

Frankie: I'd want to be friends with him, too!

Janine: "Friends"?

Frankie: Lol--well....no. But yes. But he was also just a NICE guy!

Janine: It's okay, Frankie, we all crushed on him, I think.

Frankie: And funny, and easygoing, and someone you felt you could talk to and trust with all of your secrets and problems.

Sara: Oh, and I felt like Perkins really captured Etienne's British-ness.

Frankie: She did! His voice sang off the page, you never forgot he was British, but she didn't overdo the slang, she got it right.

Donna: He just FELT British.

Janine: Perkins knew when to put the British touch in. Not too little, not too much.

Sara: How does she do it?!

Frankie: I want to go to the Stephanie Perkins School of Writing.

Hi, Stephanie! We think you're wonderful.

Donna: Me too!

Janine: Can I come too?

Sara: Can we make it our next road trip?

Frankie: Hahaha! Stephanie...we're coming over.

ON FINAL THOUGHTS:

Janine: I was relieved to learn there will be more of them, and I like that they will be companion books rather than sequels.

Sara: Anna, je t'aime!

Janine: Oui!

Sara: C'est tres bien. (Go high school French, go!)

Donna: Te amo, Ana! (I took Spanish.) 

Janine: I love this book. My heart is still racing a little from finishing it yesterday. Read it! Read it!

Sara: Right. Now. 

Donna: Buy it for your friends, too, because they'll steal your copy.

Sara: It's the perfect Holiday gift! Hanukkah is early this year!

Frankie: Anna Oliphaunt, I like you very, very much. Were you real, you'd be my friend. Were Etienne real, sorry, my heart belongs to him. Etienne St. Clair, you short little man, I LOVE you!

FIN!

So... have we convinced you to pre-order ANNA yet? Anyone else out there read it already?

LINKS!

- ANNA on Amazon

- ANNA on IndieBound

- ANNA on Goodreads

- Stephanie Perkins' website

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