Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins *Updated*

What it's about
Once Anna's parents left her alone in her dorm room she realized that this was final. She was stuck in a foreign country with no friends or family. Nothing familiar...not even the language. And to make matters worse, she was the new kid.
For most teenagers it would be a dream come true to move away from home to live independently from their parents. A fresh start away from all of life's current troubles...but not for Anna. 
She was looking forward to her last year of high school with her friends and then going to college to study film. So when her parents made the announcement that she was going to be sent away to France to finish her last year of High School at the exclusive School of America Paris, with out even giving her a choice. She was devastated. 
She was happy with her life.She lived with her mom and little brother. She had a best friend and a potentially new boyfriend named Toph that she's secretly liked for as long as she can remember. Her last night before leaving home he even kissed her, confirming that he liked her back.What was she going to do? How is she going to survive the whole school year alone?
She is in utter despair until she meets a group of friends including Étienne St. Clair... the most beautiful boy she's ever seen ...and the best friend a girl could ask for. He helps her order her food. He's takes her out exploring and best of all he takes her to the movies...the only down side is he has a girl friend. So he is completely off limits in the romantic department, and it's clear he only wants to be friends. Which is ok, because she has Toph, right? Who knows, with her new friends maybe this year won't be quite as horrible as she imagined.

And Scene

(Side Note:  Last November I reviewed the book "Lola and the boy next door" I really enjoyed that book but thought it was a stand alone novel. I was wrong...if I had known that it was the second out of two books, Anna and the French Kiss (AFK) coming first, I would have read it in order...Now, after reading AFK, I need to go back and reread Lola...and pay a lot  more attention to the secondary characters!)

This is the type of book that contains what I like to call a Seed story. It starts out small and plain, nothing really special. But once you finish it's grown so much that it's ingrained in your head and it is the only thing you can think about allll day. You can't help but go over your favorite bits over and over again. It's so encompassing you get into snippy arguments with you husband due to lack of sleep........ all because of this book....man I like this book!

Since the beginning of May I've read about 16 books (11 from a specific series) but even though I really got into them, I never really wanted to purchase the books. *UPDATE(ok not really true.I think I was talking about just from the series because I actually do own 4 out of those 16)END UPDATE* (once I finish the next book in the series,I  might review it too...there's plenty to rant about, so don't get me started)  But out of all those other books AFK is the only one I've seriously considered buying. Which is odd but true. It's a book I want on my shelf so that I can pick it up when ever I want to shut out the screaming kids and just reminisce.
I really can't say what exactly made me like this one over the others. Maybe because unlike the majority of the other stories I read, that are based more on the supernatural, these events are possible. This could be someones true story...and if I had to think of one word that comes to mind when I think of the story it would be "Sweet." This is just a Sweet story. I know that sounds really girly of me but hey, New's flash, I'm a girl....And even though I wouldn't have minded an extra chapter at the end.... (there is an extra scene on Stephanie Perkins blog ,which is nice)....When I finished reading it I was all warm and tingly. It just made me feel good. And that my friends is a sign of a good book!

Side Note 2: If your are anything like my Mom, don't get thrown off by the title....She called me the other day and I told her what I was reading. I think all she heard was the words " French Kiss" because I could hear shock and horror that I might be reading smut. "WHAATT?!!! What's it called again?!" Then she kept making me repeat the title in the hopes that she heard wrong....

1. 1st. Breath easy mother...it's called "Anna and the French Kiss" not "Anna and the Orgy of French Kisses"
2. 2nd Like I would admit to you that I was really reading smut.... But I wasn't so please refer to #1. 

With all that said though, I personally would only really recommend this book for teens around age 16ish. There are some bad words here and there and a few more grown up themes discussed, pretty much like in any study hall in High school ...Middle school or younger...eh,not so much. But, hey if you'er not in that last category....I say go read it and share the warm and tingly feelings!!!! :D