Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Product Description (Amazon): Anna was 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. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Etienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Etienne 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? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.

My feelings:

I feel like every cliche possible.

Like the story is so beautiful that I should never write another word because I can't compete.

Like any words I use to describe it won't be enough.

Because there's such amazing romantic tension. So many times where you're like 'just kiss!!!' and then other times when you're screaming, 'no, tell him the truth,' or 'Ack, you two are meant for each other. Why are you so blindddddddd!?'

And then there's all these cutesie little things that made me smile: a Canadian flag, the Americans in the bowling alley, what Matt said, Thanksgiving...

And the things that made me cry: The New Year's phonecall, and the concept of home. Oh, the concept of home.

And setting: OMG! Paris! Stephanie Perkins does such a fab job with Paris. I've been to France, but not continental France. Still, the food brought back memories and made my mouth water. And the scenes were so richly painted I felt like I was at Notre-Dame, and the Pantheon.

This setting is exactly how I like them. Intricately interwoven with the story, but not bigger than it. Beautiful.

And Étienne: Best flawed love interest. He's got imperfect teeth and bites his nails and is too short. Finally a YA Love Interest that isn't so perfect that you feel like your boyfriend needs to be rock-hard and sparkly. Or have a bazillion ab muscles.

Also, Stephanie Perkins has the strange and dubious distinction of being the first author to ever make me cry in the acknowledgements.

To her husband, Jarrod: "Thank you for being you, because you are my favorite."

If that's not a person meant to write teen romance, I don't know who is.