3.5/5 stars 
 Perhaps I'm too cynical at my old age of twenty, but I just can't seem to sympathize with high schoolers anymore. Even when I was a teenager myself, I could never truly delve into books chronicling the life and trials of angsty youth. 
 Perhaps I'm also too much of a devoted feminist to fully enjoy a book with a main female character hating another female character solely because the latter is dating a boy that the former is in love with. Boo hoo. 
 This summer, I made a vow to venture out of my literary comfort zone and read genres that I had never read a lot of: particularly YA, fantasy/sci-fi, and graphic novels. I picked up "Anna and the French Kiss" because I had heard this companion trilogy was interesting and light-hearted, and I definitely needed something light and fluffy after finishing "American Psycho." 
 "Anna and the French Kiss" follows the story of an eighteen-year-old girl who is sent off to Paris for her senior year of high school at an expensive American boarding school. There she meets Etienne St. Clair, whom (of course) every girl at said boarding school is in love with. But (uh oh!) St. Clair is already in a relationship. Predictably, next ensues a long school year full of teenage love drama. 
 Although I did ultimately enjoy this book, I still (obviously) had issues with it. Anna was CONSTANTLY expressing her disgust with St. Clair's girlfriend, Ellie, and every time she did, I couldn't help but groan in despair. Your crush is in a committed relationship. Oh no. Meanwhile, you're in PARIS, FRANCE, which is a city FULL OF EXCITING THINGS TO SEE, and you're worried about a boy. 
 There was also a mean girl aspect, portrayed by a character named Amanda. Maybe I attended a moderately nice public high school, but were people truly that mean? Did that really call others cruel names in front of a crowd? The "insane mean girl" trope is one that I can't fully believe could exist in real life. I feel like girl on girl hate is a cheap trick for YA authors to utilize, particularly when most (if not all) YA novels are targeted towards a young female audience. What kind of example is this setting for 12-13 year old girls? I don't know; perhaps I'm looking way too far into this. 
 In any case, I did like "Anna and the French Kiss." The ending was predictably sappy, the characters were two-dimensional, and I sometimes wanted to throw the book in despair of how annoying Anna could be... yet darnit if I didn't finish this book in less than 12 hours. I will be continuing on with the series (thank God the next book isn't centered around Anna.) A mediocre book... but a GOOD mediocre book.