Heralded as one of the sweetest romance YA novels of 2011, Anna and the French Kiss has been a bit of a let down for me. I guess it's a bit of the same over excited trend, lots of positive reviews from the blog world got my hopes up, and they were a bit shattered. However, Anna and the French Kiss in no way is a terrible novel, it's just not the novel for me - and I was a bit peeved at the proliferating cliches. 
 Starting off Anna is just a normal kid in Atlanta, with a famous novelist dad and her loving mom. Because of her dad's snobbery and obsession with "high culture" Anna's sent to Paris for school abroad. Anna's absolutely devastated to leave her family, best friends and potential crush turned more Toph. Yet, Paris as the magical city of romance brings more than the film geek out in Anna. Meeting a beautiful boy named Etienne St Claire, another infatuation blooms in Anna's heart, yet not everything is as easy as it seems - St Claire has a girlfriend. As love awakens in the streets of Paris and Anna's own heart, Anna and the French Kiss becomes a sweet pondering into young love, missed opportunities and drama. 
 Like most people I must comment on the fact that Anna and the French Kiss is endearingly sweet and the writing simplistic yet not saccharine, always a plus for romance stories. Anna can easily appeal to any teenage girl as her insecurities, hopes for the future and internal struggles define her world, like any other teen. And of course St Claire is obviously any girl's dream boy - perfect, beautiful, and charismatic. So what is there to dislike? 
 For one, I am really not a chick-lit reader, so this book was a bit out of my range. Despite what everyone else says about the romantic chemistry/realism of the relationship, I for one do not see it at all. Anna falls in love with Etienne practically at first sight, and of course he's the perfect pretty boy! And wait! - almost every girl that knows him, loves him! Even the other girls - Meredith, Amanda, etc all have crushes on Etienne, which is really frustrating down the line. The girls simply fight over him and kind of break down from the tensions of this romantic stuff, which I have always hated in romance novels. 
 Oh but wait there's even more! - Etienne is charming and afraid to break up with his girlfriend - dragging on the drama for most of the book. Some scenes of the book are really adorable, and the innocent kisses make this novel charming, but for the most part there was a lot of drama in the book. So much ridiculous teenage drama, which really annoyed me - and reduced the enjoyability of the novel for me. Etienne and Anna didn't really click for me, and both their respective personalities constantly annoyed me at points. 
 But maybe I am judging this novel too harshly, too stringently. Anna and the French Kiss has been OMG-ed about all over in the book world, and I thought I'd find out what all the talk was about. In a way I wish that there wasn't as much hype, because I feel let down. It's still not a bad novel, but Anna and the French Kiss is definitely not the novel for me.