Second Bookses

Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss is an adorable, contemporary young adult romance as sweet and frothy as the chocolat chaud title character Anna's dorm-mate Meredith makes her on her first night away from home at the French boarding school her father insists she attends for her senior year of high school. The set-up is a bit contrived (Anna's father is a thinly veiled parody of Nicholas Sparks, writing treacly books that turn into sappy Hollywood blockbusters), but teens and tweens will undoubtedly love the sweet love story, and Anna's easy-to-relate-to self-doubt.When it comes to crossover appeal, however, I... didn't. While many a young adult novel is appealing in reminding me of those halcyon days (as they are viewed through the rose-colored haze of forgetfulness), Anna and the French Kiss reminded me a bit too much of that time: wasting months in silly miscommunications. Suffering in silence rather than having a potentially awkward conversation. Pining away for someone who's probably a "pretend" boyfriend at best, only because it makes you feel less alone. I'm too far past all that to want to return to that place, and while the anticipation of a first kiss is something we can all relate to, the misunderstandings and hysterical dramas that can lead up to it in the teen years are things I have no desire to relive. While I'm sure my tween is going to love this book, I've finally found a young adult book I've completely outgrown.