Anna and the French Kiss Read-a-Long: Discussion #1

The Anna and the French Kiss Read-a-long is hosted by Molli from Once Upon a Prologue and Suz from A Soul Unsung

Anna is afraid to really experience Paris when she arrives. Would you be, or would you look at it as an adventure?

Well, I was Anna's age when I went to Paris...mind you, it was with a group of people, including my childhood best friend, Suleena, and it was only for four days. By then we'd been in France for six days and had discovered that despite our age and the four chaperones on the trip, we pretty much had free reign. We had group tours and activities but at least half the time, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted. Suleena and I were pretty much fearless (I don't know what happened to that girl because I'm far from fearless now), and we weren't afraid to take the métro (where we were almost pick-pocketed by a pair of smelly boys), go shopping, see the sites, or just wander the streets. We had made friends with a set of triplets and a guy from the other school we were touring with, so we did quite a bit with them.

I have no idea how I would have felt if I'd been on my own, or had to live there to go to school. I'd like to think I would have been adventurous and gone out on my own, but I honestly don't know.

Which of the characters we meet – Anna, St Clair, Josh, Rashmi, or Meredith – do you most identify with? Why?


Definitely Anna. She's kind of awkward and self-conscious and her train of thought could totally be mine. Plus she has a gap in her front teeth, and I do too (blech)!

"My smile wavers and I return to my natural state of being: nervous and weird." ~ Anna 

Anna is drawn to St Clair, as well, everyone is. She wants to be “just friends” with him.  Do you think this will be possible for her? Can a guy and a girl BE just friends?


I think it's possible, but not likely (I've read the book before so I know what happens, but I'm going to pretend I don't for the sake of this question lol). Anna develops feelings for St. Clair quickly, and even though he has a girlfriend, it's obvious he likes her too. Could they remain friends and nothing more? Sure. I think it's possible for a guy and a girl to be just friends, but it's hard when one likes the other or when both have feelings but one is already taken. 

Anna sums it up pretty well: "Any girl faced with daily attention from a gorgeous boy with a cute accent and perfect hair would be hard-pressed not to develop a big, stinking, painful, all-the-time, all-consuming crush." Yep.

What are your first impressions of Anna? Of St Clair?

First impressions of Anna: she's the type of girl I'd be friends with. I read some reviews in the past that said they couldn't believe she was whining about being in Paris - like 'oh poor you' - but I can kind of understand her point. Having to go to a new school for senior year would blow, especially if it was thousands of miles away from your family and friends. She had no say in the matter, and that would piss me off, too. 

St. Clair...I literally just gave a swoony sigh while typing his name. I love him. He's funny and honest and I LOVE that he's nice to pretty much everyone. He's cool and hot but he's not full of himself and he doesn't think he's better than anyone else just because he happened to win the genetic lottery. I knew a guy like that in high school - he was a football player, one of the most popular kids in school, plus drop-dead gorgeous, and he was nice to EVERYONE. It always shocked me when he talked to me because I was shy and awkward and overweight and pretty much a nobody except in my own very small group of friends. I'm sure there are people who read the book and think guys like St. Clair don't exist, but they do.

I made this for a post I did last Valentine's Day about book boyfriends

What’s your favorite moment or quote from what we’ve read so far?

Gah, there are so many! I've been tweeting quotes like crazy because there are so many parts I love. Basically any interaction at all between Anna and St. Clair. I particularly love when he gives her the Canada flag patch so she won't feel like she stands out so much. When I went to France, I wore a Canadian flag pin on my jacket and people were definitely nicer to us when they found out we were Canadian. 

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