Contemporary fiction
Four stars
Anna's life is going well: she's headed to senior year with her best friend and crush/possible boyfriend. Then her parents ship her off to boarding school in Paris. Thrown into the unfamiliar, Anna struggles with language barriers and adapting to a new city and culture. But she soon finds friends, and among them is Etienne St Clair. With his British accent and bright personality, she falls hard and fast. The only problem is his girlfriend. Conflicted between these new feelings and her sort-of-relationship back home, Anna's journey is filled with romantic tension, betrayal, and honesty.
Here comes the cheese. I realize this book isn't going to get any awards for originality, but I just loved reading it. The writing is pretty simple, but there's a depth to it too in her observations and interactions. The characters aren't particularly developed, especially the secondary ones, but I really didn't care. It's not distracting enough to take away from the overall plot. I just enjoyed it - I was grinning and laughing with the characters, I understood Anna's struggles and dilemmas. Her relationship with Etienne was quite realistic in that sense, the awkwardness and frustration and pacing. And there's another level to the story, it's not just a cheesy romance novel. It's about experiencing new things and growing from them and learning to adjust. It's about friendship. Also, it just made me really want to fall in love with a British guy.
“How many times can our emotions be tied to someone else's - be pulled and stretched and twisted - before they snap? Before they can never be mended again?”
