Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Summary from Goodreads:

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend. 

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

Right after putting the book down and thought about what I had just read, I realized that there are a lot of things I found in the book that will normally not sit well with me. Some cheesy dialogues that either show Etienne's gorgeousness and or Anna's desire for him, like these: "I want to breathe him, lick him, eat him, drink him."; " He's so beautiful, so perfect. I'm dizzy. My heart pounds, my pulse races."; "I don't think he showered. But he's still beautiful." You see, lines like these really peeve me sometimes. 

But the thing is, it’s like one of those Teen Rom-Coms where we roll our eyes a bazillion times and yet and at the end of it, we actually had so much fun and (albeit secretly) love it. That’s what this book did to me. I let slide the things that would normally irk me in a contemporary YA romance because I was just having so much fun. It’s such a feel good book, swoon-inducing book, enough to turn your brain into a mush of macaroons.

The characters, weren't particularly striking, but they are likable. Anna Oliphant is the unassuming All-American girl, who has no confidence and second guess herself a lot, and is clueless about the effect she has on boys. Etienne St. Clair is the swaggery (sorry not really a word), confident European-American guy with the sexy foreign accent and extremely good hair. Nothing you've never read before. BUT, like I said you won’t care if you’ve read these types of characters a ton of times alredy. At least I didn't, because I believed in Anna’s sweetness and innocence for the most part. And Etienne, is really swoon worthy.  Yup, I fell for him just as much as the other girls in the story. 

Just like the characters, the plot is nothing fancy as well. No big surprises or anything. Girl feels out of place, meets new friends, and falls in love. It has dysfunctional families, relationship/commitment issues and dramas, friendships found and lost. BUT, (all together now) it was FUN! So, that wasn't a complaint, really.

The dialogue and the setting, I think, is a big part in making me love this book. It had enough fun banter and interesting historical facts (The Rasputin Story was mighty interesting). It toured me all through France, the chapels, cathedrals, monuments, movie houses, patisseries, and creperies. 

At the end of the story, I was grinning like a fool, like I just stuffed my face with French pastries, and was experiencing sugar high. It does to you what your (secretly) favourite bubblegum movie does, makes you suspend critical judgement because of the irrationally sheer fun you seem to be having. :D