
Title: French Kissing in New York
Author: Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau
Genre: YA Contemporary / Romance
Publication Date: January 3rd, 2023
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Rating: ⭐⭐✨
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a complimentary earc to review! All opinions are my own.

“Welcome to New York. . . . He’s been waiting for you.
Margot hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Zach, the dreamy American boy she met one magical night in Paris. In an instant, they fell head over heels in love and spent the perfect evening ensemble—sealed with a kiss and a promise: if the universe wants them to be together, fate will find a way.
Flash forward one year later: Margot has finished high school and is newly arrived in New York, ready to roll up her chef’s-coat sleeves in Manhattan’s bustling restaurant scene, celebrate her father’s upcoming wedding . . . and reconnect with Zach.
But a lot can happen in a year, and promises made in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower look different in the neon glow of the Big Apple. Margot spends the summer desperate to find Zach and enlists the help of Ben, the sweet line cook at her restaurant. Margot is convinced she found her soul mate that night in Paris . . . but what if the universe has a different plan?
Anything’s possible in New York City. Especially l’amour, American-style.” (Goodreads)

I enjoyed her book Kisses and Croissants but this latest one just missed the mark for me.
P.S. The Review will have some spoilers!
The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Margot who has recently moved to New York to live with her dad and take on the big city in the restaurant industry as well as find a guy she had one romantic night with in Paris. It was a super interesting premise and one that I was really fascinated by.
Margot is a very driven young woman. It doesn’t feel like no is in her vocabulary. I wouldn’t say that her attitude is well received by those around her because she can seem to come off as pretentious, one character even calls her this. It’s not bad to feel the way she does and want to chase her dreams with no brakes but sometimes she doesn’t see what is right in front of her. I feel like she wanted it all without realizing there would be consequences.
She isn’t the only character that I felt like rolling my eyes at often either. Cue the spoilers here! Ben, a love interest but also not the right one at the time, wants to help her find the guy she had met in Paris. I think this was nice of him to do but also why would he if he doesn’t even know her? I guess it is to spend time with her but kind of a weird way to go about it. Anyways, when she does end up finding the guy, Zach, she completely ditches Ben and still wants him to go to her dad’s wedding with her but also with Zach. Ben gets upset by this and also the fact that she found him but he should have figured it would be a possibility. I think that they were both kind of dumb in their feelings. End of the spoilers!
There is a lot of drama surrounding secrets and it just goes to show that secrets don’t make friends. The consequences for the secrets were also very brief so it kind of felt very lackluster.
Although I had a lot of issues with certain parts of the book, I still think that Ben and Margot had cute moments together. I was rooting for them from the beginning, even when they were being dumb about it. This book also made me very hungry with all of the food talk!
Overall, this was a mixed bag for me. I wish there would have been more I did like.
