A charming budding ballerina spends a summer training in Paris, where she’s all about hard work and wide-open futures – and a handsome French suitor.

Verdict: sweet, somewhat forgettable, light and summery, a little juvenile.

You’d think a seventeen year old, who lives abroad in Paris for months without her family and is on the cusp of a professional ballet career, would be at least vaguely adult-ish. Nope. Protagonist Mia, while clearly a sweetheart, offers a narrative that packs somewhat less emotional maturity and nuance than I expected.

That juvenile vibe makes this book more suitable for the middle school set than readers Mia’s own age. And Mia makes a decent pre-teen role model – she’s deeply invested in her craft and her relatives, both of which she prioritizes above cute boy Louis. (Looo-eeee! French is fun. Also, Mia’s French skill level is likewise juvenile and preteen-friendly.)

TLDR: If you’re looking for a cute, breezy read for a preteen who appreciates a ballerina story and/or wants a French summer fling, this is it.

Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau was a sweet young adult book featuring friendship, ballet, growth, and a touch of romance.

Mia attends a ballet program in Paris alongside her rival, Audrey. When Mia gets to France, she meets a boy and tries to balance the allure of a summer fling with her intense passion for ballet.

I loved Mia’s character development throughout the story and her dedication to her passion. The romantic aspect of the story was sweet, and I found myself rooting for the characters throughout the book. I especially enjoyed reading about the friendships that developed and the French setting. I would have liked to see more character development for the character of Louis. I would definitely recommend this sweet story!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I always have a hard time reading realistic fiction novels. They are normally nothing like my high school experiences and seem so far from what I experienced in high school that I have a hard time relating to them. I could really relate to Mia in this book. Mia is passionate about ballet, it is all she thinks, dreams, and does. She goes to a ballet school in Paris for the summer and she starts to realize that she can have a life outside of ballet. She discovers herself along the way. She also develops great friendships and a family mystery. This is a realistic fiction book that I could relate to and would have wanted to read in high school. I became very attached to Mia's story and really want her to achieve her goals while having fun!

Ah, Paris, the city of my dreams and the heart of KISSES AND CROISSANTS, a charming story of dance and romance.

Mia, 16, comes to the City of Light from NYC to study ballet in an elite summer program. She’s hoping to join the renown American Ballet Theatre afterward. But soon she meets a young Frenchman who introduces her to the gorgeous city AND l’amour délicieux. Will she keep dancing? Will their love last? An enchanting YA read!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 06 Apr 2021

Thanks to the author, Random House Children’s Books, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#KissesandCroissants #NetGalley

This is a very sweet YA love story. The journey of a young girl finding her passion in life is heart warming. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

OMG! Quel merveilleux voyage! C’est si romantique, charmant, reconfortant!
What a marvelous journey! This so romantic, sweet, heartwarming!

Can you imagine a book takes place at the most inspiring city make you feel everything at the same time: tastes of delicious, mouth watering pastries, deserts that make you believe you see real heaven on earth! And you just smell the varied flowers filled the glamorous botanic gardens. The museums are full of art exhibitions that bring out complex emotions: admiration, passion, desire.

The streets have its own characteristics with its decades of historical stories, special architecture that take your breath away! Welcome to the city of arts, love,delight! This is Paris!

The book’s main character is Paris which always knows how to charm people and how to drag you out of your comfort zone and intrigued you to take a remarkable journey!

And let’s take a closer look to its plot line:

Mia recently comes to Paris for attending an elite summer ballet program which will lasts for six weeks. She doesn’t plan to search for the history of her own ancestors by meeting one of her oldest relatives who resides in a small town located close to Paris and she never plans to fall for a very cute, mysterious, adventurous boy called Louis who is unfortunately son of her demanding, strict ballet teacher.

But when she makes plans, God laughs so she finds herself into a journey of self discovery, passion, romance, beauty of art.

This book is extremely heart melting, making you smile ears to ears and realistically making you feel the exact essence and soul of marvelous Parisienne streets.

It’s about finding your passion, seeing your choices, learning for own mistakes and chasing your dreams.

Overall: I had so many awwww moments and I adored both of Mia and Louis! I’m giving my up-lift, feeling extremely good, magical, sweetest, Parisienne four stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/ Delacorte Press for sharing this marvelous ARC with me in exchange my honest opinions.

I adored this book! Paris is my favorite city in the world and kisses and croissants made me miss it all over again. I loved Mia so much and her tenacity to go for her dreams. I’m really happy I finally found a book that highlights how hard working ballerinas are despite it being fiction.

I will be doing a more in depth review when it gets closer to the release date. But thank you so much to Net Galley and Random House for sending me a early copy of Kisses and Croissants

Review posted on GoodReads (August 20, 2020)
Review Linked.

5/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for sending me an E-ARC for an honest review.

To say I was excited about this book would be an understatement! I always love picking up contemporary romances that are set in Paris; 1) because I can then take pictures of them around the city, and 2) I love reading travel romances that take me to new and romantic places all around the world.

I ended up ABSOLUTELY LOVING this book! This book was so cute, so fun, so romantic, so funny, and honest. I ended up really loving Mia's character. I loved seeing her passion and drive for dance and ballet. I also really adored Louis and the romance! Louis was such a great love interest and I really loved seeing his character develop, alongside Mia, throughout the story. Both characters grew so much during this story, and I loved how they grew into themselves together.

For me, this is a great romance that is centered in Paris. The book explores so much of the city and the culture of Paris, and I really connected with all of the small moments that Mia had as an American in Paris for the first time. It was really relatable when she got anxiety about her French or made a stupid "American" mistake around the city. I laughed so much while reading this book, and I had a smile on my face the entire time while reading it.

This is a great new romance for fans of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and for anyone who loves reading about love in the City of Lights. I really recommend picking up this book when it comes out in April of 2021!

Thanks for reading!
Caden

Thank you Random House / Delacorte Press for allowing me the opportunity to read an e-ARC of Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau.

This was an incredibly cute YA contemporary romance.

Mia, a sixteen-year-old ballerina from New York makes it into an elite summer ballet program in Paris. She plans to spend the whole summer training with the best teachers and dancers - all leading up to a final audition in front of some of the worlds most prestigious dance companies. Her summer is not without it's challenges though, she first finds out she will be rooming with her nemesis and flawless dancer Audrey, but maybe this summer will give them a chance at a friendship. Then one day leaving class, she meets cute French boy, Louis and while she knows she should focus on training, she just can't seem to stay away.

I really enjoyed Kisses and Croissants, it was an incredibly light hearted Hallmark esc love story between two teenagers.

Jouhanneau is a talented writer and the details regarding the ballet performances, as well as exploring Paris were so well done, you felt as though you were there. Throughout the book, there are several story lines based around Mia, the first being her enemies turned friends arc with Audrey, which I actually found more enjoyable at times than her love story with Louis. At times Louis' character seemed flat and seemed to lack true development until the last few chapters. I would have liked to see Louis open up much earlier in the story.

While this book was not a standout romance novel, it was an enjoyable read and sure to put a smile on your face.

This book will be available April 6th, 2021!

Any book that reminds me of Dance Academy and Find Me In Paris is an automatic A+. At first I wasn’t 100% sold and some of the plot was a little confusing but it was cute and I had a wonderful time reading it.

This is perfect for anyone who was a fan of the movie, Ballet Shoes. Except there's romance in this one and it's a cute, fluffy YA contemporary.

This was such a sweet romance! And the perfect book to read right now with travel being impossible. I enjoyed living vicariously in France through these characters.

I devoured Kisses and Croissants. Everything about it was perfection. I especially loved the descriptions of Paris, my favorite city! It was as if I was actually sitting at Cafe De Flore sipping a latte. Everything was so detailed and authentic; you can feel the author’s love and deep familiarity with the city. It’s no surprise that I read this in one sitting. 7 hours to be exact. What I wasn’t expecting was the ballet storyline. I was sold on the cover and title, of course. But everything about the ballet world was exquisite and well crafted. You don’t have to be a dancer to appreciate Jouhanneau’s sweet storyline.

Mia was an exceptional protagonist and easy to adore. You feel her passions but she’s not just a 17 year old exploring Paris. She’s layered and complex. I even thought the plot line dealing with her “nemesis“ was one of my favorite parts. All in all, the story was adorable and light hearted. I really fell in love with Paris all over again! I highly recommend Kissed and Croissants. It was one of my favorite reads this year :)

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

This book is so sugary sweet I swear I could get a cavity from reading it, the enemies to friends relationship between thr main character and Audrey was so relistic and dont even get me started on the location... PARIS its so magical and fulfilling (this coming from someone in CA). Liuis is also very very charming I love their relationship and when he gave her flowers at the airport when she came back made my heart melt 🥺