Anna and the French Kiss
Stephanie Perkins
From the same author, exploring related themes
There's Someone Inside Your House
A YA slasher with real teeth and a swoony romance at its center, built for readers who want Scream-style kills alongside a love story.
What It's About
Makani Young left Hawaii under a cloud she refuses to talk about. She now lives with her grandmother in a small Nebraska farm town, where she has made a couple of close friends and is drifting toward Ollie, a quiet, pink-haired outsider with a reputation. Then classmates start turning up dead in elaborate, theatrical ways, and the town's fear curdles into suspicion. Makani, carrying a secret of her own, has reason to dread what happens when people start digging into everyone's past.
Perkins, best known for the gentle romance of Anna and the French Kiss, writes this book as an affectionate homage to 1990s slasher movies. Short interludes put you inside the heads of victims just before they die, so you get to know someone for a few pages before losing them. Those scenes are tense and genuinely gory for YA. Between them, the book slows into the territory Perkins knows best: friendship, first love, and a heroine working through shame.
The result is a quick, cinematic read that alternates between dread and romance rather than sustaining pure suspense. It plays less as a puzzle and more as a survival story with a strong sense of place: cornfields, a dying small town, and teenagers who feel overlooked by the adults around them. Expect a fast weekend read with some steamy scenes, not a slow-burn mystery.
Read this if you…
- love slasher films and want a YA book that actually commits to the gore
- enjoy horror with a substantial romance woven through it
- want a fast, bingeable thriller you can finish in a day or two
Skip it if you…
- want a tightly plotted whodunit that keeps you guessing until the last page
- are sensitive to graphic violence or prefer YA without explicit romantic scenes
Key Ideas
- 1
Slasher homage on the page
The book borrows deliberately from Scream and similar films: a masked-up sense of menace, inventive kills, a high body count, and teens trying to outlast a killer. Perkins translates movie beats into prose, especially through the victim-focused interludes, which build dread and give each death weight before it lands. Readers who love the genre will recognize the conventions and enjoy seeing them in a YA novel.
- 2
Romance shares top billing
Makani and Ollie's relationship takes up a large share of the book and is written with the warmth and heat Perkins fans expect. Their scenes are tender and fairly frank for YA. Whether this is a strength depends on the reader: it gives the story emotional stakes, but it also regularly pulls focus away from the horror plot and loosens the tension.
- 3
Secrets, shame, and second chances
Makani's hidden past runs through the whole novel. Her fear of being exposed mirrors the killer's apparent interest in what people hide, giving the book a theme beyond scares: whether someone deserves to be defined by their worst moment. The handling is earnest, focused on guilt and the hope of being known fully and still accepted.
- 4
Small-town isolation as atmosphere
The rural Nebraska setting does a lot of work. Endless corn, a shrinking town, and limited options for teenagers create both creepiness and a sense of being trapped. Perkins also sketches tension between generations and between locals and outsiders, so the town feels like a pressure cooker even before the murders begin to pile up.
Limitations
The most common complaint is tonal: long romantic stretches dilute the suspense, and some readers feel the book cannot decide whether it is a thriller or a love story. It is not built as a guessing-game mystery, which disappoints those expecting one, and the killer's motivation strikes many as thin. The buildup around Makani's secret also feels bigger than the payoff to some readers. Supporting characters, including her friends, are sketched lightly. The gore and sexual content may put it at the mature end of YA for some families.
Questions Readers Ask
- Is the book different from the Netflix movie?
- Yes, considerably. The 2021 film keeps the premise, the Nebraska setting, and Makani, but it changes key plot elements, including how the killings work and who is responsible. The book gives more space to Makani's inner life and her romance with Ollie. Reading the novel after the film will still offer surprises, and vice versa.
- What age is this book appropriate for?
- It is marketed as YA, but it sits at the older end: there are detailed, bloody murder scenes, some profanity, and fairly frank sexual content. Most readers would place it at 14 and up, and it works well for adults who enjoy teen horror. Parents of younger readers may want to skim it first.
- Is it like Stephanie Perkins's romance novels?
- Partly. The romance between Makani and Ollie has the same warmth and attentive character work as Anna and the French Kiss, but it is wrapped in a violent slasher plot. Fans of her romances will find the love story familiar but should be ready for gore. Horror fans may find the romance takes up more space than expected.
- Published
- 2017
- ISBN
- 9780525426011
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Category
- Young Adult
Book details and cover from Google Books.
Ready to read There's Someone Inside Your House?
Get your copy on Amazon, or listen to it on Audible. We earn a commission if you buy through these links.
You Might Also Like
Isla and the Happily Ever After
Stephanie Perkins
Another acclaimed work by Stephanie Perkins
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Holly Jackson
Recommended for fans of Young Adult Fiction
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: Deluxe Edition
Holly Jackson
Another excellent Young Adult Fiction for readers interested in this subject