ARC Review: The Kiss by Lucy Courtenay
10:00
Series: None
Author: Lucy Courtenay
Published July 2nd 2015 by Hachette Children's Group
Goodreads Synopsis
'Aphrodite kissed a mortal once by the light of this moon, many thousands of years ago. It drove him crazy. The next person that he kissed - boum. The craziness travelled like this from person to person. It travelled through time. Everywhere - boum! Tu comprends?' 'Where did it end up?' I whisper. His lips are on my cheek now. 'It ended with me. And now I am going to pass it to you. You will like that, mermaid?' Imagine the perfect kiss. A legendary kiss that makes people crazy with love. Imagine a summer's night, on a moonlit beach in the South of France, as French boy Laurent kisses 16-year-old Delilah after the best chat-up line she's ever heard. BOOM! Delilah is pretty sure the Kiss is fiction, despite her head-spinning holiday fling. But with all the sudden crushes, break-ups and melt-downs happening back at home, the Kiss starts looking a little too real for comfort. If only Delilah could keep track of where it's gone ...Who knew one kiss could cause this much trouble? A hilarious rom-com that will delight Geek Girls everywhere!
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
First of all, I had problems with the characters, especially the protagonist Delilah. She was extremely grating and annoying, and I think it was mostly due to her that I had problems with The Kiss. She's a sixteen year old, who we first meet on holiday in France, and from then on she hardly grows up. Yes, she is a hard working student, but she is also just hard work. There were some times that I quite liked her, especially when she reinvented the theatre show, but other than that, I just couldn't connect with her.
Another problem was the synopsis - how confusing is it? Even though I've just read the book, I'm still confused about what the synopsis is on about. Yes the book discussed the so-called legendary 'Aphrodite's Kiss', but that wasn't really the main plot of the story. This 'Kiss' is supposedly a bit of magic that has been passed from lover to lover throughout the centuries, stemming back to Aphrodite herself, and managed to be passed to Delilah when she was in France. I feel as if this is just a bit too made up for the story to have any believability, when it's otherwise a normal, UKYA contemporary. The story was about much more than just this silly little thing, and if I was in a book store trying to find my next read, and had to rely on just this synopsis, I'd probably pick something else.
Thirdly: the romance. Considering The Kiss is intended to be a UKYA contemporary romance book, the romance isn't all that great. I kind of liked the banter between Delilah and Jem, but it was too angsty. There were too many problems, and the added complication of the 'Kiss' just made it even worse. Also problematic was Delilah's best friend, Tabby, and her relationship with her boyfriend/ex-boyfriend, Sam. This also was too angsty. To be perfectly honest, the whole book seems to have basically been angst, with a side order of angst.
Finally, I know I may be on the older side of the audience for this book, being 20, but the writing was really young, as if it was more for a 10-13 audience. However, considering the main character was 16, and the topics of sex, drugs, under age drinking, and other illegal activities were discussed, I wouldn't recommend younger YA readers read it.
All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book. There are other UKYA contemporaries out there if that's what you fancy reading, and they're definitely won't be a waste of your time, unlike The Kiss.
Dates Read:
July 4 to 5, 2015
Rating
2 Stars
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