Book Title:
Kissing in America
Book Author:
Margo Rabb
Publishing Date:
May 26, 2015
Publisher:
HarperCollins
Date Read:
June 4, 2015

Synopsis

From the acclaimed author of Cures for Heartbreak comes an unforgettable new novel, striking in its depiction of love, loss, and growing up. In the years following her father’s untimely death, sixteen-year-old Eva has sought the comfort of romance novels and poetry to assuage her grief. Then she meets Will, and for the first time, Eva feels understood. Through their connection, she’s able to escape the pain of her dad’s passing and the difficult relationship with her mother. But when Will makes a sudden move to California, Eva is right back where she started. With the help of her best friend, Annie, Eva concocts a plan to leave New York and travel across the country to see Will. But even though freedom and romance are almost within reach, Eva can’t avoid the problems she’s been trying to ignore—and the truth that love, in all its forms, can be just as painful as loss.

My Review

I didn’t hate this book.  I liked it.  It was a really quick read for me and I really enjoyed it – up until the end.  Yes, the ending pissed me off in such a way that I wanted to hurl my Kindle across the room (but I realized I couldn’t live without the thing so I clearly thought better of that idea).  It was kind of mindless entertainment…with a message, of course, but I was so blind sighted by the ending of this book that I couldn’t really be happy to have gotten such a message out of it.  I’m not going to tell you exactly what happened that spoiled it for me, because that will ruin the book, but I never saw it coming.

So our novel begins with Eva falling in love with a boy, Will, who comes to tutoring every Friday.  She is helping him write his essay for college applications, and eventually, they fall in love with each other.  At the wrong time of course, because Will is moving across the country, from New York to California, to live with his dad.  Well, this is terrible news for Eva, but she is determined to find a way to go and visit Will.

Then she stumbles across a game show for really smart girls, with the promise of a huge scholarship to a college that Eva’s best friend, Annie, would absolutely love to go to.  So Annie auditions for the show, and she makes it.  So begins the road trip to L.A., in which Eva will be able to see Will.  Sounds like the perfect plan, right?  Well, Eva’s mother is very cautious about letting her go pretty much anywhere, because Eva’s father died in a plane crash a few years ago (and this is a huge part of the story).  Eventually, they get things all worked out so that the two of them will stay with family along the way (such as her Aunt Janet, who has an unnatural fear of germs and an obsession with the prevention of STD’s).  When they get to L.A, things get a little messed up, and we learn that in the end, we have to learn how to be happy with ourselves, and accept who we are, and all that.

But, no.  Screw that.  The ending sucked.  It really did.  I was expecting it to be this amazingly happy ending with hearts and flowers and rainbow-farting unicorns.  And I got none of that, and I’m angry.

Also, I felt like there was too much going on in this book at once.  Too much background noise, and it got kind of frustrating to keep it all in order.  I guess it was just me being bitter about the ending of this book, though.

Like I said, it wasn’t a bad book.  I enjoyed it up until the very end.  I took off one star for the ending, and another because it just wasn’t all that memorable (and I only give 5 stars to books I absolutely loved).

Note: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars
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