Title: A Thousand Boy Kisses

Author: Tillie Cole

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult

Published: March 15th 2016

Rating: 3/5 stars ★★★

“Why does it take a life ending to learn how to cherish each day? Why must we wait until we run out of time to start to accomplish all that we dreamed, when once we had all the time in the world? Why don’t we look at the person we love the most like it’s the last time we will ever see them? Because if we did, life would be so vibrant. Life would be so truly and completely lived.”

SYNOPSIS:

One kiss lasts a moment. But a thousand kisses can last a lifetime.One boy. One girl. A bond that is forged in an instant and cherished for a decade. A bond that neither time nor distance can break. A bond that will last forever. Or so they believe.When seventeen-year-old Rune Kristiansen returns from his native Norway to the sleepy town of Blossom Grove, Georgia, where he befriended Poppy Litchfield as a child, he has just one thing on his mind. Why did the girl who was one half of his soul, who promised to wait faithfully for his return, cut him off without a word of explanation?Rune’s heart was broken two years ago when Poppy fell silent. When he discovers the truth, he finds that the greatest heartache is yet to come.A stand-alone young adult tearjerker romance, recommended for ages fourteen and up.

MY REVIEW:

3 of 5 stars to A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole

★★★

I am once again reminded that having high expectations for a book is never the right way to start it and is almost a sure way of getting disappointed. A Thousand Boy Kisses has amassed rave reviews from random goodreaders to my co-bloggers so I was finally convinced to take a chance on it. I have a mild dislike for angst so that’s already one point against A Thousand Boy Kisses, but I have also read a few books with strong angst in it that I actually love (e. g. Cry No More by Linda Howard). However, A Thousand Boy Kisses just failed to impress.

First of all, the romance felt too cheesy and the conflicts a little over-dramatic. I blame the writing style that was used in the book. I think that if it was written in the third person point of view, I could have taken it more seriously. As it is in the first person point of view with the main characters ages’ ranging from five to seventeen, it didn’t feel profound enough.

The second issue I have with the book is the choppy timeline. It kept jumping from various stages in the main characters’ lives and I understand the need for it as they are childhood sweethearts. However, I think that the author wrote this thinking like it’s a movie and not a book. Movies capture this montage sequences and time jumps better because we have a visual but in books, it doesn’t work that way. Time jumps in books need to be few and far between, thoroughly detailed and not minutely (or per chapter) for it to be believable and smooth otherwise, the experience would be too mechanical to actually feel the significance and symbolism of the events. Marinating on various timelines of characters also ensures that readers will connect with them no matter which point in their lives it happened. A Thousand Boy Kisses’ swift childhood and adolescence stage is just too shallow to touch me.

I was actually set on giving the book two-stars because it was honestly just an ‘okay’ read. The plot is nothing new, something I’ve read and seen one too many times already. Having said that, certain moments were definitely tear-jerking but it’s mostly because death is just such a sad topic in general. But the epilogue was really nice and left a good impression on me so I thought a 3-star rating would be apt.

**cover art: 4/5 stars. Pretty!**