Book Review: The Kiss

The Kiss Review

Rating: ✭✭✭

Title: The Kiss
Author: Lucy Courtenay
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Publication: 2015
Format: Arc e-Galley, 331 pages
Source: Thanks to Hachette Children's Books for sending me a copy of this novel.

"What are you painting?"

"Blood, bones, veins and arteries. The things that make us real.'

- Delilah, Jem, Chapter 6, 44

The Kiss by Lucy Courtenay is a stand alone romantic comedy about a 16 year old named Delilah Jones who catches Aphrodite's Kiss after a steamy kiss with a boy on the mediterranean sand dunes in France. When she returns back to her home in London, major crushes, break-ups, and meltdowns all begin to happen in a whirlwind and at once and she can't help but seem to think that maybe the Kiss is real. Delilah then loses track of the Kiss and she needs to get it back to fix a dilemma that their facing and put an end to all the trouble the Kiss caused in the first place.

I did enjoy The Kiss more than I thought I would and flew through it quite quickly. It was a very lighthearted and fun read with a lot of drama. At some points, I did find myself confused, especially in the first half of the novel but as it went on, I couldn't put it down. The novel was written in the protagonist, Delilah's, point of view and Lucy Courtenay's writing style was easy to understand and not too complicated so this novel would do well for younger readers. I did have a problem with the romance. I felt it was too unrealistic in some aspects and that the way characters dealt with it was impractical and stupid, so I wasn't into the romance side of the novel.

I did think the synopsis of the novel was a bit misleading as Aphrodite's Kiss wasn't really much of the centre focus for most of the novel; more of a sub-plot. Apart from that, the plot was quick and fast paced. There was always a new revelation or twist that urged me to keep reading. The drama was also very entertaining and will keep readers continually hooked throughout the novel. I found there wasn't any stand out moments of the plot or anything unique that could have made this novel special. The novel is advertised as a teenage romance, and is exactly and only that.

Delilah, was a very annoying and dislikable character. I thought she didn't really know what she wanted or who she wanted to be. I also wasn't the biggest fan of most of her friends too and I found it very hard to relate to any of them. There were also quite a lot of characters too keep up with and I struggled to remember most of them and their part of plot. The moments I most enjoyed of The Kiss, were when Delilah and Jem were together. I enjoyed their scenes they had together but I would have liked to see those characters relationship develop a lot more. 

Overall, I did like the book and I would recommend The Kiss for younger teen readers who like humorous and romantic novels. The incorporation of Shakespeare was a fun addition and the dialogue between characters was very comical. I rated The Kiss with three stars for obvious reasons and I think that it could have been better developed and a lot more realistic.

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