Review! The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles

Meet Rochelle Evans: pretty, popular--and never been kissed. Meet Noah Flynn: badass, volatile--and a total player. And also Elle's best friend's older brother...

When Elle decides to run a kissing booth for the school's Spring Carnival, she locks lips with Noah and her life is turned upside down. Her head says to keep away, but her heart wants to draw closer--this romance seems far from fairy tale and headed for heartbreak.

But will Elle get her happily ever after?

 

I heard about this book at the Random House Bloggers’ Brunch back in March and I knew I wanted to read it. There was also a lot of hype on Twitter about this young author so I quickly downloaded it and began to read. I couldn’t believe this book had been written by someone who was doing their A-Levels at the same time, and the good thing was, I completely forgot about this because of the quality of the writing, the plot and the character development, and so I couldn’t enjoy the book for what it was, rather than for the hype surrounding it.

As a reader, you are thrown straight into the story, a great way to begin a novel, and we see main character Elle, and her best friend Lee hanging out and chatting, just like the start of an American teen sitcom. Now I love an American teen sitcom, so of course I was hooked straight away! The idea they come up with to run a kissing booth at their school event was always going to turn out to be eventful, and I think it was a really good lynchpin for this novel. We are also introduced to Lee’s older brother Noah, the love interest and his broody personality is easy to get along with straight away!

The plot follows the fallout from Elle’s first kiss and her attempt to adjust to the dating life, and the games that are required as part of that. There are difficult moments for her, and although the storyline is quite predictable, I think it isn’t the book itself which is predictable, its what I’ve come to expect from watching these teen movies and sitcoms where young girls are trying to cope with falling in love for the first time.

I thought Elle was a really strong female character, she doesn’t seem afraid of the way people judge her. There is an incident after she got a bit drunk and rowdy at a party, where she gets taunted a bit at school the next day, and I really like the way the character handled that, I love a strong female in any book that I read! She does have one annoying habit where she bites the inside of her cheek when she’s anxious or doesn’t know what to say. I found this slightly irritating, a bit like when the female lead in The Fifty Shades Trilogy keeps biting her lip, but this is really my only complaint with this otherwise flawless love story!

If you are looking for a fast-paced, light summer read, this is the perfect book to pick up. Fans of teen flicks or sitcoms will enjoy similar aspects within the pages of this book, and even if you haven’t dabbled with YA novels before, you will enjoy this book. All in all a fun love story, told form an interesting perspective with a good, strong female lead! If I had been Ms Reekles’s teacher, I would be incredibly proud of this well-written debut novel!

To get your copy of The Kissing Booth click here

To see a review of Beth's second novel click here