Book Reviews

review; the first kiss hypothesis

review

The First Kiss Hypothesis
by Christina Mandelski

Nora Reid believes scientific laws control everything, even love. With her grandparents’ epic first kiss story cemented in her brain, Nora develops a hypothesis she’s determined to prove: for each person in the world, there is exactly one other person, and at first kiss, they’ll experience an immediate and intense reaction.

But after four years of zero-reaction kisses, she comes up with a new theory: maybe that pesky crush on her stunningly hot best friend Eli Costas is skewing her results.

She needs to get rid of him, and fast.

Eli Costas is an injury-prone lacrosse star with a problem—the one chance he had at winning over the girl next door resulted in the most epically sucktastic first kiss ever. And now she’s…trying to get rid of him? Hell no. It’s time to disprove her theory and show her exactly what she’s missing.

Game. On.

Disclaimer: This book contains a stunningly hot lacrosse player who isn’t above playing dirty to win over the stubborn girl-next-door of his dreams.

Review:

I received this copy in exchange for an honest review from Entangled Teen publishing. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you Entangled Teen! 

I wish there was a 3.5 stars option on GoodReads. I enjoyed this, quite a bit, but there were somethings about it that had me pause.

The best friends/people next door trope is something I have always enjoyed. And I enjoy it more when there is no unnecessary love triangle or cattiness, which thankfully, this did not have. Yes, I would have enjoyed a little more female friendship (though Nora reconnecting with Abby was a nice inclusion to the story), and yes, I would definitely have enjoyed more time with Nora’s family, but overall this was a sweet and simple story that I finished in two sittings (albeit a few weeks apart).

Nora was a stubborn character, a fact that I appreciated in parts and wanted to hit my head against a brick wall at parts. I love the fact that the girl is the ‘player’ in this without any overt slut-shaming about it. She has a goal and she is headed for it, because she is terrified of heartbreak and loss. That is very relatable, and I emphasise with her on many counts.

Eli is a treat too. He is less focused than Nora, a little more insecure, couched in confidence for his athletic abilities. He is sweet at parts and clueless at others. A part of me hated the way he was willing to play Nora though the logical part of me could acknowledge that he just did not realise he wanted to ‘play’ her because he loved her.

The whole mutual pining aspect of things is something I always adore, and this was done well without being over the top and without various characters banging their heads against each other to make them see sense. Their friendship deepening into love was so gradual for them not to notice until they had to face almost losing each other. The ease in their relationship, the years of history, it all painted a rich picture, and made them well-rounded characters.

Some of the way they talk to each other and treat each other does not sit well with me, but it was a fun read, and I am glad this was my first read of the year.

I’m Ara, a Southeast Asian writer who someday hopes to have published a novel, and who is currently losing herself in the worlds created by others. I love books and food and television and blogging and I get distracted and sidetracked easily.

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