Review ~ The Kissing Booth - Beth Reekles

ebook received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: April 25th 2013

Publisher: Random House Childrens Publisher UK

Description:

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?

My Opinion

When I saw this book on NetGalley I was interested as I had read an article about this young author's rating/viewings on Wattpad. Naturally I was curious to find out what all the hype was about so this is what led me to request the title initially. 

The Kissing Booth was a fun, sweet and entertaining read. Although it is a typical high school romance I found Beth's writing to be funny and engaging so much that I did find myself laughing and smiling most of the way through the book. Maybe this had something to do with the fact it was written by a teen and therefore the experiences felt real and were easy to believe in, rather than when adults describe young relationships.

I liked the characters and the connection between them - especially Elle and Lee - were well developed and believable. I also enjoyed the fact that Elle's best friend was a guy. It made a change from the usual girly approach with bitching and over exaggeration at situations. The fact that Lee could be blunt with Elle; e.g tell her she looked fat in new clothes, also made me laugh. It was a nice change from the usual high school dramas that occur in YA fiction. As well as this Elle hangs out with guys mostly so this also differentiated it from the usual 'group of girls' narratives. 

The plot was obvious from the outset, even in the description and there weren't that many twists or turn that I like to have in a book. However The Kissing Booth was a fun read and I did find myself enjoying it. In my opinion the first half was better as I couldn't stop reading and during the second half I think it was down to the romance had been established.  I would say The Kissing Booth is aimed at younger teens rather than someone my age though due to the style of writing.

One thing I wasn't so keen on was Noah. I mean he was violent and even though everyone loves the 'bad-boy' the way he controlled Elle's love life and threatened any guy near her seemed too extreme and verged on being a bully rather than the good looking 'bad-boy.' For me I just couldn't understand the attraction Elle felt towards him besides a physical one - and believe me this book is full of how 'hot' Noah is which was slightly annoying as it was repeated so many times. As well as this Noah repeated himself a lot with either "I'm going to do it right this time" or other things that just because irritating. I got to the point where I was like "OK you've said it twice I get the idea, you don't need to repeat it a further 12." 

Furthermore Elle's Dad's reaction to her having sex with Noah is totally unrealistic. I mean she even calls him while in the hotel, blatantly telling him what's going to happen. I'm sorry but there is no way a single parent (especially a dad who seems to care as much as Elle's) is going to be OK with that. It just wasn't believable.

The only other problem I had with this book is that the author is British and tried to set it in the US. Now I'm English as well but even I noticed the terminology and vocab being mismatched and something an American wouldn't say. Personally I feel the book should have been set in the UK and Reekles should have stuck to what she knows as her lack of experience does show in the location, description and speech. When I saw this mentioned in a few reviews but I didn't think I would mind, considering I'm British however even for me it gave the book a lack of authenticity and bugged me. As well as this it does need another edit, there are quite a few typos which niggled me slightly.

Overall this book is a fun read and I congratulate the author on getting it published at such a young age. However there are issues with it that made it lack realism. If you like teen romances this one will put a smile on your face so you may want to give it a try.