Release & Review - How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You by Tara Eglington

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You

Author: Tara Eglington

Publication date: October 25th, 2016

Category/Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Sweet sixteen and never been kissed . . .

That’s Aurora Skye’s big secret. And the way she wants it to stay. She’s not going to give away her first kiss to just anyone. Busy dodging suitors and matchmaking for her best friends, Aurora (not so) patiently awaits her prince.

But everything changes when Aurora is coerced into a lead role in the school production of Much Ado about Nothing. Which means she’ll have to lock lips with her co-star Hayden Paris—the smart and funny boy next door who also happens to be the bane of her existence, always around to see her at her worst.

Now Aurora is more determined than ever to have her first kiss with the one who’s truly worthy of it. But first she’ll have to figure out just who that person is.

Romantic and funny, Tara Eglington's How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You is a feel-good tale of finding love where you least expect it.

Goodreads

Buy Link: Amazon

3.5 “Kissing and Yelling” STARS

ARC via NetGalley

Thank you, St. Martin's Griffin

Aurora Sky has one of those voices that will have people loving or hating her from the first chapter—that’s how strong it is. She’s got that “I’m talking to you” vibe and she comes alive early on, which means you can’t simply ignore her.

Aurora’s story starts with her trying to get away from a date without kissing the guy in the end. She’s been saving her first kiss for the perfect guy, her still-unknown prince, and the boy who took her out that night was most definitely not him. She has a bunch of tactics ready for when the time to keep a boy from kissing her comes. Everything is fair—even falling poking your date’s eye with a straw.

Her plan for her first kiss is jeopardized when Aurora is cast as the star of the school’s play and has to share a kiss with her fellow actor—the neighbor who was once her best friend, but is now her archenemy, Hayden.

The chemistry between Aurora and Hayden is clear from the start. They spend too much time teasing and trying to get under each other’s skin for it to be anything other than suppressed attraction. That’s my favorite type, by the way. Especially when the MC and the LI are trying as hard as Aurora and Hayden to antagonize each other. Truth be told, Aurora tries harder than the poor boy.

I won’t call this a spoiler because I believe everyone will be able to see that Hayden is in love with Aurora from the start. His teasing are always heavy with hints about his feelings… He’s either often complementing her or gazing at her with dreamy eyes or something like that. The thing is, Aurora is so set on hating his guts that she’s blind to what he’s trying to show/tell her.

It can get a bit frustrating, because Hayden is such a good guy that you can’t help but fall for him and want Aurora to do the same. But, yeah, the whole point of this book is to explore Aurora’s feelings slowly, so hold your horses because she’ll get there.

While she doesn’t, we get to follow Aurora around the school. She’s obviously a popular girl who’s great to her friends, even though she spends way too much time trying to fix everything about everyone else’s lives. She does it to help, though, which helps makes her a likable character. Aurora’s whole purpose in life seems to be making other people happy. Her dad is dating a teacher who picks on Aurora every chance she gets, but instead of telling on her, Aurora tries to behave because she wants her father happy. Her horrible mother doesn’t deserve a second of Aurora’s life, but she still tries to please her by being part of the play. Same goes for her friends. She tries to find ways to make them happy with their boyfriends or crushes. While some might find this type of personality annoying, I didn’t. It showed me she had a big and great heart, and made me want to see her happy, too.

Aurora’s group of friends was another plus. I liked how they interacted with each other, and how they were not all “nice girls”. There were some tense moments toward the end, but Aurora, being true to herself, didn’t hold a grudge and was able to understand what really mattered and get over the rest. I appreciate that about her. I also liked being able to see other romance subplots involving Aurora’s friends, since the MC’s romance was slow burn.

One thing that annoyed me, though, was how everyone was so dramatic and over-the-top. There was always something yelling or crying or throwing hands up, or another dramatic gesture. Aurora practically couldn’t go more than two paragraphs without shouting about something. It got to the point where I was yelling back at the book: "WHY ARE YOU ALL YELLING?". That was when I started ignoring most of the tags, only reading the dialogue.

Other than that, I really enjoyed this cute and fun YA contemporary. It took a while to get to the kissing, but it was a fun ride.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.