6 Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) by Tess Sharpe
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Web ID: 15775132Great Sapphic YA!
An emotional and insightful story about 2 teenage girls falling in love amongst a backdrop of both grief and hope. I loved these two MCs and their complicated relationships, with each other, with their mums, and with grief. Both Penny and Tate felt real and raw on the page, as did their mums, and the exploration of mother-daughter relationships was a highlight of this book. However, I am really glad I saw another review telling me this isn't a rom-com before I read it. Looking at it now, I think the blurb has changed from what I originally saw on Netgalley (which, combined with the fanfic style title, gave off a romcom vibe) and better reflects the nature of the story. Overall, an excellent sapphic YA novel!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Absolutely loved! (But have tissues handy!)
Ohmygoodness...this book! First, though this book is all kinds of delightful, its gorgeous cover (and awesome title!) *might* make you think it's just a lighthearted YA rom com, so make sure you either check out the author's content warnings or at the VERY least, actually read the blurb for it (which, if I did, I did so long ago I have zero memory of it? I'm not even sure what I did to get a print ARC in the first place but I'm so grateful I did!) because there are some really heavy things going on between these pages. Keep a box (or 3) of tissues handy. Don't say I didn't warn you! I loved Tate and Penny's book! Even the parts that made me cry (which seemed to be roughly every other page, for Pete's sake) were just so, so good. It's dual POV, and there's quite a bit of back and forth with the timeline--completely justified, but pay attention while reading to avoid temporary confusion. Framing the story around the six almost kisses was a great idea, not to mention a great big this is going to be slow burn! warning. All kinds of will-they-won't-they goodness here, and it took all of my self control not to actually squee out loud when there was only one bed. I mean, I think Tess Sharpe owed me, after all the tears she wrung out of me to get to that ending ;) My first book from this author, but absolutely not my last. Between this book and Talia Hibbert's Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute , 2023 is starting out to be a stellar year for contemporary YA! Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
emotional YA contemporary romance
6 TIMES WE ALMOST KISSED is a story about challenging family, falling in love, and finding your own path. Penny and Tate have a complicated relationship - they are not really friends, but since their mothers are best friends, as in give-your-organ-to-the-other friends, they have lived in each other's orbits, being there for a lot of things the other would rather forget. Penny's mother is giving Tate's mother some of her liver, a transplant desperately needed. However, the recovery time for both of them means funds will be tight, so they are moving in together. Penny and Tate set some ground rules for their new lives on top of each other, but complicated feelings keep swirling. While everyone seems sure they will in their will-they-won't-they style of relationship, Penny and Tate are not ready to consider what that could mean. What I loved: This was a much heavier read than I expected based on the synopsis. A major point of the plot has been the trauma both girls have experienced and their complicated mother-daughter relationships. This is particularly true for Penny. Her adolescence has been overrun by trauma and the way her mother reacted to it. She loves her mother while also feeling incredibly hurt and stressed by being around her. Her life has not been easy - and it has been tough with Tate having courtside seats to the whole mess. The story jumps back to these key points in time when Tate really shows up for Penny, and their love for each other is showing through. While some of them were clearly almost-kisses, others were actually much deeper connections and understandings that irrevocably changed their lives. These deeper plots were quite moving and powerful, full of pain and angst but also showing resilience and how they moved forward. For readers who have experienced their own complex relationships with parents, this book will really resonate. Penny's relationship with her mother is juxtaposed with Tate's, as though her mother has been very sick with the threat of death of hanging over her head, she manages to fuse emotional maturity and stability into the discussions she has with the girls. These themes around family and complicated relationships/emotions, the power of trauma to make or break you, the importance of therapy, the value of friends/found family, and the importance of connection really make this into an emotional story. I also really appreciated that both main characters were bi, which was not a rep that is seen super-commonly! What left me wanting more: I struggled a bit with the relationship and understanding why they were so resistant to it. This was not fully explained to the reader, particularly in the later parts of the book as it builds to something that did not fully make sense. It was then tough to follow the outcomes from that and really get what was happening next and why. I am leaving this vague to avoid spoilers, but considering the book is described around their relationship, I wanted it to have a powerful and understandable path/ending. Perhaps, if you read it without expectations around the kisses or almost-kisses, it makes a bit more sense. Final verdict: 6 TIME WE ALMOST KISSED is an emotional and heartfelt YA contemporary romance that I would recommend for people who enjoy deep reads about challenging family relationships and winding paths to love. Please note that I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Love, loss, and beloved fan-fic story structure
Love, loss, and beloved fan-fic story structure ***I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*** I laughed, I cried, I had my heart broken and put back together all within the course of the novel. 6 TIMES is a brilliant, unforgettable, and achingly beautiful story of love, loss, and what it truly means to heal. There are some books that are so devastatingly perfect, that hit all the right notes, that break you apart and put you back together again. They take up residence so thoroughly in your brain that you aren't sure you'll ever be able to read them again, because it might destroy you. This is one of those books. And you'll want to take the risk and re-read (and re-read, and re-read), knowing it might be the last thing you do. Beyond the incredible emotional depth of the novel, something else that makes it truly unique is it's structure, inspired by one known to any fan-fic readers. Sharpe executes the familiar structure with finesse. I cannot recommend 6 TIMES enough.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Raw and Honest
At first glance, this story is about two young women who tolerate each other at the best of times. Now, being forced to live across the hall from each other, things have the potential to get explosive. But the closer we look at Penny and Tate, we see two women who are there for each other, no matter what, and not just because of the lifelong bond of their mothers. It took me a while to warm up to Penny because of her type-A personality. But the more I read, the more I wanted to hug her, tell her she was enough, and give her everything good in the world. We’ll circle back to Penny in a second because I want to talk about Tate. Tate has always had to be strong. Her mom Anna is sick again, and if Tate isn’t strong, she can’t take care of her mother. Tate, too, deserves all the best in the world. Poor Penny feels that outside of her Gram Marion, she’s alone in the world, and she’s not entirely wrong, to some degree. She has Tate and Tate’s mother. But she wants a mother who loves her, who was there for her after her accident and doesn’t shut her out of her life. Her mother, Lottie, is absolute garbage who will make you rage so hard that even if you don’t love Penny at first, you will, and you’ll want to give her all the care the world can offer. I am not a fan of long reviews, and this one borders on a novel already. So I will finish by saying that this book has a slow-burn romance, mental health rep, drama, friendship, and more. It’s raw and honest, and will appeal to so many readers.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com