Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - A Thousand Boy Kisses

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole

121 reviews

bri__'s review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I liked the concept of this book, needing to fulfill a thousand boy kisses as her mamaw's final adventure. With that in mind, I found the story to be a little dragged out and I honestly struggled to get through some of the book with some chapter being very long and the pacing of the book being rather slow.

I adored the love shown by both Poppy and Rune. Some quotes are stunning but I did find alot of the writing to be very sappy/cringe at times personally.

I also found that Rune was a bit immature in his behaviour and actions when things didn't turn out how he'd like. However, I loved how much he cared for Poppy and the lengths he went to make her happy.

I did end up crying within the last 20 pages, but I wasn't bawling.

Content Warnings

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“Live hard, love harder. Chase dreams, seek adventures … capture moments. Live beautifully.”

I know this book is gonna be a sad book but I didn't expect it's gonna be so HEART BREAKING that my tears just keeps falling like waterfalls!

At some point it's getting harder to read with all the tears getting in the way

This is one of the saddest and most emotional book I’ve read this year!

The plot might be simple, predictable and the writing style also feels a bit cheesy, but there’s something about this story that really captivate my heart.

The idea of a thousand boy kisses jar is really sweet and I love it!

Poppy is my most favorite character in this story. She's a wonderful character and I love the way she views this life, instead of being angry or sad she remains cheerful and always view things in a positive way – I really admire her for that.

While I like most parts of the story, there are some things that I wish for more. Like Ruhn, I didn’t agree with how he behaves when something didn’t go his way. Compare to Poppy, he’s not very mature but I’m glad to see that he’s starting to see things the way Poppy does a little bit.

I also wish things are a bit different for the epilogue, nevertheless it’s still a quite satisfying end for Poppy and Ruhn story.

Overall, this is a really good story and I recommend it if you’re in the mood for a good cry and you don’t mind reading YA books.

This book will stay with me for a long time cause it delivers a really good message about how to view this short life as an adventure, a short trip before we go back to our real home.

I will definitely check out other books from this author and I'm waiting for any new release books from this author in the future!

“She told me that the best and prettiest things never stay around for long. She said that a cherry blossom was too beautiful to last all year. It was more special because its life was short.”

Content Warnings

stripy_gloves's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Content Warnings

folded_between_pages_of_books's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

marippe's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Meemaw’s plan for Poppy would be totally ruined if Poppy was gay.

But in all seriousness, I did enjoy this book. At some points I found character interactions to be inauthentic and one note, but other than that it was a good read.

Content Warnings

mrsmishler's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

This story reads like an AI bot took all the famous tween and teen romance books and put them together. It wasn’t bad it just was very unoriginal, and if I was the parents in that story quite frankly I wouldn’t be happy with this.

if my child is actively dying from cancer their boyfriend does not get priority over me, and they don’t get to be there every single moment making it so I don’t get to be the one holding my child while they die.

I personally am not religious and the use of heaven being a reason she was ok to die did not rub me the right way, but if you do believe in god you might enjoy that. I just personally found it very cringey.

Content Warnings

quietmarki's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

zeesread's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

tropes: childhood friends to lovers
spice: 🌶️
so devastatingly beautiful. this book made me feel so many emotions like no other book has. i have so much love and adoration for poppy & rune. their love story was just so raw and truly beautiful. as special as special can be. true soulmates. they’re just meant for each other.

such an incredible book. i never reread books but for the first time ever, i wanted to reread this book as soon as i finished it. i’m so attached to rune and poppy i don’t think i can let go of them anytime soon haha.

Content Warnings

thebookpaiges's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

abireadthat's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Ohhh my goodness did this book have me CRYING. I was seriously so blown away about how much I loved this book. The entire time my heart was so warm and my soul was crying because not only is this book about friendship, love, and cherishing life for what it is; its about this beautiful young lady whose soul is as old as the hills and just cares so deeply at ensuring every single last bit of life is precious.

We follow Poppy and Rune - they meet when they're 5 years old, and grow up together, and fall in love. One cannot be without the other. When Poppy is young, her mamaw gives her a jar to fill with 1,000 boy kisses. These are to be written down on little bits of paper as those kisses happen, but the catch is that they have to be so special to go into the jar.

Being as young as they are, Rune is determined to make sure that he gives each and every single one of those kisses to Poppy - no one else.

Rune and Poppy's story changes slightly when Rune has to go back to Norway - and being a child he has to go with his parents rather than staying in America with Poppy.

From here on in the story, a few things happen which I won't go into detail about to avoid spoiling anything.

Moving on a few years, things don't go as expected and unfortunately we are met with heartbreak - and again, I won't go into detail but my goodness my heart. Poppy is the most beautiful heroine character who has nothing but a heart of gold behind her.

I cannot rate this highly enough. Tilly Cole has created a story that truly values all aspects of life to ensure we realise just how precious and short it is.

This was an easy 5 star. However, I think this book could be tricky to read if you are perhaps going through grief, or know anyone who has had a terminal illness. Please read the trigger warnings for this book and understand that although it is a YA, it may still be a tricky read for some.

Trigger Warnings:

Cancer
Child death
Death
Terminal illness
Alcohol (teenage party)

"This jar is for you to record your boy-kisses, Poppy. All the kisses that make your heart almost burst, the ones that are the most special, the ones you want to remember when you're old and grey like me. The ones that will make you smile and you remember them in your mind"

"Like she promised, Mamaw was there in my dreams. So I told her all about the five boy-kisses from my Rune. My mamaw smiled big and kissed me on the cheek"

"There are no do-overs; whatever happens in a moment defines life - perhaps it is life"

Content Warnings

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