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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
3.5, but couldn’t bring myself to round up. The storyline was great, and it was pretty quick. The jumping timeline, some of the antics of and between the main characters and the dialogue were at times too much.
emotional
slow-paced
I liked the characters and I loved the feelings between them, but the story kind of sucked. It wandered all over (I don’t mean chronologically, but that, too) and into things that made both characters unlikable. The ending was quick and with a nice pretty bow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent
This story follows Penny, a college student majoring in dance, and Gavin, a fifth year English and Engineering dual major. Both take part in a psych study where they are blindfolded and must kiss another person. What follows is the next fourteen years of their lives displaying a friendship and love that is utterly baffling and irritating. Even now that I have finished the book, I am struggling with my feelings on it because I enjoyed reading it so much that I didn’t stop until I was done, but it’s been awhile since I was this frustrated with the characters and their choices. Even when I thought FOR SURE I knew what was going to happen 90% of the way through, the author took me for a loop. I legitimately started complaining out loud. This is definitely a book for those that love angsty reads! I really enjoyed the present point of views being mixed with the past, which is not something I usually enjoy. I was fully invested both in how they are now, as well as how they came to be. The only thing that bothered me was at times, we would be reading Penny’s point of view, and suddenly there would be a paragraph where it was coming from Gavin, which was difficult to understand and caused me to go back and re-read to figure out what was happening. It seemed just like a mistake that hadn’t been corrected in editing yet. Overall this is a 4.75 star book that I am just rounding up to a 5. I can’t wait to read more from this author.
Tears. There were definitely tears. Another beautifully written story. This author makes you FEEL. She makes you nostalgic. She reminds you of great music. I am so thankful her books have made their way into my life.
OMG!!!
I Can’t even begin to describe how I felt while reading this book...
The word that keeps popping is ANGRY. LOL
I was angry with Penny so many times.
The story going back and forth in time, knowing that when she could she made all the wrong decisions, KILLED ME.
It was my first book of Renée and it won’t be the last. The writing is amazing, I felt the butterflies when they kissed, the pain when they lost their loved ones, the agony when they kept growing apart... beautifully writen.
But I confess, I almost didn’t finish reading cause I tought they’d never be together. I’m so happy I finished it.
I Can’t even begin to describe how I felt while reading this book...
The word that keeps popping is ANGRY. LOL
I was angry with Penny so many times.
The story going back and forth in time, knowing that when she could she made all the wrong decisions, KILLED ME.
It was my first book of Renée and it won’t be the last. The writing is amazing, I felt the butterflies when they kissed, the pain when they lost their loved ones, the agony when they kept growing apart... beautifully writen.
But I confess, I almost didn’t finish reading cause I tought they’d never be together. I’m so happy I finished it.
An amended 3.5 stars
I loved this the first time around but on my reread I've realised it's a bit problematic
Gavin and Penny have a lines are blurred sort of relationship even when Penny is married
And Penny is a hot mess right upto the end
I realised I loved this book for Gavin who was kind and patient and so so damn loving. That man went through hell and back
If you love One Day in December, you'd love this
I loved this the first time around but on my reread I've realised it's a bit problematic
Gavin and Penny have a lines are blurred sort of relationship even when Penny is married
And Penny is a hot mess right upto the end
I realised I loved this book for Gavin who was kind and patient and so so damn loving. That man went through hell and back
If you love One Day in December, you'd love this
I had amazingly high expectations for this. Maybe that’s what made it such a let down? I had built it up so much in my head because I’ve loved a couple of Renee’s books I’m the past but maybe I just need to accept that her newer books just don’t do it for me.
The writing was good as ever, but I despised the characters. I couldn’t like them...
After sleeping on it, I realised just how much potential this book had. An unrequited love traveling through decades? Watching the one you love get married, have a child and move on with their life whilst you’re seemingly stood still? That’s the kind of plot that I’d love to read about and a brilliant character driven story. But it just didn’t live up to its expectation and felt very stale — it feels like a lot of new adult authors are releasing books like this lately (either that or I’ve just read a lot of them lately), and it just feels unremarkable. There wasn’t a plot either, really, so it was hard to remain engaged in a story that had both unlikeable characters and a non existent plot.
To be honest, I loved this book up until around page 70. And then something just clicked inside my head and I couldn’t do it anymore. I carried on reading and read every single word in order to give the book a very fair chance but it just didn’t redeem itself.
Big spoilers ahead:
There’s also a point wherein Gavin is leaving Penny’s house. Lance is standing nearby, and Gavin leans in and says “you’ll be thinking of me when you fuck him later”. This guy is grade A twisted. Honestly, I cannot stand him. It was uncomfortable, and downright frightening in some places.
Gavin actually goes to France and marries a woman who he doesn’t love - in fact he hates her - and spends the entire time talking to Penny about how much he hates her, how everything she does gets on his nerves... but then when Penny tries to discuss her marriage issues — like the way best friends do, which Gavin claims they are — he won’t hear any of it. And then when Penny does mention herself or her life, he goes off and screams at her telling her how self centred she is (which is how the novel starts). So, my problem is that Gavin is inherently self centred and doesn’t appear to actually love or care for Penny. He is rarely, if ever, there for her. For example: Penny’s Dad passes away and Gavin never bothers to come and see her. Penny stands outside waiting when he was due to pick her up, and he never shows. So she’s stood with a severely damaged knee (after a dancing injury with a douchebag), freezing cold having sunk into grief. And he leaves her?! But when she calls him out, he’s nasty again. He’s not a nice person at all, much less is he the kind of person you’d choose to marry. So when the inevitable happened and they fell in love or whatever that was, I found myself feeling angry rather than what I assume we were meant to feel; love, joy, happiness... the usual things I’d feel with an ending like this.
In a nutshell: I found this uncomfortable, dissatisfying and angering. But that’s just me and the way I’ve taken it. Please remember that books are subjective.
The writing was good as ever, but I despised the characters. I couldn’t like them...
After sleeping on it, I realised just how much potential this book had. An unrequited love traveling through decades? Watching the one you love get married, have a child and move on with their life whilst you’re seemingly stood still? That’s the kind of plot that I’d love to read about and a brilliant character driven story. But it just didn’t live up to its expectation and felt very stale — it feels like a lot of new adult authors are releasing books like this lately (either that or I’ve just read a lot of them lately), and it just feels unremarkable. There wasn’t a plot either, really, so it was hard to remain engaged in a story that had both unlikeable characters and a non existent plot.
To be honest, I loved this book up until around page 70. And then something just clicked inside my head and I couldn’t do it anymore. I carried on reading and read every single word in order to give the book a very fair chance but it just didn’t redeem itself.
Big spoilers ahead:
Spoiler
At one point, we turn back the time to 14 years ago and see a disgruntled Gavin learning that his true love (though he’s always forgetting to meet her, being snarky with her, and downright lying about his feelings) is actually pregnant with Lance’s child. He goes nuts. His first reaction is to tell her that she’s to get an abortion and that he’ll pay for it. He goes on, and on, and on about an abortion being the only option. She thinks it may be a sign of fate and he immediately shrugs that off, shaming her and telling her that it can’t be and she needs to get an abortion. He won’t accept the fact that she wants a child, and tries to control her life. What sort of person does that?!There’s also a point wherein Gavin is leaving Penny’s house. Lance is standing nearby, and Gavin leans in and says “you’ll be thinking of me when you fuck him later”. This guy is grade A twisted. Honestly, I cannot stand him. It was uncomfortable, and downright frightening in some places.
Gavin actually goes to France and marries a woman who he doesn’t love - in fact he hates her - and spends the entire time talking to Penny about how much he hates her, how everything she does gets on his nerves... but then when Penny tries to discuss her marriage issues — like the way best friends do, which Gavin claims they are — he won’t hear any of it. And then when Penny does mention herself or her life, he goes off and screams at her telling her how self centred she is (which is how the novel starts). So, my problem is that Gavin is inherently self centred and doesn’t appear to actually love or care for Penny. He is rarely, if ever, there for her. For example: Penny’s Dad passes away and Gavin never bothers to come and see her. Penny stands outside waiting when he was due to pick her up, and he never shows. So she’s stood with a severely damaged knee (after a dancing injury with a douchebag), freezing cold having sunk into grief. And he leaves her?! But when she calls him out, he’s nasty again. He’s not a nice person at all, much less is he the kind of person you’d choose to marry. So when the inevitable happened and they fell in love or whatever that was, I found myself feeling angry rather than what I assume we were meant to feel; love, joy, happiness... the usual things I’d feel with an ending like this.
In a nutshell: I found this uncomfortable, dissatisfying and angering. But that’s just me and the way I’ve taken it. Please remember that books are subjective.
Do you ever finish a book and can’t stop crying? You’re fine one moment, then the next, tears come flooding and won’t stop? Well, that’s my current situation because Renee Carlino killed me with this beautiful story. I’M FINE, EVERYTHING IS FINE...
I loved this book so much. It was captivating, inspiring and will leave you wishing there was another book to continue this story. I can’t recommend it enough.
I loved this book so much. It was captivating, inspiring and will leave you wishing there was another book to continue this story. I can’t recommend it enough.
See the full review at HarlequinJunkie.com
A story about friendship, attraction, and the consequences of decisions made, Blind Kiss took us from our protagonists’ intense chemistry upon meeting fourteen years ago, to their personal struggles in the present. And, oh, the struggles they did have…
I feel like I need to mention right away that there were some, let’s say, blurred lines when it came to fidelity in this book. Without giving too much info away, Penny and Gavin’s friendship itself was called into question by those around them time and time again. No one could believe that a man and a woman could be best friends and for it to be strictly platonic. And that’s where some of the lines were crossed. Read More
A story about friendship, attraction, and the consequences of decisions made, Blind Kiss took us from our protagonists’ intense chemistry upon meeting fourteen years ago, to their personal struggles in the present. And, oh, the struggles they did have…
I feel like I need to mention right away that there were some, let’s say, blurred lines when it came to fidelity in this book. Without giving too much info away, Penny and Gavin’s friendship itself was called into question by those around them time and time again. No one could believe that a man and a woman could be best friends and for it to be strictly platonic. And that’s where some of the lines were crossed. Read More
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes