A review by loveclairee
A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole

emotional hopeful 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

4.0

▪ For believers in true, epic, soul-shattering love.
 This one’s for you. 

▪ “I’ll give you a thousand kisses, Poppymin. All of them. No one will kiss you ever, but me.” 

▪ “Mamaw also said that the best things in life die quickly, like the cherry blossom. Because something so beautiful can never last forever, shouldn’t last forever. It stays for a brief moment in time to remind us how precious life is, before fading away just as quickly as it came. She said that it teaches you more in its short life than anything that is forever by your side.” 

▪ “Because nothing so perfect can last an eternity, can it? Like shooting stars. We see the usual stars above us every single night. Most people take them for granted, even forget they are there. But if a person sees a shooting star, they remember that moment forever, they even make a wish at its presence.” 

▪ “It shoots by so quickly that people savor the short time they have with it.” 

▪ “Because something so completely perfect and special is destined to fade. Eventually, it has to blow away into the wind.” 

▪ “Maybe we’re like the cherry blossom, Rune. Like shooting stars. Maybe we loved too much too young and burned so bright that we had to fade out.” 

▪ “Extreme beauty, quick death. We had this love long enough to teach us a lesson. To show us how capable of love we truly are.” 

▪ “We’re not done,” 

▪ “For infinity, Poppymin. Forever always. Never done. You can’t think like that. Not with us.” 

▪ “Do you promise me, Rune? Because I still have hundreds of boy-kisses that I need you to give me.” 

▪ “Always. And I’ll give you more than a thousand. I’ll give you two, or three, or even four.” 

▪ “Kiss number three hundred and fifty-four. With my Rune, in the blossom grove … and my heart almost burst.” 

▪ “It won’t be forever, Rune. After a while, it’ll get easier. You’ll meet someone else eventually. You’ll move on— 

▪ “Don’t you ever say anything like that again! I won’t move on from Poppy. I love her! Don’t you get that? She’s my everything and you’re ripping us apart.” 

▪ “I’m so sorry, son. I do know how much Poppy means to you. I tried to leave telling you until now to spare you weeks of hurt. It clearly didn’t help. But this is real life, and it’s my job. You’ll understand one day.” 

▪ I captured this rare moment: the exact moment when someone’s heart broke. 

▪ He’s coming back. 

▪ He was here. 

▪ It was my Rune. 

▪ It was clear that Rune had broken that promise. 

▪ My worst fears had been realized: the boy I knew had gone. 

▪ He looked tired.
 He looked heartbroken.
 He looked like he missed his son. 

▪ Then I cried.
 I cried for the boy who was my sun.
 I mourned the boy I once loved with everything I had.
 I mourned Poppy and Rune—a couple of extreme beauty and even quicker death. 

▪ “But now he doesn’t have me,” I finished for her. “Now he’s free to be with whomever he wants.” 

▪ His head tipped forward, and he pressed his forehead to mine, bringing his fingers down to press over my lips.
 I breathed.
 He breathed. 

▪ “You made me like this, Poppy. The Rune you knew died when you turned into a bitch and broke every promise you ever made.” 

▪ “I have Hodgkin lymphoma. It’s advanced. And it’s terminal.” 

▪ Where I broke my heart for the heart I’d just broken.
 The one I’d always strived to save. 

▪ And as I walked, I felt like an imposter in my own body. 

▪ So I let it all out. I gripped on to her so tight I thought it would leave a bruise. But my mamma never moved; she cried with me. 

▪ Most were blank. The jar was coated in dust—a sign it hadn’t been opened for a long time. 

▪ “I can’t lose you, Poppymin. I can’t. I can’t let you go. I can’t live without you. You’re my forever always. You’re meant to walk beside me through this life. You need me and I need you. That’s all there is to it.” 

▪ “I won’t be able to let you go. Because wherever you go, I have to go too. I’ve tried living without you, it doesn’t work.” 

▪ “I can’t take you with me where I’m going.” 

▪ His perfectly captured moment in time.
 His perfect second. Love in still life. 

▪ A tear fell from my eyes as I held onto that image. The image that could never be us. 

▪ “This life’s final adventure. Because I know, with unwavering faith, that we’ll be together again. Even when this adventure is over, a greater one awaits us on the other side. And Rune, there would be no heaven if you weren’t back in my arms someday.” 

▪ “Because without you, I didn’t see the world the same way anymore. Nothing was the same. I know we were only young, but without you, nothing made sense. I was angry. I was drowning. So I gave up my passion because the passion within me had died out.” 

▪ And he did.
 He had me.
 Just like I had him. 

▪ “Listen, Rune,” she said, and she closed her eyes. I did too. And I heard it. I heard it as loudly as if it were next to my ear. The steady beats, the rhythm of us. “When you’re near, my heart doesn’t sigh, it soars,” she whispered, as if she didn’t want to disturb the sound. “I think hearts beat a rhythm like a song. I think, that just like music, we’re drawn to a particular melody. I heard your heart’s song, and yours heard mine.” 

▪ “I have come to understand that death, for the sick, is not so hard to endure. For us, eventually, our pain ends, we go to a better place. But for those left behind, their pain only magnifies.” 

▪ “I really believe that tales of loss don’t always have to be sad or sorrowful. I want mine to be remembered as a great adventure that I tried to live as best as I possibly could. Because how dare we waste a single breath? How dare we waste something so precious? Instead, we should strive for all those precious breaths to be taken in as many precious moments as we can squeeze into this short time on Earth. That’s the message I want to leave behind. And what a beautiful legacy to leave for those I love.” 

▪ “Though you weren’t with me, you were in my heart. And that was enough to sustain me, even though I wasn’t happy.” I kissed Rune’s mouth, just to savor his taste. “But now, after this time back together, it’s made me fearful. Because who are we without each other?” 

▪ “I’ve hurt you by loving you so much. And now I have to go on an adventure without you. And I can’t bear how much it hurts you. I can’t leave you so lonely and in pain.” 

▪ “My heaven will be you and me in the blossom grove. Like always. Forever seventeen.”