Scan barcode
A review by ktbeth143
A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I didn’t like this. It did not live up to my expectations. (and before you ask, I knew it was a sad-cancer-romance-story-where-she-dies-in-the-end before I started)
Giving it a 1.5 because I know part of the problem for me comes from listening to the audiobook version instead of reading it (meaning I can only critique the story, the not the grammar, etc). But the narrators in this story made it hard to keep myself in it. Normally I appreciate when narrators use different voices, and I wouldn’t even say these narrators did a bad job on the accents they used, but their accents were distracting. This made serious moments in the story lose the weight they were supposed to have on me.
And it certainly didn’t help that the chapters were so long. Everything was so drawn out. And then, with a couple of exceptions), the next chapter would do a time skip. And because it was in first-person (even though it was duel POV), it felt like listening to two unreliable narrators ramble on and on and on. I was bored for a lot of this book.
And the teenage rage Rune displays? Don’t get me wrong, it’s justified, and I can totally see how a young adult who hasn’t learned to process things yet would channel it all like that, but something about it was just annoying. Maybe it’s because it was the only catalyst of change. And even by the end, when he decides to forgive his dad, it felt like a random decision and not something he grew into. Which is fine, sometimes forgiveness happens like that, but it doesn’t make for a great story arch in my opinion.
And the ending wasn’t sad—it was sappy. Very cheesy (and not in a cute romcom way)
Overall, this felt like some very immature writing. I don’t know anything about the author, so this could’ve been her first published work and her other novels have gotten better. But this particular story felt too naive in tone and pace for a book that was all over my BookTok FYP and my Goodreads suggestions. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for a young adult romantic drama? 🤷♀️
Giving it a 1.5 because I know part of the problem for me comes from listening to the audiobook version instead of reading it (meaning I can only critique the story, the not the grammar, etc). But the narrators in this story made it hard to keep myself in it. Normally I appreciate when narrators use different voices, and I wouldn’t even say these narrators did a bad job on the accents they used, but their accents were distracting. This made serious moments in the story lose the weight they were supposed to have on me.
And it certainly didn’t help that the chapters were so long. Everything was so drawn out. And then, with a couple of exceptions), the next chapter would do a time skip. And because it was in first-person (even though it was duel POV), it felt like listening to two unreliable narrators ramble on and on and on. I was bored for a lot of this book.
And the ending wasn’t sad—it was sappy. Very cheesy (and not in a cute romcom way)
Overall, this felt like some very immature writing. I don’t know anything about the author, so this could’ve been her first published work and her other novels have gotten better. But this particular story felt too naive in tone and pace for a book that was all over my BookTok FYP and my Goodreads suggestions. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for a young adult romantic drama? 🤷♀️
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer