You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
zoekuylen 's review for:
A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
by Monica Murphy
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book honestly disappointed me. I couldn’t get myself to like Crew at all, and as the story progressed, he became a walking red flag in my eyes. First of all, I really disliked how obsessed he was with Wren’s virginity. The whole purity ring storyline and her "promising herself to her father" was incredibly misogynistic and uncomfortable to read, but Crew’s attitude about it made it even worse. He acted like her being “a little, repressed virgin” was something to mock, instead of just respecting her boundaries. And that tone carried into other moments, like his comment that girls were only good to "fuck, kiss and talk to." That immediately set the tone for me. It set him up as unlikeable from the start.
Then came the incident where Wren caught him and his friends smoking weed. The way he chased after her, restrained her, and groped her seriously crossed a line. I don’t care that she ended up "liking" it eventually, the fact remains that she was scared and didn’t consent at first. If a random side character like Fig or one of Crew's friends had done that, it would have been branded as sexual assault. But because it’s the love interest, it's framed as sexual tension. Pretty problematic imo.
On that note, I also hated how normalized drug use was in this book. Crew smoking weed (and worse, encouraging Wren to try it) was a huge turn-off. I have zero tolerance for main characters doing drugs, especially when the narrative brushes it off as typical teenage behavior, as if it's something that should be normalized.
Consent was another big issue for me throughout the book. He never outright forced himself on Wren, but there were times that made me question whether she was truly comfortable with what was happening. For example, when she offered to give him a handjob and he asked for a blowjob instead. It wasn’t physical coercion, but it did feel like emotional pressure. In situations like that, he should have accepted what she was willing to give and left the rest entirely up to her.
Crew’s inner dialogue was often infuriating. At one point, he thought something like: “At the rate we’re going, it’ll be easy to get her to have sex with me.” That completely solidified my dislike for him. It made it feel like he was just trying to get her into bed, and the book kept branding this as "normal hormonal teenager stuff".
Plot-wise, there were other disappointments too. The Fig storyline felt unfinished. We saw him get arrested, but then nothing. Was he charged? Did he go to prison? What happened to Maggie and her pregnancy? Those dangling threads made the ending feel incomplete.
Also, Wren’s constant use of "Daddy" for her father was awkward for a 17/18-year-old, and the sudden shift in her relationship with her mom came across as abrupt and unearned.
In the end, the most important factor for me is whether I like the characters, and with Crew, that just wasn't the case. He's a red flag.
Then came the incident where Wren caught him and his friends smoking weed. The way he chased after her, restrained her, and groped her seriously crossed a line. I don’t care that she ended up "liking" it eventually, the fact remains that she was scared and didn’t consent at first. If a random side character like Fig or one of Crew's friends had done that, it would have been branded as sexual assault. But because it’s the love interest, it's framed as sexual tension. Pretty problematic imo.
On that note, I also hated how normalized drug use was in this book. Crew smoking weed (and worse, encouraging Wren to try it) was a huge turn-off. I have zero tolerance for main characters doing drugs, especially when the narrative brushes it off as typical teenage behavior, as if it's something that should be normalized.
Consent was another big issue for me throughout the book. He never outright forced himself on Wren, but there were times that made me question whether she was truly comfortable with what was happening. For example, when she offered to give him a handjob and he asked for a blowjob instead. It wasn’t physical coercion, but it did feel like emotional pressure. In situations like that, he should have accepted what she was willing to give and left the rest entirely up to her.
Crew’s inner dialogue was often infuriating. At one point, he thought something like: “At the rate we’re going, it’ll be easy to get her to have sex with me.” That completely solidified my dislike for him. It made it feel like he was just trying to get her into bed, and the book kept branding this as "normal hormonal teenager stuff".
Plot-wise, there were other disappointments too. The Fig storyline felt unfinished. We saw him get arrested, but then nothing. Was he charged? Did he go to prison? What happened to Maggie and her pregnancy? Those dangling threads made the ending feel incomplete.
Also, Wren’s constant use of "Daddy" for her father was awkward for a 17/18-year-old, and the sudden shift in her relationship with her mom came across as abrupt and unearned.
In the end, the most important factor for me is whether I like the characters, and with Crew, that just wasn't the case. He's a red flag.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment