Finally, after all this time of her best friend, Tess, pestering her to start kissing, Charlotte (aka Charlie) finally gets kissed, but of all people to have kissed her, it was the one she despised the most. Before school officially started, Kevin grabbed Charlie (who's never really felt the need to kiss anyone) by the hand, pulled her to the side of the building, and gave her a kiss that would change her life and the way that she sees Kevin forever. Being too embarrassed by having been gotten caught by Mr. Herman (a ninth grade teacher) for kissing him, Charlie waits too long and decides not to tell Tess what had happened and just to forget that it ever occurred; too bad her feelings aren't letting her forget though. Charlie falls drastically in love with Kevin after that awful but yet totally amazing event and so does her best friend. Charlie, having not told her bff about the kiss and her newfound feelings for Kevin, hooks up her new crush and her best friend against her will. Sneaking around and lying to her best friend just to get closer to Kevin (and maybe acquire one more delicious kiss) certainly doesn't help her relationships at all, well maybe not with Tess, anyway. A few days later during diner, Charlie finds out about the secret relationship that her mom and Kevin's dad have been having and starts freaking out when they announce that over Christmas break Charlie and her mom are going to stay with Kevin's family in their nice home away from home in Vermont. Will this trip be a nightmare for Charlie, or a dream come true?
The everyday drama and deceit of teenagers; you gotta love it! I don't think that I personally would want to be Charlie, she has way too many problems in her life, but she did seem like she could be a fun person to be friends with if you can get past all of the lies she told. I think that Charlie was somewhat easy to relate to since we are around the same age and deal with some of the same issues such as boys and friends. I think that some of the plots were pretty well-written but some of them were very much undeveloped and ended way too quickly that I couldn't at times even really get a feel for what was occurring at the time in the story. I think that Rachel Vail did a pretty good job of writing this book, and I think that If We Kiss is one of the better stories that she has written. I liked how the author threw in a few different surprises along the way, which certainly helped to keep this story interesting. I also liked the cover that the author chose for this novel; it's very cute. Since I am getting older, If We Kiss got boring at times and didn't always appeal to me, therefore I think that girls around the ages of like 10-14 would enjoy this book the most.
There was some usage of alcohol.
Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Upper Strasburg, PA USA
