(Spoilers - varying from major to minor- ahead. Warning. Proceed carefully.)When a book handles a dangerous,powerful, hard subject such as coming to terms with your sexuality - and accepting it - I feel as if it should be fantastic, should make me bawl or something along the same lines. The premise was fascinating. It sounded real in a way that I can't imagine myself in, but can see other people having as a reality. The cover was pretty. And when I first met the main character, I sort of like her. Besides that, the story could have been so..powerful, life changing. After all, it's dealing with a hard, coming of age topic that many adolescents deal with today. And it had the right protagonist to make it happen. The author had the right skills to pull it off- I have read her other novels. And...despite everything in its favor...it did not. Did not what? Did not do anything. The main character is likeable enough and I have meet a few people who are just like her. Lissa is confused, broken, and trying not to look reality in the face. She wants to talk everything out- but that's hard, seeing as how the other main character, Kate, is on the "let's-pretend-that-never-happened" end of the relationship (Have you noticed, there's always one of those? There is the girl who wants to talk the situation out and face the truth, and the girl who pretends nothing happened and doesn't want to admit a thing.). Okay. Lissa wasn't exactly attempting to confront Kate at every turn, but that's what made her more likeable- the fact that, despite society and media making it seem otherwise, in real life, you probably would be shying away too. You'd want to confront your feelings, but really, if the other person isn't cooperating and is brutally giving you the cold shoulder, it's hard to work up the nerve. It makes you feel weak and as if you'll only make things worse to bring it up again. So, it was realistic for Lissa to feel that. And what Kate was feeling was realistic, too. So, focus on their relationship, past, and problems, and this SHOULD be a great book. Like I said, the two main characters were likeable enough. That's just the thing. The two main characters, are hardly the "two" main characters. Yes, Lissa is the narrator and protagonist- but what about Kate, the other main character? She should be the focus on the story- she and Lissa. So why did I find myself skimming pages and snoring and rolling my eyes as I forced myself to read through pointless dialog, futile subplots, and two dimensional characters? I loved Kate and liked Lissa well enough. But there was NOT enough Kate and Lissa in this book. It was mainly Lissa driving around or/and talking with her "weird" friend, Ariel/Kimberly, who SHOULD obviously have been all deep and realistic, but was two-dimensional, annoying, unhelpfull, and...well, there was no need for her to be there at all. I feel as if the author was like, "I'm too afraid to write a book on such a powerful topic, so instead of actually dealing with it and trying to write a life changing, deep novel, I'm going to avoid attempting sucha feat and will just focus on random subplots that nobody will care to read about." That's what happened here. Ariel/Kimberly was in this book more than Kate, which was stupid because Kate, as I said, was the focus of the story along with Lissa. And Ariel didn't contribute to anything except lowering my rating of this book. Here's why I found the subplots and supporting characters so infuriating and random. To start with, there were a thousand subplots. From Darlene (I think this was her name...she was really forgetable and, again, didn't contribute to...anything...) and her being forever alone and joining a dating group, to Finn and his infatuation (which was a case of random insta-love that come out of nowhere, which I could not understand. I liked Kate because she was real and I could understand her....now why did you like her, Finn? Tell me. I am begging.) with Lissa. The latter was meaningful enough - trying to date a boy can really make things clear for someone in the way of their sexuality. However, Finn was also two-dimensional. He and Ariel had the same voice/feel to me: all clean, all smiles, all good. I can't bring myself to care for those two, really. And the whole Darlene character and subplots? Please. Don't feed me your excuses about how Darlene's subplot was important for girl-empowerment to help Kate/Lissa, Myracle. I'm not buying that. The girl-empowerment group never helped Lissa, didn't make a noticeable impact. And everything else to do with Darlene was the same as Ariel and Finn; trivial, boring, pointless. Most of all, it just got in the way of the real plot. I felt like the REAL concept of the story was buried beneath all the random, annoying subplots, and by the end I had to idea what the big picture was, had no idea what was going on. Everything was blurry because the subplots kept eating away the plot until it was hardly there. There was maybe one scene focusing on Kate and Lissa, two minor scenes with them, and that's it. If you take those two minor scenes, one major scene, and one major flashback, you have a story that is more a novella than a book/novel. A lot shorter- and a LOT better, so much better that it hurts. I mean, really, the biggest problem was that Myracle seemed to lose the focus of the story and was too afraid to explore it. That bugged me. She, and I, didn't care about Finn or Ariel or Darlene or Beth or Jared or whatever the others were. They (except MAYBE Finn) did not help this story. They weren't even three-dimensional. They were all the same, nice, happy, smiley, neat. No flaws, no redeeing qualities, and ABSOLUTELY NO PERSONALITY. Ariel was supposed to be weird, but she was still flat and lacking of depth. And all she was actually good for was tugging the already-lost-and-broken Lissa around and telling her things like, "Guess what? You totally hate Kate. She treats you bad and you should ditch her. You are a great person and I like everyone. Move on and see the happiness of life. Now let's go giggle pointlessly and talk over strawberry smoothies, or maybe i can get on MY catering truck and you get on YOUR catering truck and we can drive around and communicate on loud walkie talkies. Ya know, the usual." That can summon everything about Ariel or Ariel/Lissa in one paragraph, rather than a whole darn book. All Ariel did was feed Lissa "you-go-girl", Life 101 lessons and control her life. Really, it seemed like Ariel was the one who tried to do everything. Which didn't bother me, because Ariel was just another random subplot, and didn't affect the story in anyway. If there's still a story beneath all that subplotting, that is. Oh- by the way, did anybody else hate the fact that Ariel kept telling Lissa how Kate treats/treated her like crap, despite the fact it was Kate who was Lissa's best friend and her only friend when everyone thought Lissa was weird. Kate, has NEVER treated Lissa like crap. Not in the flashbacks, not in the present, not in the future. If you call Kate having to deal with being gay and outing herself to society, which can be harsh, Kate "treating you like crap", then you have a serious problem, Ariel.Moving on from Ariel/Kimberly/Pointless Girl/Darlene/Finn, we have...ah. Nothing. You see? Remove the supporting, two dimensional characters and their mini-stories, and there is nothing. Well, there is Beth. The little sister who is trying to fit in with her own friends. This, actually, COULD HAVE MATTERED IN THE STORY. Lissa could have realized that she, and Kate, are doing the same thing as Beth, on a larger scale- that they are trying to avoid their sexuality and the truth (as Beth is avoiding being herself) to fit in with Society, as Beth tries to fit in with the populars. However, Lissa makes no note of this, and neither does Myracle. So really, Beth's subplot also does not impact the story. There was a kissing scene. And chemistry. And SO MUCH POTENTIAL. This kight've been a five star book, had the author actually focused on the problem at hand. Which she didn't. Proof of this is the fact that there was no solution to the problem. No climax, and no closure. We never find out what happens with Lissa and Kate. Lissa just sits with Ariel and smiles and DRINKS COFFEE/SMOOTHIES (forgot what it was.) AND SIGHS AND THINKS, "Maybe it will be all right." Okay- I could have worked with that...except for the fact that Kate WAS LISSA'S FREAKING BEST FRIEND. I have a hard time believing that if Lissa cares for Kate as much as she claims she does, she'll just one day wake up and be all peaceful and decide to drop Kate all together, just because Kate is having a hard time dealing with this. You had a hard time living with it, too, Lissa. That was my basic problem with the book, really. Could have been five stars. Was only two. It was one of those books that could have been so much better.
Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle is about two best friends Lissa and Kate. One night at a party Kate gets drunk and kisses Lissa who was surprised but didn't pull away. The next day Kate wants to ignore what happened between them but Lissa can't let it go, it's stirred emotions within her that she wants to confront even if Kate would rather live in denial and date Ben, a not so nice guy, Despite its short nature, being under 200pgs long, I found this to be a very disappointing and an unnecessarily drawn out read. The characters weren't really developed and fell back on clichés (the annoying younger sibling, an awkward uncle, a complete opposite/hippie friend to help you see the world through a brighter lens, a best friend turned enemy). Lissa, the main character was the only one that seemed decently thought out but I grew tired of her being more focused on the secondary plot of exploring dreams than dealing with the fact that she may be a lesbian and what that means for her. I didn't feel that there was enough interaction with Kate. The other characters Finn, Jerry, Darlin, Beth... Didn't really add or advance the story they were merely distractions, names on a page. The writing style was also awkward, halfhearted and not very enjoyable or captivating. The editing was very sloppy with repetitive phrases and clipped sentences. The ending was left open with no real conclusion which soured the read even more as there was no satisfaction leading up to that 'resolution' point. This book would have benefited from alternative character perspectives, more Kate/Lissa interaction, less secondary plot and character focus. Maybe then it would have filled 200 pages worth of the readers time.
What do You think about Kissing Kate (2007)?
I almost didn't want to write a review about this book because I didn't really enjoy it. Still, I'm trying to keep up with all of the books that I've read this year (I think that I've only missed a couple of reviews) so here it goes.I. Didn't. Like. It.Kissing Kate is the story of two best friends, Kate and Lissa. One night at a party, a very tipsy Kate approaches Lissa and kisses her. (In fact there's quite a bit of kissing going on and minor touching). When Kate's boyfriend and a couple of guys approach she pushes Lissa away and acts like nothing happened.And she continues to act like nothing happened at school the next day.This pretense carries over for weeks. The Kate and Lissa twosome now no longer talks because of this white elephant in the room. During this time Lissa realizes her attraction and love for Kate. She believes that Kate feels the same way but refuses to acknowledge it.So why didn't I like it? By no means was it because of the plot. Nope. I think the plot is quite believable and realistic for high school experiences. I didn't like it because I couldn't care about the characters. They weren't three dimensional, they weren't people I would picture in high school. I wanted to do a character intervention, shake them up a bit, and tell them "you have a good story here, do something with it."
—Christina (Reading Thru The Night)
There were some great moments in this book. And those moments were when we actually got glimpses into the relationship between Lissa and Kate. I thought the progression of thier relationship was well done and the main character, Lissa, was interesting and funny. I felt that some of the supporting characters took away from the story sometimes and I didn't care much for the lucid dreams stuff. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I liked the parts in this book that actually dealt with Lissa's sexuality and her coming to terms with it. I just wish there'd been more of them.
—Carol Velasquez
This book was interesting. In the end, I was left hanging and I felt that the issues weren't resolved. Kate and Lissa never really made up, and they never really had that one final fight. Then I thought a little bit. Maybe the main conflict wasn't Kate and Lissa's relationship; as friends or something more, but about how Lissa felt about who she was. I felt like some of the good in this this book were Lissa's date with Finn and Lissa talking to Ariel's cousin. She discovered that she was okay with how she felt about Kate, and that even if she really wasn't gay or straight, she was just a shade of gray and that was okay.
—Sophie N
