Release day is January 24!
Six moments lead us to two girls, one kiss, and three little words that were maybe always true in this gorgeous novel perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and Jenny Han.
Penny and Tate have always clashed. Unfortunately, their mothers are lifelong best friends, so the girls’ bickering has carried them through playdates, tragedy, and more than one rom-com marathon with the Moms. When Penny’s mother decides to become a living donor to Tate’s mom, ending her wait for a liver transplant, things go from clashing to cataclysmic. Because in order to help their families recover physically, emotionally, and financially, the Moms combine their households the summer before senior year.
So Penny and Tate make a pact: They’ll play nice. Be the drama-free daughters their mothers need through this scary and hopeful time. There’s only one little hitch in their plan: Penny and Tate keep almost kissing.
It’s just this confusing thing that keeps happening. You know, from time to time. For basically their entire teenaged existence.
They’ve never talked about it. They’ve always ignored it in the aftermath. But now they’re living across the hall from each other. And some things—like their kisses—can’t be almosts forever.
Review:
Ohmygoodness…this book!
First, though this book is all kinds of delightful, its gorgeous cover (and awesome title!) *might* make you think it’s just a lighthearted YA rom com, so make sure you either check out the author’s content warnings or at the VERY least, actually read the blurb for it (which, if I did, I did so long ago I have zero memory of it? I’m not even sure what I did to get a print ARC in the first place but I’m so grateful I did!) because there are some really heavy things going on between these pages.
Keep a box (or 3) of tissues handy. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
I loved Tate and Penny’s book! Even the parts that made me cry (which seemed to be roughly every other page, for Pete’s sake) were just so, so good. It’s dual POV, and there’s quite a bit of back and forth with the timeline–completely justified, but pay attention while reading to avoid temporary confusion. Framing the story around the six almost kisses was a great idea, not to mention a great big this is going to be slow burn! warning. All kinds of will-they-won’t-they goodness here, and it took all of my self control not to actually squee out loud when there was only one bed. I mean, I think Tess Sharpe owed me, after all the tears she wrung out of me to get to that ending 😉
My first book from this author, but absolutely not my last. Between this book and Talia Hibbert‘s Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute , 2023 is starting out to be a stellar year for contemporary YA!
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.