The Kiss Off by Sarah Billington

Release Date: May 15, 2012
Publisher: Billington Media
Pages: 260
Series: The Kiss Off #1
Review Source: eBook from author for review

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
When sixteen year old Poppy Douglas writes a song about her ex-boyfriend Cam and ex-friend Nikki, she has no idea that her heartbreak is about to go global.

A local band picks up her song from Youtube and soon she’s along for the ride with her own fanbase as they blow up on the local club scene and hit the international charts. Though it turns out leaving Cam behind isn’t as easy as she had hoped.

Tangled in a web of unfinished homework, ill-considered sexting and a new lead-singer boyfriend, Poppy has a choice to make between the ex that inspired it all and the rock God whose poster lines the inside of half the lockers at school. But as she struggles to keep her emotional dirty laundry private, she learns that the truth can be hard to find when your life is in the headlines.

My Thoughts:
I absolutely adored the concept of this book, and I had seen so many positive reviews, which is why I decided to accept it for review. I wish I could have enjoyed it more, because I still really love the plot of the book in general. In the end, though, this book just didn’t work for me. The whole book felt very run-on, like things kept happening and happening, but it felt like there wasn’t any real plan for the book.

Poppy also came across as a very unreliable narrator. Despite being in her head I never really felt like I knew what she was feeling. She withheld crucial information, and even after reading the whole book I still had no clue what happened with the Poppy/Cam breakup. I thought most of the characters were very shallow, and none of the secondary characters felt well developed to me.

For me the problem with this book was just a case of not being able to connect to the characters at all. There were all these relationships going on, and yet I couldn’t feel the connection between any of the characters. By the end of the book I just didn’t care what was happening, and I only managed to finish it because I was so close to the end. I hate when this happens, because it’s frustrating to me as a blogger to be so negative about a book. Unfortunately the only real positive I can come up with for this one is the premise, which unfortunately fell flat.

The Cover:
I really like it, especially the whole ticket idea for the title information.

Rating:
[1.5/5]

Find The Kiss Off by Sarah Billington on Goodreads; check Sarah's website for purchase links.