Saturday, September 27, 2014

#42: Kiss and Make Up by Katie D. Anderson

Kiss and Make Up is an ideal novel for teenage girls (12-16 maybe).  I read it because a friend of a friend wrote it and I thought perhaps my 13 year old daughter might enjoy reading it.  After this post is done, I am going to leave the book in her room.  It's a good one for girls to read.

Kiss and Make Up is the story of Emerson Taylor, a 16 year old girl with a unique gift--she can see into people's minds when she kisses them.  With declining grades and the possibility of being forced to leave her private school because she's not doing well, Emerson decides to use her gift as a short cut to studying and begins kissing boys, and a lot of them, to improve her grades.  Oh my!

About half-way through the book I really began to wonder if the story was ever going to make kissing boys for personal gain seem like the wrong thing to do and I was happy when Emerson's plans began to go awry.  My fear, as a mother of two girls, is that I don't want my girls ever to think that it's OK to kiss a million boys.  Emerson eventually learns very important lessons about both kissing and studying hard in school, which made the mom in me stand up and cheer!

On a side note, I absolutely loved the make-up tie in.  Emerson's aunt (Arch, who is raising Emerson and her sister Piper) is a Stellar Rep (akin to a Mary Kay consultant) and as a result Emerson is very into make-up, particularly lip gloss (which works with her desire to kiss).  By the end of the novel, Emerson has become a Stellar rep and is helping her friends reach their beauty potential.  It's a cute side story and helps to round out Emerson's character.

I loved this adorable story and hope that Katie writes more!

Happy reading everyone!
:) Dodie

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