17 First Kisses

Author: Rachael Allen
Stars: 4 out of 5

Back of the Book
No matter how many boys Claire kisses, she can’t seem to find a decent boyfriend. Someone who wouldn’t rather date her gorgeous best friend, Megan. Someone who won’t freak out when he learns about the tragedy her family still hasn’t recovered from. Someone whose kisses can carry her away from her backwoods town for one fleeting moment.

Until Claire meets Luke.

But Megan is falling for Luke, too, and if there’s one thing Claire knows for sure, it’s that Megan’s pretty much irresistible.

With true love and best friendship on the line, Claire suddenly has everything to lose. And what she learns—about her crush, her friends, and most of all herself—makes the choices even harder.

In her moving debut, Rachael Allen brilliantly captures the complexities of friendship, the struggles of self-discovery, and the difficulties of trying to find love in high school. Fans of Sarah Ockler, Susane Colasanti, and Stephanie Perkins will fall head over heels for this addictive, heartfelt, and often hilarious modern love story.

My Review
I managed to read most of the book in one sitting, such a fun and well written YA book. 

I like how the book bounces between present situations of the new crush of Claire and her past kisses and problems following every boy she ever kissed from since second grade. 

Claire learns in her last year of high school the pact she made with her best friend to do something different may have backfired for her. She fights for the new guys attention and after initially losing the battle she gets him, but the cost is her best friend. Claire starts to realize that maybe the guy wasn't worth the friendship, her family learns that shes going to the rival school instead of following in the footsteps of her mother and father. Towards the end of the book her entire family has healed from losing her baby brother after 11 months of life. 


I like the book and I ate the story up. Plus I'm a sucker for happy endings and she makes a pact to date her long time best friend Sam after they graduate college.