The Kiss Off

by Sarah Billington

[lizarodz]

The Kiss Off turned out to be a great story and a fast read for me. I was hooked after the first few chapters :)

The Kiss Off is the title of the song that Poppy writes because she was angry after seeing Cam, her ex, and his new girlfriend together at a party. Poppy has a YouTube channel in which she sings the songs she writes; this is a way for her to vent and share things that happen in her life. Ty’s band, The Academy Lies, picks up the song and makes it a hit. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Poppy is a music oriented 16-year-old that has a pretty normal life, until The Kiss Off. She is a good friend, has a healthy social life, and is not too crazy about school. She is also really funny and straightforward (maybe too much!) and doesn’t always things before she acts. I love being in her head though.

At the beginning Poppy sees Ty as a “rebound” guy, but he turns out to be adorable. The couple meets after one big embarrassing moment (Poppy seem to be good with those), and become fast friends and even a little bit more. I really like Ty because even though he became famous rather fast, he was true to himself, down-to-earth and he genuinely cared for Poppy. I think that they made a sweet couple.

I’m quite happy to see a protective, supportive family! In a lot of YA books parents are negligent or non-existent, but Poppy has a closely knit family that not only show interest in her life, but that are protective of her (and with good reason!). I love them all, even Rory, The Pest, Bex and Poo. I’m also glad that both Poppy and Ty had a close group of friends that were not, how to put this? crazy. You know what I mean, right? Often times the teens are into drinking, drugs, and irresponsible sex and so on and so forth. This group was tamer, and to me more real, because of it.

The Kiss Off is about growing up and the pains that go with it. It’s about heartbreak, first love, making bad choices, being angry and making peace, about attaining fame and all what goes along with that. The story is simple, but not boring. The writing is very down to earth and funny. The pace was a bit slow at the beginning, but I found myself interested in the story regardless. I appreciate that Billington tackled serious issues, such as drinking, sexting, and sex (or the possibility of being responsible about it) in the book.


Overall, The Kiss Off is an entertaining and funny contemporary romance. I will definitely read Over It, the next book in the series.