Kissing Kate

by Lauren Myracle

[clementine]

I must have been about 11 or 12 the first time I read this book, and I really loved it then. Now, though, I'm more critical, and I definitely don't love it.

Having read Myracle's Shine this year, I couldn't help but compare the two books a bit. They really aren't very similar, but they both had the unfortunate quality of having a fantastic premise involving LGBTQ characters that I didn't feel was explored in nearly enough depth.

With Kissing Kate in particular, I just never felt like Myracle really went into Lissa's emotions enough. There were all these subplots - Beth's friend Vanessa, Jerry courting Sophie, Finn and Ariel - and I think they took away from Lissa's inner struggle a bit. It all seemed a bit shallow, considering she was going through a huge crisis what with falling in love with her best friend and all.

I think "shallow" is probably the best word to describe this book. I certainly didn't hate it, and there was undeniably something there. I think that for younger teens, this book could be pretty important. But for me, it was a bit "meh".