Who I Kissed

by Janet Gurtler

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Who I kissed is a deeply heart wrenching book full of emotional drama and wonderful teen angst. Janet Gurtler penned an amazing novel that hooked and reeled me in from the start to the finish. It's one of those books that leaves you feeling incredibly emotionally spent, but in a really good way. Several times I asked myself, "WHAT IS THIS I AM READING?!". It was just that good at holding my interest and was so easy for me to connect emotionally with all of the characters in the book.

There is a beautiful display in the intense burden of struggle for Samantha, that was incredibly palpable and real. It was hard reading this novel sometimes, because of the depressing nature, but Gurtler did such a fantastic job of winning me over with her wonderful character development, intense emotional atmosphere, and wonder story dymanics. It made everything so incredibly realstic and easy to connect with on such a fundamental level of enjoyment and the Samantha's struggle was beautifully displayed and sympathetic. How could she have known that Alex had an allergy to peanuts, when she kissed him in an effort to make Zee jealous? That alone caused a whole new crop of thoughts to pop up and niggle at my brain. The result of what happens after that fatal kiss, is what nearly becomes Samantha's undoing. How in the world does she get to live and enjoy a happy life, when she was the cause of Alex's death? She finds herself in such a horrible emotionally unstable state, that she starts withdrawing from her friends, gives up on swimming, and pretty much life in general.

Who I Kissed is a terribly heart-wrenching and tragic story told. The beauty is in the tragedy and watching Samantha grow and overcome the grief that she didn't mean to cause. The struggle in that alone, will tug at any person's heart and have them sympathizing with her. Janet Gurlter has taken such a difficult topic and spun it into a wonderfully realistic book that anyone would enjoy reading. This is certainly not a book to be missed out on or overlooked.