ARC, 320 pages
Release Date: March 12, 2019Published by: First Second Books
Read from: March 2-3, 2019Stand-aloneSource: Publisher (I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: Homophobia, Transphobia, Catholic ReligionFor fans of: Contemporaries, Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age, LGBTQIAP+, YAAmanda can’t figure out what’s so exciting about kissing. It’s just a lot of teeth clanking, germ swapping, closing of eyes so you can’t see that godzilla-sized zit just inches from your own hormonal monstrosity. All of her seven kisses had been horrible in different ways, but nothing compared to the awfulness that followed Kiss Number Eight. An exploration of sexuality, family, and faith, Kiss Number Eight is a coming-of-age tale filled with humor and hope.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I don’t normally like to review graphic novels, so this may be really short. But I did have some feelings about this one and I wanted to at least get some of them down. If nothing else, just to tell people why I almost didn’t finish it……
Amanda is growing up and figuring everything out. The one thing she doesn’t think she’s missing is kissing. So far she’s had 7 kisses and none of them have been any good. But her eighth kiss changes her world in so many different ways.
At the beginning of my review here, I have a couple TWs. As I stated, this is a coming of age tale. Amanda is growing up and discovering who she is, but the people surrounding her aren’t always fans of what she’s learning. In the end it turns out ok, but the in between was so hard to read. I totally cried at some places. I couldn’t stand the things that happened to her. I’m glad in the end it worked out, but if you have a hard time reading things like that, please be mindful that it’s there when diving into this one.
Now the characters, MOST of them got on my nerves. I hated Amanda’s best friend. And I realized pretty early on why she didn’t just drop her as a friend. (As she should have!) And their other friend Laura, was basically used the entire book and I didn’t like the way they treated her. Amanda could have done so much better with friends if she had only just tried.
As for the art, I REALLY liked it! Although I wished it was in color (Petty Betty I know) But it was something about the characters and that sketchy look that made me fall for it. To be honest, the art and the promise of a happy ending was the only thing that got me through this book. The art helped raise the heavy tone of the book and I thought it worked well together.
Although this wasn’t my favorite, I still enjoyed certain parts of it. I’m not sure it deserves all the hype its gotten, but in my opinion its still worth the read.
