Six Times We Almost Kissed is a heart-wrenching story of love, grief, friendship and guilt with glimmers of hope and a blossoming sapphic relationship. Check out my full thoughts below. Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette and Tess Sharpe for my early copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Title: Six Times We Almost Kissed
Author: Tess Sharpe
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Publisher: Hachette Children’s Group
Release Date: 2nd February 2023
My Rating:
Six Times We Almost Kissed is a story I fell deeply in love with. Not only from a personal point of view but because this book is so heart-wrenchingly emotional. You can’t help but root for both Penny and Tate who find themselves in difficult circumstances but it is the challenges they face that keep bringing them together thanks to the friendship of their mothers. Penny has and is dealing with a lot; her father died in an accident, she was seriously injured, her relationship with her mother is in tethers and she doesn’t quite know what to do about it all. Tate’s mom is extremely unwell but thanks to Penny’s mom is receiving a life changing transplant. The complexities of Penny and Tate’s lives really bring them together and the emotion shared between the two (not always positive!) is very relatable.
I really liked how the story was structured with alternating POVs between Penny and Tate. It was satisfying being the outsider and knowing that despite their stony exteriors towards each other they were both secretly falling/already in love with one another. Then there were the flashbacks to all the times they almost kissed – usually after a particularly emotional moment. It all really helped to build the emotion and connection to the characters. It would be hard to read this book and not have a connection with them.
The last few chapters of this book really broke my heart. This book deals with such raw themes such as mental health and grief. Penny’s grief in particular was difficult to read about, not only did she lose her Dad the day he died but her relationship with her mom has never been the same. I loved her Gran and the fact that this was such a women empowering story. Women looking after women, female friendships, sapphic relationships. It was exactly what I needed!
Have you read Six Times We Almost Kissed? Is it on your TBR? Tell me more!
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