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A review by ashley_mrose530
6 Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) by Tess Sharpe
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Sadly, I really didn't like this one. I will say that I liked the focus on mental health and how the book explored Penny's relationship with her mom and how toxic her mom was. But that's the only reason why this one got a 1.75 star rating.
First, I very much disliked Penny from the start. I thought she was way too immature for her age and just whiny. It really bothered me that she got upset that her mom was donating her liver to save her best friend's life. Like she actually got angry at her mom for deciding to do that. And this happened before we got any background info about her relationship with her mom at all. So she came off as a selfish brat who didn't care about her love interest's mom. Even with the background info, she still isn't out in a good light with that one to me. She also got mad that her mom painted her grief? Ridiculous. Of course she did and she's allowed to do that because even if she wasn't there it still affected her too! Her other opinions about how her mom was acting were valid but these two really rubbed me the wrong way after already disliking her character.
Tate was better, though I don't think she had much personality outside of being her mom's caretaker while she was sick and hiding her feelings for Penny. There wasn't much there to dislike to be honest. But because I didn't like Penny so much, I therefore didn't care about her relationship to Tate either so I got bored of the book by the end and wasn't even happy to see them finally kiss.
This book also suffered from trying to shove too many troupes together. They had grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, one bed, and fake dating. And none of them were very realistic either. I don't know why the girls grew up together but basically hated each other? It didn't make sense to me. The forced proximity would have made sense if it happened before the events of the book because it seemed like both families were struggling for a long time and you would think they would have thought to try to live together earlier to save money.
Anyway, there were many things that I hated about this book and then I just got bored with it by the end so I don't even really know how the issues with Penny's mom got resolved but I don't really care either. Definitely should have DNF'd this one.
First, I very much disliked Penny from the start. I thought she was way too immature for her age and just whiny. It really bothered me that she got upset that her mom was donating her liver to save her best friend's life. Like she actually got angry at her mom for deciding to do that. And this happened before we got any background info about her relationship with her mom at all. So she came off as a selfish brat who didn't care about her love interest's mom. Even with the background info, she still isn't out in a good light with that one to me. She also got mad that her mom painted her grief? Ridiculous. Of course she did and she's allowed to do that because even if she wasn't there it still affected her too! Her other opinions about how her mom was acting were valid but these two really rubbed me the wrong way after already disliking her character.
Tate was better, though I don't think she had much personality outside of being her mom's caretaker while she was sick and hiding her feelings for Penny. There wasn't much there to dislike to be honest. But because I didn't like Penny so much, I therefore didn't care about her relationship to Tate either so I got bored of the book by the end and wasn't even happy to see them finally kiss.
This book also suffered from trying to shove too many troupes together. They had grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, one bed, and fake dating. And none of them were very realistic either. I don't know why the girls grew up together but basically hated each other? It didn't make sense to me. The forced proximity would have made sense if it happened before the events of the book because it seemed like both families were struggling for a long time and you would think they would have thought to try to live together earlier to save money.
Anyway, there were many things that I hated about this book and then I just got bored with it by the end so I don't even really know how the issues with Penny's mom got resolved but I don't really care either. Definitely should have DNF'd this one.