By Tillie Cole
Pages: 316
Genre: Chick-Lit, Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
On the 4th of January 2020, I bought three books:
- Leigh Bardugo – Six of Crows
- Nir Eyal – Insdistracable
- Tillie Cole – A Thousand Boy Kisses
I read Indistractable by Nir Eyal, as my productivity reboot for the year. (I always seem to read a non-fiction book about productivity at the start of the year).
Six of Crows, I had to read twice, as the first time was a DNF and then I attempted it again as an audiobook nearly a year later. I still hated it.
Then there is Tillie Cole. I’ll be honest and I thought this book was on my bought TBR pile for a lot longer than 2020. So I was surprised that it has only been there for three years.
Having just finished Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks, I knocked off another book on my Kobo TBR list. Book 32 on my list to be exact.
The list I have is totally random. It’s not in alphabetical or chronical order. I have no idea what I was thinking when I was creating this list, but it’s a record of all the books I have purchased that I have not read yet. It’s a start.
Let’s get back to the review.
“Pretty cover,” I thought, well do not let a pretty cover deceive you. This book is DEPRESSO EXPRESSO!
The reviews of this book are mixed. You will either love it or you will hate it. I fell in the love camp.
Rune and Poppy first meet as five-year-olds, as next-door neighbours and their bond is instant.
Poppy got a gift from her grandmother (mamaw) before she died. It was a challenge, to capture 1,000 boy kisses. This is a challenge that Poppy doesn’t think that she can achieve until she gets her first kiss from her best friend and next-door neighbour Rune.
At age 15, Rune and Poppy are split apart, and Rune has to go back with his family to Norway. This just about breaks apart Rune. His hatred for his father is immense.
Poppy and Rune keep in contact for two months, and then there is nothing. She ghosts him.
Rune is angry, he’s bitter, and he is heartbroken.
Then at age 17, Rune returns back to his home, only to discover that Poppy has also returned home.
When Rune discovers the truth of why Poppy ghosted him, he is heartbroken.
This book has elements of “A Walk to Remember” and “The Fault in Our Stars“. Just mentioning these two books will give you an idea of where this book is going without giving too many spoilers.
A thousand boy kisses, while sad, it is also beautiful at the same time.
There is a scene towards the end of the book where Poppy is playing her cello. As someone who played the viola for years and was in the orchestra for years, I could identify with this scene and the classical piece too.
That’s when the waterworks started.
This was the type of book, I had to put down and come back to because it was just so bittersweet. My emotions could only take so much.
Cole will make you want to treasure every moment and enjoy all the little things, but most importantly to live.