Review Detail

6 TIMES WE ALMOST KISSED (AND ONE TIME WE DID) is a slow-burn Young Adult romance. This book is told from two points of view, following Tate and Penny for about a month and a half as they learn to live together while their mothers are undergoing and recovering from surgery. The book also has flashbacks to the other times they almost kissed.

What I Loved:
Tate and Penny are both dealing with trauma from the lives that they’ve lived. Tess Sharpe did not shy away from the nitty, gritty details of the trauma that these characters were experiencing. They had emotional blowouts and fights. They ran from their problems and threw themselves into new activities to keep themselves sane. Tess allowed for the characters and readers to experience the emotional impact that the trauma and traumatic events had on these teenagers.

The romance between Tate and Penny felt very well explored. These two characters have an entire background behind them that we don’t experience, but the author adds in enough details to make their connection feel authentic. The romance that readers are shown just adds to that depth. Tate and Penny are given a complex relationship that isn’t always smooth sailing.

The pacing of this book was handled extremely well. When balancing a current and past timeline, it can be difficult at times to get a good flow. The author managed to find the correct balance for this novel. Past events were revealed at times that made sense within the scope of the story. The tension and reveal were built-up and executed properly.

What Left Me Wanting More:
I thought the ending of the book was well-paced and decently well-handled. I think there could have been more time given to the characters interacting with their moms, especially Penny. It very well may have been intentional to leave that thread loose and it still works. But I think it would have been more impactful to see at least some of the aftereffects of what had happened in the last few chapters.

The timeline wasn’t very clear to me. The dates are clearly marked at the start of each chapter, but towards the end the healing and coming home timeline felt incorrect. This may have been an issue of the book not being clear enough, but it also may not have been. I fully acknowledge that this may have been an issue solely from my point of view.

Final Verdict:
6 TIMES WE ALMOST KISSED was an emotional ride. The author did not shy away from exploring the trauma that the characters had experienced and were experiencing in their lives. The characters were authentic teenagers, for better or worse, and the author made sure to give them time to grow and begin to heal. The romance did feel like a secondary genre at times, but it was written authentically to the characters. Despite a possibly wonky timeline, the pacing of the story was solid and allowed for important moments to be revealed at the correct time.

A slow-burn romance, 6 TIMES WE ALMOST KISSED managed to balance healing from trauma and forging a new(-ish) relationship.