6 Times We Almost Kissed: 02/18/23

6 Times We Almost Kissed by Tess Sharpe is an enemies to lovers tale. Penny and Tate aren't exactly friends but their mothers are best friends. When Penny's mother offers to donate part of her liver to Tate's mother and the two families end up living together for the duration, the girls vow to play nice for their mothers' sake. What they don't expect is to fall in love even if everyone else sees the romantic tension between the two.

This YA romance comes close to the "not related by blood" incest trope that shows up in a number of anime series. Despite the blurb, I wasn't expecting it here. For the most part it's not, as there's very little in the way of romance or even friendship.

Instead the novel is mostly melodrama. There's Penny's grief over her father's death. There are lengthy flashbacks over how he died and how Penny couldn't save him. There's Tate having to sell her truck and take over the household finances because of her mother's illness. Then of course, there's the operation and all those logistics.

Beyond the unending trauma porn, there's the lack of unique voice for each of the characters. Honestly most of the time I couldn't tell the girls apart or remember which girl went with which mother. There's so much dialog with little in the way of characterization that I didn't have anything to hold on to.

Two stars

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