by Tess Sharpe
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Publishing Date: January 24, 2023
Synopsis:
Six moments lead us to two girls, one kiss, and three little words that were maybe always true in this gorgeous novel perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and Jenny Han.
Penny and Tate have always clashed. Unfortunately, their mothers are lifelong best friends, so the girls’ bickering has carried them through playdates, tragedy, and more than one rom-com marathon with the Moms. When Penny’s mother decides to become a living donor to Tate’s mom, ending her wait for a liver transplant, things go from clashing to cataclysmic. Because in order to help their families recover physically, emotionally, and financially, the Moms combine their households the summer before senior year.
So Penny and Tate make a pact: They’ll play nice. Be the drama-free daughters their mothers need through this scary and hopeful time. There’s only one little hitch in their plan: Penny and Tate keep almost kissing.
It’s just this confusing thing that keeps happening. You know, from time to time. For basically their entire teenaged existence.
They’ve never talked about it. They’ve always ignored it in the aftermath. But now they’re living across the hall from each other. And some things—like their kisses—can’t be almosts forever.
My Review
Tess Sharpe somehow managed to create an enemies to lovers sapphic romance that was also childhood-almost-friends to lovers but also not??? From the start the characters both dislike and pine for each other simultaneously, but it never seems like insta-love since we get so much build up and back story, with alternate timeline and dual POV. I loved it! The slow burn as we travel though the history of all their "almost" kisses! the forced proximity! the mutual goals that bring them together against all odds! This book has a lot of fun moments but it is definitely heavy too. There were amazing discussions of grief and mother daughter relationship hardships. I really admired the characters in this story. They were very dimensional and layered. Everyone were messy and had realistic faults but somehow still made me root for them. I felt the emotion they felt: anger, grief, love. It was the perfect balance of coming of age, discovery and identity, but also queer romance representation with characters whose sexualities are already majorly established. At first the back and forth timeline was a little confusing but as I kept reading I got used to it and was glad to have the different perspectives. Thought-provoking, fast-paced, and capable of pulling at your heart strings, I highly recommend this one.
Annotation Art
Born in a mountain cabin to a punk-rocker mother, Tess Sharpe grew up in rural northern California. She lives deep in the backwoods with a pack of dogs and a growing colony of formerly feral cats. She is the author of Barbed Wire Heart, the critically acclaimed YA novel Far From You and the upcoming Jurassic World prequel, The Evolution of Claire.
She is also the co-editor of Toil & Trouble, a feminist anthology about witches. Her short fiction has been featured in All Out, an anthology edited by Saundra Mitchell.
Tess is represented by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret Literary Management. Please send all rights inquiries and blurb requests to Jim.
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