Review: The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams

The International Kissing Club

Author: Ivy Adams

Series: -

Pages: 400

Genre: Young Adult Ages 12+

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Amazon: TheInternational Kissing Club

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Piper, Cassidy, Mei, and Izzy have been best friends their whole lives. And they've always agreed on one goal: to get out of tiny Paris, Texas, and see the world. The school's foreign exchange program seems like the perfect escape: Piper will go to the original Paris; Mei will go to China; Cassidy will go to Australia; and Izzy, unable to afford the program, will stay at home. To add spice to their semester away, and to stay connected to their best friends, the girls start The International Kissing Club, a Facebook page where they can anonymously update one another and brag about all the amazing guys they're meeting. After all, these girls are traveling abroad: amazing guys abound at every turn! But sometimes fun, flirty vacation flings turn into more serious romances, and sometimes you don't return from abroad the same person you were. Will the girls' relationships-and their friendships-be able to survive?

Review: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams was kindly provided to me by Bloomsbury Publishing in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This sweet, fun and heart-warming story follows best friends Piper Douglas, Cassidy Barlow, Mei Jones, and Izzy O’Reilly as they enter the schools foreign exchange program for a chance to travel the world and leave behind their hometown of Paris, Texas.

Piper is the most eager to leave after she was the centre of a nasty prank and will visit Paris to study art; Mei will go to China in the hopes of discovering more about her heritage and biological parents; Cassidy to Australia; and Izzy picks Costa Rica for their rainforests but unfortunately has to stay in Texas to work on a farm as she is unable to afford the program. As a way to keep in touch and up to date on who is doing what and with whom, they start up a Facebook page where they will log the details about the boys they meet – naming it, The International Kissing Club and each receiving a point for boys they kiss, it was a virtual gathering place to record their conquests – this little bit of fun of course doesn’t come without repercussions.

This book was filled with fun and quirky dialogue and interesting adventures – each of the characters had both endearing and annoying traits but their friendship is so sweet and believable you couldn’t help but relate to each of them, we are also given a chapter from each POV which really gets you into their thought process, I especially enjoyed Cassidy, she was so feisty and Mei’s need to learn more about her birth parents really interested me – Piper at times got on my nerves, she came across as self absorbed and Izzy I really felt for and loved reading about.

The first portion of the book was a tad too slow but it soon picked up and held my interest as I was reading along with what each of the girls was experiencing and their reactions to the different cultures, their journeys didn’t come easily or without struggle but it was interesting to watch them progress as characters throughout the book.

Despite enjoying The International Kissing Club, I definitely think it would be suited to someone a lot younger than me. The writing was simplistic and entertaining and the storyline and teenage drama I would have really connected with when I was a teen and in high school myself.

Overall, The International Kissing Club is a sweet, light and fluffy read about true friendship, love and self discovery.

Note: Ivy Adams is the pseudonym for authors Emily McKay, Tracy Deebs, and Shellee Roberts so I am quite eager to read more books written by each of these authors.

Thank-you kindly to Bloomsbury Publishing Australia for the opportunity to read and review The International Kissing Club.