had a hard time pushing through it, The writing style was not my favorite. I wish there was an epilogue and it felt rushed. It was super cute but overall not my favorite.

What's in a Kiss? by Lauren Kate intricately weaves the magic of second chances and parallel universes into a delightful tale of love and self-discovery. As Olivia, a furloughed drama teacher, faces her high school rival, Jake Glasswell, at her best friend's wedding, a chance encounter catapults her into an alternate reality where a long-lost prom night kiss sparks a different life with Jake as the love of her life. The novel skillfully blends enemies-to-lovers dynamics with humor, banter, and swoon-worthy moments, making Liv and Jake's journey both nostalgic and endearing. While the supporting characters, particularly Liv's relationships with her best friend Masha and her mom Lorena, add warmth to the narrative, the intrigue of parallel universes and unanswered questions leave readers pondering the significance of choices and love. Overall, What's in a Kiss? is a sweet and whimsical exploration of unexpected love, inviting readers to reflect on the magic of second chances.

Jake Glasswell is Liv's Lyft passenger. He was once her high school nemesis and prom date, who humiliated her.
He's now a successful TV personality and very attractive. Liv's life has not gone to plan. This weekend they are the maid of honor and best man of their best friend's wedding. But when her best friend says "I DO", Liv is suddenly living in an alternate world where Jake is the love of her life.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What's in a Kiss follows the 13 Going on 30 storyline of what could have been if just one moment was changed. I think this concept is just so fascinating and the fact that Olivia's (our main character) "fairy godmother" like figure was a high yogi added to the humor of this life altering world. This was fun, it was heartbreaking, it was charming, it was warm, it just pulled your heart strings in every which way. Olivia was an easy character to root for as she so desperately wants to fix her life, but she learns that there are upsides and downsides to every moment and choice.

The romance in this novel was sweet and nauseating in a good way, I just wish we saw more of the "Real" Olivia and Jake because that storyline was so interesting and their enemies to lovers plot line was entertaining. I honestly would not have been mad if this novel was a bit longer to include an epilogue or even cut down on the other world life that Olivia experiences. One thing that constantly got on my nerves was the fact that we never truly got an answer as to why this other world Olivia has burned bridges with her mom and best friend. It was avoided and it felt like I was constantly being strung along, not fully paying attention to Olivia and Jake's storyline because I was trying to figure out this mysterious fallout she had. Especially because this novel promotes such strong female friendships, I would have liked to see some sort of realization and clarity as to what occurred.

Overall though, I loved the concept and the characters, I got attached to them easily and just wanted more from them! 13 Going on 30 was one of my favorite rom-coms growing up, so seeing it in this light was a dazzling time.

What's in a Kiss is bit predictable, but I really enjoyed the self realization that the main character goes through.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

I want to start by saying thank you so much to Putnam and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of What's in a Kiss? in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I love the alternative universe/what if type of storyline. It's what immediately drew me to request this book. We don't really get to this piece of the storyline until 30-40% into the book, which felt slow. However, once we get there, the book really picks up when Olivia and Jake are together. Goodness, these two are lovely together and it was the element of the book that I enjoyed the most.

On one hand, the first third of the book felt slow - like we were spending too much setting up for the AU move, and then when we get to the AU, some parts of it felt rushed. I think the book would have really benefited from an epilogue. The last moment of the book was so wonderful that it felt abrupt when I went to the next page and found the book was done. Considering what struggles we'd just experienced Olivia and Jake going through in their alternative universe, it would have been nice to have a bit more resolution knowing which struggles they still faced back in their own timeline versus and which never came to fruition.

I've never read anything by this author and I thought the synopsis sounded so cute so I decided to give it a shot. I think this story was so adorable and pulled on my heart strings. Can't wait to check out the author's backlist and see what else they plan to write. Thank you again for the advance copy.

First and foremost, I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: Our main female character, Olivia, is planning her best friend, Masha's wedding. The best man to the groom is Jake, her high school nemesis along with her prom date who humiliated her years ago. Since that night, nothing in her life has ever gone as planned, especially when her dad died and never went to school to follow her dreams. It has been a total of ten years since that one night and something in that one night, as she watches her best friend get married, she stares into Jake's eyes and realizes everything has changed, the world has somehow shifted. The only downfall, Masha and her mom don't particularly like it.

With this story, I am not gonna lie, I had a hard time pushing through it, The writing style was not my favorite and I think I'm just not a huge fan of contemporary romances at this point. Plus Olivia was just a hot mess in general and I had a hard time connecting and liking her character. Jake was a sweetheart though.

What's in a Kiss? is my first book by author Lauren Kate. I really enjoyed her writing style and the premise of the book.

It did take me a few chapters (about 20%) to really get into the storyline and characters. But, overall I really enjoyed it and thought it was a unique take on romance and second chances.

I will say I am a total sucker for the “what if I did one thing different and everything changed” plot and an alternate universe, so Whats In a Kiss was right up my alley.

This enemies to lovers, second chance romance was so cute and a great light hearted rom-com- the perfect pallet cleanser for those of us who also like to dabble in the dark romance department, but need a little breather in between!

I really liked the magical feel and all the funny/clever banter. While, Olivia was just a hot mess (hey girl, I totally get it!) Jake definitely carried the book. He was just soo sweet and easy to love.

My only complaint is, I needed more explanations of things…. I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to give anything away, so let’s just say… “but why?! What happened?”

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice 🫑

I was dazzled by this book. It has everything I want in a romance comedy. We start off the book as Liv is preparing for her best friend’s wedding. She’s the maid of honor and the best man is the high school rival that she almost shared a kiss with on prom night. Now he’s famous, and she deferred Juilliard and drives for Lyft. When her best friends say “I do” Liv is transported to another reality. A reality where she and Jake have been in love since high school and she’s the famous one. Perfect, except for her best friend isn’t talking to her and something is up with her relationship with her mom too! What’s in a kiss? In Liv and Jake’s world it is everything. To put it simply I adored this book.

This was a cute read and perfect for your next poolside/beachy vacation. You definitely have to suspend your grasp on reality and lean into the alternate reality trope, but this was super cute and overall a really enjoyable read.

What's in a Kiss? stars Liv and Jake, who met in high school, and are reunited for their respective best friend's wedding. Ten years have past since high school but yet neither have fully moved on from their feelings. At the moment their friends are about to get married, Liv is taken to an alternate reality where her life has taken a different course. She are Jake are married, her career is extremely successful, but she is no longer close with her best friend or mom

Personally, I struggle with books that include alternate realities but Lauren Kate did a good job with this one. The chemistry between Liv and Jake was palpable and it was interesting to read how Liv was navigating this new reality. Liv learned somethings about herself and her relationships and was able to implement them once returning to reality.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A decade since high school, 'most likely to succeed' Olivia Dusk's life is not what she planned while her nemesis and fellow 'most likely to succeed', Jake Glasswell is a popular TV celebrity. Olivia is still nursing a grudge after feeling humiliated from an almost kiss at their prom. Thanks to a stoner yogi celebrant, she ends up in an alternative universe where she's a successful actress and married to Jake.

This book has a great premise, getting a chance to change a past moment to see how your life might have been after seeing your peers pull ahead from you. I really enjoyed the journey Olivia goes on in the 'high life' version of herself and discovering how she's completely misinterpreted Jake. Jake was just a fantastic partner, supporting Olivia. I loved the banter and spark they had with each other (even in the real world). I think its their pairing that is the strongest part of the book which kept me turning the page. There's nothing sexy like a man who emotionally available and communicates clearly.

However, while I enjoyed this book, at times it felt like an incomplete draft. It seemed like once Olivia got back to the real world, the author ran out of steam. I would've loved extra chapters exploring how Olivia moves forward in her professional life as well as her love life. Additionally this story was marred by uneven characterisation and incomplete world building with many loose plot threads thrown in without real explanation or resolution.

For instance, while I understand 'getting what you wish for' means downsides, I'm baffled by the superficial reasons for her best friend Masha and her mother Lorena cutting her off. Masha won't speak to her because they grew apart and Lorena cut off her own daughter for getting a loan to go to Julliard. Yet in the real world Olivia says her mum would've been happy for her to go. I also didn't understand why Jake's father died when he was 18 (which Olivia never heard about, so did he lie?) and in the high life they're estranged. Given the high life stems from Olivia's decision to kiss Jake, there wasn't a need for two different experiences.

Finally, this book would've benefited from fleshing out Olivia's return to the real world long after the wedding. The only real thing Olivia really seems to learn is how great Jake is but there's zero indication she's going to start making changes to change her life. For instance, recognising her co-dependency with her mother and setting boundaries (the end with the binoculars? not cute). Importantly, her own career plans . She had the chance to be a highly paid working TV actress, how did that not motivate her to start at least looking for an agent? If Jake in the high life finally came around about putting himself out there to advance his career, surely Olivia would've realised she should too?

I should add, while I have a lot of issues with this book I still had an enjoyable reading experience. I breezed through this book as I was kept interested to know what happens next. If you like books with a '13 Going on 30' concept, I still recommend giving this a go.

Thanks to Putnam/Penguin Group and NetGalley for the ARC.

The thing that I loved and also hated about this book was the rapid transition between Real Life and High Life. It felt very jarring and confusing for a long while. While jarring, I love the rapid transition because the confusion I felt gave me a sense of understanding for what Liv’s character was experiencing.

I really enjoyed how Liv figured out who and what was important to her. I especially loved the flash’s she got into her life as a teen and young adult that could have changed everything for her in so many ways. These flashes really helped me as a reader love the ending more. While implied Jake and Liv’s love would be inevitable it was fun to see how it could have happened in so many timelines.

I love the characters. Liv is so funny and relatable. I feel like her inner dialog is so similar to mine. Her relationship with her mom is the kinds I wish for all mother’s and daughters. I found it so heartbreaking that in the High Life reality that she and her mom were not speaking. I cried when she called her mom for advice. I love Jake’s character in the High Life. He is the most supportive husband. I really enjoyed how Liv got back into Masha’s life by knowing her best friend in the most detailed ways. I wished we got to know Fenny more and yet I get why we didn’t.

I am excited to recommend this book to friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion! I adored the chemistry between Liv and Jake (Glasswell!), rivals/enemies-to-lovers is truly one of my favorite tropes. The author did an amazing job of showing the longing that both characters had for each other over the years, and I really think that Liv had so much character development and self-learning while she was "living the high life". The only part of this novel that stops me from giving the novel a 5 star review is the lack of real explanation we were given as to why Masha and Liv's mother were estranged from her in the "high life" timeline. I think it was highly out of character (from all the info were given about the personalities of these women) that their relationships would have fallen as far apart as they did. Overlooking that detail, I think the story was very well-written and it was a super fun and enjoyable read! Out of the two time travel/alternate timeline books I've read in the past year, I vastly preferred this one. I definitely look forward to reading more books by this author in the future!

What's in a Kiss? by Lauren Kate is written in present tense, which is something I really don't like. It started slow, and the transition between the Real Life and High Life was confusing. It wasn't made clear right away that Olivia wasn't in Real Life anymore. However, it did get exciting a few chapters in and it stayed consistently exciting for the rest of the book. Starting in chapter 20 and ongoing for a few chapters it was really sad, and made me cry in a good way.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of what’s in a kiss.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. I liked the really stark differences between the two timelines. I definitely sped through this book to find out what happens

I definitely recommend

I wanted to love this book so badly but unfortunately I didn’t. I was intrigued by the concept- similar to 13 going on 30, it seemed like a fresh idea for a romance. Unfortunately not having proper context for each “reality” made it hard to connect with the characters and really root for any of them. I also felt the original offense by Jake wasn’t enough to warrant Olivia’s hatred in the first part of the book and that was hard to get over. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

What’s in a Kiss? is a sliding doors/freaky Friday story. What if the boy you thought was a jerk in high school was really the great love of your life? Lauren Kate does a great job giving us a believable turning point in the relationship and her handling of it is a great reminder that things are always the way you remember it. I will say that it was a bit black and white in terms of her relationship with her best friend and mom. It seemed to be a bit of a stretch that she would be so disregarded in one reality and not the other. (It is hard not to give spoilers). Overall the writing was good. I think most of my issues come from holes in the premise. But it was a fun read, I would recommend it to anyone that goes for the true love through time and space trope. (I received an ARC)