so, i'm not reviewing this book in long paragraph. just make it short because i don't thing this one should be necessary enough. even though it answered my curiosity of Aurora's parents, but it was nothing more. the climax was flat, not too intriguing. but, this book still cute ❤

Aurora Skye has landed her prince charming, Hayden Paris, but the path to love is anything but smooth. After a visit to the emergency room nets Aurora a nickname that she would rather forget, will a promise to a friend threaten all that Aurora has worked so hard to gain?

Kissing Games is the second book in a series to How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You. The first one was a little cute, kind of a novelty, but that has worn off in a big way. The manipulations by Aurora's so-called friend, the hijacking of her idea, and the stilted relationship with her mom all come off as plot points. Real emotion is largely absent, leaving the characters to feel less than realistic. Overall, the novel was disappointing and I would hesitate to recommend it to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Kissing Games by NetGalley and the publisher, Wednesday Books. The choice to review this book was my own.

A cute little YA story. It was average i would say. Nothing was very stand out ish and it was pretty predictable to begin with. But a nice light read.

This was a cute follow-up to the first book, but I found myself frustrated a bit by Jelena's actions. I still adore Hayden and Aurora together and while I wanted to see the book focus more on them, since their relationship took a backseat to Jelena and Aurora's matchmaking campaign related drama, it was really nice to see Aurora's issues with her mom discussed and resolved. I also still love that Aurora's friends are so dynamic and interesting and that even though they make mistakes, at the end of the day still love and support each other.

I fell in love with How to Keep a Boy From Kissing You when I read it, so I was definitely excited when I found out that there was a sequel that followed Aurora and Hayden’s adventures once they got together. When I saw Kissing Games (originally titled How to Convince a Boy to Kiss You in its home of Australia) on Netgalley, I got really excited and had to read it. Unfortunately, while it wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t my favorite and I think I’m just going to pretend that How to Keep is a standalone.

One of my main issues with this book was the glut of romantic drama. There’s romantic drama for the protagonist Aurora and her new boyfriend Hayden, but there’s also too much romantic drama for just about every other couple that formed in the first book or are forming in this book, especially since Aurora is trying to set up new couples for her friend Jelena’s run for class president.

That was another issue – Jelena was the cause of a lot of problems in this book because she just had to win the presidency, even if it meant using her friends without their permission. She wasn’t as bad as she was at the end of the last book, when there was a little bit of friendship drama, but she kept volunteering her friends for stuff that would help her without making sure that they actually wanted to help, including Aurora. Aurora wasn’t ready to start setting up couples under her Find a Prince Program, but Jelena thought it would help her campaign, so it was prematurely opened to the public and caused some of the romantic drama.

I was also disappointed with the way some secondary characters were developed in this book (SLIGHT SPOILERS). It looked like things might be looking up with Aurora and her mother, but then things went really downhill by the end of this book. Things started looking up towards the end with her father’s girlfriend, though, and rather than being happy that there was less drama in Aurora’s life, I was frustrated because it was at the expense of her mother and her character, plus it just seemed out of nowhere.

Again, this wasn’t really a bad book and there were some humorous and romantic bits, just like the first book, but the drama got out of hand and kept me from falling in love with this book like I did with the first one. I do want to see what else Tara Eglington writes, though, and hopefully this was just a fluke for me.

This book series is funny! I was not expecting Aurora to have quirky humor. Loved the banter between the friends and the shenanigans they get into. There are some sweet parts with Hayden as well. Fun sequel.

I always feel accomplished these days whenever I manage to finish a YA book lmao

but ANYWAY

I enjoyed this book more than its predecessor. I really miss Aurora and her friends' shenanigans. Reading about this gang made me nostalgic about high school. There were a lot of fun things happening, and I'm also happy to report that the secondhand embarrassment was less this time around (book 1 nearly killed me). I also love how lovable Aurora and Hayden are as a couple, especially in the end.

Kissing Games by Tara Eglington is the 2nd book in the Aurora Skye series, and my first book by this author. Since I did not read the 1st book in the series, I might have missed something, but this was just OK to me. I did find myself laughing out loud in some parts, but overall just fell flat to me.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

picking up not long after how to keep a boy from kissing you left off, kissing games continues aurora skye's story with neighbor/boyfriend hayden paris and her group of friends.

jelena, aurora's bestie, has decided to run for student council president, using aurora's how to find your prince/princess program to entice the student body to vote for her. but aurora is learning that love isn't so easy to program. and keeps being thrown for loops in her own blossoming relationship with hayden.

added to that, she's got major parental drama to contend with. her flighty mother continuing the push–pull of giving her hope of a proper mother-daughter relationship and disappointing her with absence and neglect. her nad's also confusing relationship problems add to aurora's conflicted feelings about love.

but hayden proves strong and steadfast. he's loved aurora for years. he'll wait till she figures it out. and it's so swoonworthy.

**kissing games will publish on june 5, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press (wednesday books) in exchange for my honest review.

(content warning: this book includes a revenge porn/blackmail subplot toward the end)

THE PALM KISS: THE SEQUEL.

I’m not exactly quiet about how much I love How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You, nor have I been quiet about my excitement for its sequel. Aurora and Hayden are just so good together and have you heard the gospel of the palm kiss.

Anyway. Known as How to Convince a Boy to Kiss You back in its home country of Australia, Kissing Games is as much of a delight as its predecessor, but there’s a serious stumbling block in this sequel named Jelena Cantrill.

Things are on fire from the very first page, in which Aurora and Hayden just want to have a nice pizza date at her house. Aurora goes in for that sweet second kiss and everything is going fine, but theeeeeeen… Aurora’s long hair catches fire at the ends thanks to a candle on the table, which startles Aurora so badly that she bites right through Hayden’s lip and the bleeding from it refuses to stop, so he’s got to go to the emergency room for some stitches. It looks exactly as bad as it sounds.

And so begins a lengthy streak of things going wrong every time they try to kiss again. From someone smacking their heads together to being interrupted by the school bell, it seems like everything is against the two! All of it makes Aurora, optimistic romantic extraordinaire, doubt herself and whether her relationship with Hayden is really a relationship. Though the first half of the book features very little time of them together as a couple, the second half more than makes up for it, as does Hayden being such an incredible, supportive, and dependable boyfriend. He’s the kind of wonderful that might make a reader question their own romantic relationship!

Though Aurora’s woes are a driving force of the book, there’s another story that dominates the book: her friend Jelena’s campaign for class president. Without asking her or even informing her first, Jelena says Aurora is going to play matchmaker via the Find a Prince/Princess Program for three unlucky-in-love classmates. I’ve got my reservations about that, but the romantic entanglements of those three classmates make for engaging reading that comes with a twist or three.

Now then, Jelena. At the end of How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You, I’d found myself disliking Aurora’s richest friend for a few reasons. After reading this book, I flat-out despise her and can’t figure out for the life of me why she’s part of Aurora’s friend group. Almost every single problem in the novel is a direct result of Jelena’s actions, such as her forcing Aurora and the rest of the gang to take part in her campaign, telling people Aurora will do X without ever consulting Aurora, and making a spectacle of her friends’ relationships without asking any of them yet again.

Were I a student at Aurora and Jelena’s school, the latter’s sheer extravagance in her campaign efforts would irritate me so badly that I’d vote for someone else. Specifically, Julia. Who is Julia? Literally just a name of a character who’s also running for class president. The other candidates, proven douchenugget Alex West and some athlete whose name I can’t remember, are pretty terrible. Especially Alex, whose attempt to blackmail Jelena out of the election with nude photos of her is abominable.

So I’m in a position of deeply despising Jelena while also sympathizing with her when her mild weakness for her ex-boyfriend drops her into a precarious position.

But! Aurora causes some of the novel’s problems too. For some reason, she seems not to have experienced any character growth? She’s still exactly as oblivious as before and still unable to let someone finish talking. Half of her problems with Hayden wouldn’t have been problems had she just let him finish a sentence! The one good thing Jelena does is take a bunch of people–including Aurora and Hayden–on a disaster of a multiple-day wilderness course that allows our duo to finally talk things out. The course is part of her aforementioned campaign, so even when I think it did some good, it’s another part of her campaign that would annoy me into voting for Julia.

Yet as hard as I try, I really can’t hammer home how much of a problem Jelena is as well as how many problems she causes. She’s that bad!

I don’t want to conclude this review on a bad note, though! Despite Jelena, there’s so much to love here, such as its many challenges to Aurora’s romantic optimism. From the mom who walked out on the family wanting to re-establish their connection to her friend Lindsay no longer being sure she wants to be with Tyler when Aurora got them back together, Aurora has a lot to consider about love. It’s something of a proving ground for her beliefs and works well in that respect.

(She was wrong to urge Lindsay to stay with Tyler and make it work throughout this book, though. She wasn’t really hearing Lindsay and it’s sad that Aurora’s point of view on it prevails.)

Eglington has another book already out in Australia (My Best Friend is a Goddess) as well as another on the way (The Long Distance Playlist) and is still hard at work on more books. Hopefully, those books will make it over to the United States as well because I want them. If they’re as delightful as the Aurora Skye duology has been, American audiences will be in for some real treats!

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I was so excited when I found out Aurora was getting a second book. Her first book was so delightful, and I am always looking for something to make me smile. This book had a little more drama than the previous book, but it still delivered a bunch of fun hijinks and an adorable romance.

• Pro: I still love Aurora. She is in a class with Lara Jean Covey, as she is a sort of throwback and a little old fashioned. I mean this in the best way, because it's nice to see these girls represented out there.

• Pro/Con: I think it was important for Aurora to address some of the proverbial elephants in the room and really come to terms with her abandonment issues, but it was hard for me to see Aurora this way. She was also a lover or love, and her doubt in the institution of love almost made my heart stop.

• Pro: Hayden is still a prince. Yep. Everything I loved about him in the last book was turned up a notch in Kissing Games. He really was a most patient and understanding guy, and he did some of the sweetest and most swoony things too.

• Pro: All the silly shenanigans are still there. The gang gets into some silly fun situations, and I found myself laughing a whole lot.

• Pro: This book touched upon some actual issues, and I was surprised and delighted by the way Eglington handled Jelena's situation.

• Pro: It was fun getting to spend time with the other characters. I felt like I got to know them a little better in this book, and the banter between them was snappy and always entertaining.

• Con: HOWEVER, I sort of wanted more time with just Aurora and Hayden.

• Pro: The friendship game was strong. Aurora had a great little squad, and it's always wonderful seeing female characters, who are so loyal and supportive of each other.

• Pro: The ending was sweet and adorable and what I would expect for Aurora. It put a big smile on my face.

Overall: Another adventure with Aurora and the gang, which was fun, fully, and heartwarming.

I really enjoyed the author's writing and all the dynamics she created involving Aurora's friends and their relationships with the boys.
A very entertaining book, ideal reading to distract the mind or heal that basic reading hangover. I loved it.
I also liked the way Aurora's relationship with her parents was approached, and how she had to face the moment of maturity. hayden is a truely-cute prince.

If you like adorable, sugary-sweet romances—I have your next read. KISSING GAMES by Tara Eglington is a YA romance and the sequel to HOW TO KEEP A BOY FROM KISSING YOU, but full disclosure, I hadn’t read the first book and wasn’t too confused just diving in to the story. Now you have no excuse not to read this book.

The 411: Aurora Skye’s landed her prince charming, Hayden Paris. And she got her wish—one first kiss with all the knee-trembling, butterfly-inducing gloriousness she’d hoped for. But instead of happily ever after, their second kiss landed Hayden in the emergency room. If that’s not mortifying enough, the whole school is now referring to her as “Lethal Lips.”

When Aurora’s best friend decides to run for class president and offers up Aurora’s matchmaking service as one of her campaign initiatives, the kissing games begin. Aurora has to convince everyone that her program works—but that might be hard to do when it seems like her own love life might be falling apart.

Once upon a time there lived a princess name Aurora that is where the fairy tale ends for this high school girl. Her life is definitely not easy trying to deal with her parents and her new romance with boy next door Hayden. But, will our fair princess find her happy ever after with her prince. You have to read this great young adult book and find out.

Content rating and review

http://sagethoughtsonbooks.blogspot.com/2018/04/kissing-games.html

DNF I just couldn't get into the story. It was too silly and shallow. I just can't see it happening.

Fun light hearted book that had really fun characters. Storyline was also really fun to see play out

"Kissing Games" picks up where "How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You" leaves off. Aurora Skye is expanding her how to find a prince/princess program into the high school market, dealing with her absentee/neglectful mother's return, and navigating the tricky waters of her new relationship. The book begins beautifully with a disastrous kiss that made me laugh out loud and excited to jump in to this sequel- and led Aurora to get the nickname of "Lethal Lips." From there, the book had some of the same problems as the first where it goes a little slowly for my liking and seems a little too superficial- it definitely seems suited and targeted to younger teens.

Some of Aurora's friends (especially Jelena) were incredibly hard to like and hard to tolerate at times- her inconsideration and superficiality makes me surprised she has any friends. She really uses her friends, and especially Aurora, as a means to an end. Aurora is also dealing with her mother's abusive and manipulative relationship. I felt really terribly for Aurora during most of the book. It was hard to read at times, because she's suffering from several angles.

Hayden is amazing- he's super mature and acts much older and wiser than his young years. The really positive spin of the book is that he handles all the relationship hurdles with aplomb! He is the star of the book, and I was glad to see the way he navigates everything. His relationship with Aurora was the star of the show, and it was a really sweet romance.

Overall, I had mixed feelings about the book. While I liked Aurora/Hayden and enjoyed some of the funnier moments of the book, I had a hard time getting through it, as there is a lot of manipulation and superficiality (leading to a lot of UGH moments) and it moves really slowly. I think it will appeal to younger teens with the simple structure and laugh out loud moments and would even recommend it to pre-teens.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Pros: I did not read How to Keep a Boy From Kissing You, but Kissing Games explained everything I needed to know.
-Aurora's message of the Find a Prince/Princess Program was really empowering and overlooked in a lot of YA fiction. It was very "we accept the love we think we deserve" esque.

Cons: The whole book was about teen, high school drama that is not important in the grand scheme of life. It is such a common trap for YA contemporary fiction.
-Hayden was too perfect. He bought Aurora an expensive necklace way too early in their relationship and seemed to have limitless patience despite some antics. I did not read the first book, so I missed out on falling for him along with Aurora, so that may have contributed to my apprehension.
-Jelena is a bossy harpy and not in a good way.
-Aurora states her deep and surprisingly mature motives waaaay too plainly for a 16 to 17 year old. I understand why Tara Eglington wrote that way, but some subtlety would help Aurora's inner musings be more realistic.
-I was really confused as to where the book took place. I knew this version is published for the United States audience, so I assume incorrectly Tara Eglington was European. (Fun fact: She is from Austraila! Now camping in a 100ºF forest makes sense.) The book is set in a town called Jefferson, so I thought the book was set in America. A fair amount of non-American slang and phrasing is used, which further confused me about the setting. I still do not know where in the world the setting is. I thought an American edition would smooth out the Aussisms.

I gave the book 2 out of 5 stars because I honestly really struggled to get through it. What saved it from being a 1 star was the clearly identified the deeper, more mature messages of the book.

I loved it! There was so much heart in this book and I choked up numerous times. I also chuckled consistently throughout the entire book. Aurura is one of the most relatable, likeable female characters in YA contemporary fiction I've ever come across. She's strong, yet vulnerable. She's confident yet also insecure. She's loyal and passionate and definitely someone I'd be proud to call my daughter or have as my friend! I look forward to reading more from Tara Eglington.

A thoughtful book, much more in-depth and fleshed out than YA books usually are, made for those thirsty for reading material that is much more than what is currently available.