❤️❤️❤️ out of 5
This book came as a little bit interesting to me because the plot was 80% about their relationship and actually dating, whereas most contemporary romances often have very untraditional dating and a bigger plot line of something else.

Our hero has been crushing on the waitress at the local bar for forever but fears messing up so never works up the courage to ask her out. When the heroine decides she has waited around enough and is ready to start dating again, our hero realises it’s now or never. What follows is very realistic dating and it’s cute and adorable even if the hero doesn’t get it right all the time (in fact that just makes it cuter).

Both main characters were real and definitely had their flaws which made them extremely relatable. This heroine was extremely relatable, especially the scene where she has her period, is crying thinking all she wants is marriage and babies, eating ice cream while both reading and watching lifetime movies. I felt seen. The hero had problems of his own and I liked how the book didn’t necessarily fix them (because that actually takes time). Overall this book was a surprise to me but one I didn’t mind at all.

I enjoyed Rena and Axel’s love story in The Kissing Game by Marie Harte. Rena Jackson has been searching for Mr. Right with little success. After working in a dive bar for years she is ready to open her own hair salon but will miss seeing Axel Heller. Mechanic Axel has that tall, brooding, handsome thing going for him but is also a buttoned-up Germanic who doesn’t talk much. At six foot six, Axel is intimidating to most people. He has had a crush on the beautiful Rena for months but not being romantic he has no idea how to approach her. He has no idea to show Rena what he feels and is afraid she’s slipping out of his reach. With Valentine’s Day approaching, Axel makes a crazy, desperate attempt to get his chance with Rena. He corners her away from the crowd and says "I bet you a kiss you can't resist me." May the games begin!!

I liked these two. Axel might have been quiet and brooding but when he had something to say you wanted to listen. Whether owning his own garage, house, or Rena, Axel knew what he wanted and went after it. Now he had to prove to Rena, by Valentine’s Day, that he deserved of her love; despite making lots of mistakes. Rena needed to relax her unrealistic expectations of love, learned through reading her romance novels. She also needed to open her eyes and realize how hard Axel was trying and how much he wanted to protect; especially from the skinheads harassing her and causing damage to her salon.

Ms. Harte wrote a wonderful, funny and sexy story that should not be missed. She provided a tale rich with sexual chemistry, humor, and endearing characters giving Axel a chance to prove he truly loved Rena and that they a happy ever after future together. I highly recommend The Kissing Game to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Rena Jackson has saved up enough money to open her own beauty salon so she's leaving her job at, well, a dive bar. Of course, that means that she's going to be leaving behind the Viking hunk, Axel Heller. It's just too bad she never could connect with him.
Axel is ready to step up and finally ask Rena out. Eventually. There is a LOT of thinking about it. But the two finally get together but still have obstacles to overcome, including Rena's dreams going up in smoke.
Oh man. I usually like Marie Harte but the pacing in this book was just... weird. Scenes didn't follow each other well and it just got choppy. I didn't mind the German insertions at first but, wow, they got to be a lot. Harte is a good author but this book does not prove it.

Two stars
This book came out February 4th
ARC kindly provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Kissing Game by Marie Harte does not come labeled as part of any series, but does tie into several of the previous contemporary romance series from Harte. If you are already a fan or these you will be thrilled to see Rena and Axel finally get their book. If you are new to Harte's writing then you will still be able to enjoy this story, but will miss out on some connections and inside stories. It is currently scheduled for release on February 4 2020.

Rena Jackson is ready. She's worked her tail off to open up her own hair salon, and she's almost ready to quit her job at the dive bar. Rena's also a diehard romantic, and she's had her eye on bar regular Axel Heller for a while. He's got that tall-dark-and-handsome thing going big time. Problem is, he's got that buttoned-up Germanic ice man thing going as well. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Rena's about ready to give up on Axel and find her own Mr. Right. At six foot six, Axel knows he intimidates most people. He's been crushing on the gorgeous waitress for months. But the muscled mechanic is no romantic, and his heart is buried so deep, he has no idea how to show Rena what he feels. He knows he's way out of his depth and she's slipping away. So, he makes one crazy, desperate play.

Kissing Game is a fun and heart felt read made even better because fans of Harte will see that it ties in characters from three of her series. I loved seeing how well some of the couples are doing and how much has happened in their lives. I loved Axel's character, and have wanted to read more about him for awhile, and this book hit all the right notes. Axel is a good man with some deep wounds and a hard time letting go. Rena is a romantic that wants a happy ever after but is not sure that it will ever happen for her. These two have been dancing around each other for what seems like forever, and it was so much fun watching Axel trying to be romantic. The gifts he uses to try and woo Rena are hysterically bad, and his attempts to be everything he thinks he should be rather than himself were sad and hard for me to read. I loved what a softy he really is, despite his size and fighting reputation. I think the book hit a good blend of humor and deep feels, and I that all fans of the author are going to want to pict this one up.

Kissing Game is a must read for fans, but still a great weekend reads for romance fans that love to read about a growly hero that is a marshmallow just below the surface.

Despite what it may say I really don't think this book is a stand alone. It is part of Marie Harte's McCauley Universe which basically includes The Donnigan's, The Body Shop Bad Boys, and Veteran Movers. In my opinion if you've read at least one of the Body Shop Bad Boys series, The Only Thing, and What to Do With a Bad Boy (which is Del's book and I love it) I think you can read it without getting lost in the secondary characters. Rena and Axel have been on the sidelines for a while now, a year in there time several books our time, and they have been interested in each other but for reasons of his own Axel hasn't made a move.

It's been six months since Axel's mother died and the New Year just happened and with Valentines along with her uncles wedding around the corner Rena has decided Axel is never going to make his move and she, a hopeless romantic, is ready to find her forever person. When Axel hears that Rena is going to start actively searching for a boyfriend and a commitment he finally gets shaken out of his low self esteem long enough to ask her out, well she says no. And so the bet.

Two dates is all Axel has to convince her to take him seriously and after two dates she agrees to give him until Valentines and then she'll make up her mind. Axel planned it all from a gift everyday, no matter how weird the gift might be, and nights out and nights in. Axel is adorkable when it comes to dating. Unfortunately Rena who has finally achieved her dream of owning her own salon is faced with a bunch of racist dummkopfs but she has all her friends to help out including, what I hope is hero baiting, a bunch of hunky firemen. (please tell me they are going to get there own series) Axel is also dealing with a bunch of stuff, his father and his brother are going to be visiting and all of Axel's insecurities of why he took so long to ask Rena out are exposed and it just might be the downfall of their relationship.

Overall, it was a good read. My only real issue was the cover, it's a cute cover just not for this book. I don't think the cover matches the book at all. When I see illustrated covers like this I think Rom-Com, chick-lit type stuff and this book just isn't that. Yes there is humor in this romance but Marie Harte always deals with more the angst of internal struggle and people overcoming whatever is holding them back from embracing their HEA, the humor just lightens it up a bit.

I honestly am having a hard time with my review for this book. While the Kissing Game managed to make me laugh, I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters. They all appeared very one dimensional, and because of that- it essentially fell a bit flat for me. The author also dabbled in POCs and racism. I didn't like how it was written, but I can appreciate the thought the author put in for that. Overall, a super quick steamy romance read.

I had high hopes for this book as I tend to really enjoy a good rom-com. However, this one fell a bit flat for me and I was a bit disappointed. It seemed as the book continued on I found myself less interested. The plot had a lot of potential, but personally I felt the male love interest was a bit unlikable. I would probably read another book by this author to give them another shot since I think parts of the story were well done.

I would like to think netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This review is so hard for me to write and it's even harder to rate this book ! I just..... can't !

This story revolves around Rena, a soon to be shop owner of a hair salon and a huge romance lover. She wants her happily ever after. Axel Heller, tall and dark but blonde and pale ( ......I know, bare with me ! ) is the one man her heart beats for. However he is no romantic lad and although he has been crushing on Rena for over a year, he can't make a move. At last he finally decided to step up and win her over with the help of the kissing game, where he kisses her to prove that they're made for each other.

It pains me to say that this book was falsely advertised and because of that it was literally destroyed by the book community. The book synopsis literally called Axel "tall dark and handsome" with pale skin and blonde hair. What even ?!

Another mistake from the advertisement department was the category "standalone" when it clearly wasn't. I never read a book by Marie Harte before so I had no idea who these characters were ! I was tossed into a world with what felt like 50 characters and family connections and I was struggling to connect the dots. As a rule, I try not to read series out of order, because it would't make any sense.

Apart from that, the story itself wasn't well developed. It's about two individuals who are attracted to each other but can't confront their emotions and when they do, there is almost no conversation ! The few conversations they had were dull and awkward, this is not how conversations in romance novels work !

The actual Kissing game started in one chapter and before you could blink it was over . It was such a tiny part of this book even though it's literally the book title !

The characters as individuals were fine. But these two together had no chemistry at all. It was so hard for me to feel the love and attraction between these two ! Rena was hard to like because of her indecisiveness when it came to her love interest. One minute she was in love with Axel and wanted to marry him and start a family and the next moment she hated his guts and she couldn't trust him. It made me scream and bang my e-reader on my head several times (This did nothing to the pain I felt deep down in my soul!) Axel was trying so hard but it’s like Rena didn’t really know what she truly wanted. He was awkward and not romantic (his gifs were weird ) but at least he was thoughtful !

The heroine is also the token POC in a very white town. She is written in a way that is POC in name only and you just know that this book isn't written by a black person. Just like many many other reviewers stated: This feels like a jumping-on-the-diversity-bandwagon book.

To conclude, I am extremely disappointed in this book ! And maybe I wouldn't have been if it wasn't falsely advertised, because there were a few things I thought were fine in this story. A few characters were cute and I actually didn't mind Axel either, the whole idea was nice but the execution was terrible.

I am finishing this review without even mentioning the the fact that racism is apparently a huge problem in this book or the tons conflicts thrown into this story that where magically resolved in a matter of a chapter. Oh and I found some violence(Axel sure as hell fights a lot ) , hate slang words, and talks of domestic violence. Just not my cup of coffee.

Unfortunately, this is a tale of a blurb gone wrong. I'm all for rom-com vibes. I'm all for awkward hero crushing on heroine. But the book that I actually read? Did not match this at all. Between the physical descriptions being off (way off) and a story that centers on racism yet advertised as a rom-com, and doing it all poorly, it just fell flat.

I had heard that the blurb didn't match the book, but in the interest of due diligence and looking into it myself, I did read to about 30% or so. I had to give up, so I'm not really rating this, just marking it as DNF.

While I'm a proponent of all authors writing diverse characters, if you're going to do it, take care, do it well or just don't. Sadly, this is a case of just don't. Also, it's clearly a story that's part of an ongoing series, and the amount of secondary characters bouncing around and getting page-time just put me off beyond the main narrative issues. It's a no, no, nope.

Thank you Netgalley and the tagged publisher to provide me with a free advanced copy in exchange of an honest review.

I haven’t read romance in a while and it was an easy pick for me after reading thrillers and crime stories. The blurb of the book sounded interesting and I couldn’t wait to start reading it.

Rena is opening her own new salon after working hard at a bar. She is a die hard romantic and has been eyeing Axel Heller for a while at her bar who is six feet six and gives her tall-dark and handsome vibes. On the other hand, Axel also wants to express what he feels for Rena but he does not know how. Finally, he asks her to play a game to see if he can win her over.

This book has everything which a steamy romantic book can hold. It also adds the diversity element and also addressing the racism in a subtle and sensitive manner as not to overwhelm the romanticism of the story. A few bouts of humour also make the book interesting and the steamy level of that book is more than moderate.

The only thing I found it hard to connect are the secondary characters. Sometimes I lost track of them and forgot who’s who. The main characters are well developed and it is impossible to not fall in love with them.

If you are looking for a steamy romantic read, grab this one!

The cover caught my eye and the blurb sounds fun, but overall The Kissing Game just left me confused.

Perhaps if you'd read Marie Harte before and had any idea what series The Kissing Game -- because it is not a stand-alone as advertised -- is connected to you wouldn't struggle with the slew of characters tossed at you from page one.

It felt like Harte tried to do too much and then none of it came together well. Too many characters (for a stand-alone I'm not going to know I need to have read a series to understand the characters in this one book) and too many plot lines that just didn't develop well or come together. The best part of the book were the stray cat and dog. Other than that I was just skimming and hoping the story would get better.

Unfortunately, The Kissing Game was a miss for me.

1.5 stars

Rena Jackson is ready for her HEA. She’s worked years to open up her own hair salon. Finally ready to quit her job at the bar, but the die hard romantic in her has always had her eye on a bar regular, Axel Heller. He’s got that tall, muscular, viking thing going on but he is good at icing people out. Rena is about ready to give up on the german hunk and find her own Mr. Right. ⁣
⁣
Axel Heller knows he intimidates most people with his 6’6 height but he has been crushing on Rena for months. But Axel is no romantic and his heart is buried so deep he doesn’t n=know how to express his feelings. So when Rena’s cousin tells him she is ready to start dating, and not Axel, he does the only thing he knows will get her attention… a bet. ⁣
⁣
“I bet you a kiss you can’t resist me” Game on. ⁣
⁣
There were a few things that I disliked about this book but the good outweighs it by a landslide! Axel.. his description was major swoon worthy. However, his german accident at first was hard for me to get into. The first few chapters there wasn’t any phrases in german that set his tone for me. Then all of the sudden there are tons of “Ja” or “Gut” thrown in there. But that was easy to look past because Axel’s character was such a sweetheart who stands up for Rena against the local white supremacy gangs that have targeted Rena for her skin color. Rena is a highly relatable character. She has insecurities about a man seeing her without her makeup on (which was such a cute scene omg). Also, I was not expecting THE STEAM!!! Rena is a huge romance reader and Axel read one of her books to understand why. My Heart Melted. And don’t even get me started on the gifts axel get’s her to convince her to be his Valentine.. I was cracking up!! He started out strong but then his gifts just got progressively worse and I was dying laughing out loud. Such a cute love story and a perfect read for February!

Rena is completely ready for the next phase of her life - finally able to ditch her bartending job for her brand new hair salon, she is ready to settle down and find The One. Axel, tall, tough, and very German, has been in love with Rena since day one but struggles to open up and take action. But one daring move from Axel has their relationship moving forward at top speed.

I really liked Rena as a character. She felt strong, yet refreshingly honest for a romantic lead. So often characters are fierce and independent and refuse to admit that they want to find love, or to be cared for. I appreciated that Rena could take charge, stand up for herself, but at the end of the day was completely upfront about what she wants out of life.

This was my first brook from Marie Harte - and I felt a little lost. This book is listed as a stand-alone, but looking at her other series I can tell that she writes in this world a lot, which meant that a lot of context was missing. I felt dropped into a world and struggled to understand the connections between all of the characters. I needed more backstory to feel fully invested in Rena & Axel.

While I liked Axel as a love interest, I couldn't understand why he seemed to be so clueless. I understand that he is German, but he seemed to be written as a "dumb foreigner." A language barrier I can understand, but he seemed genuinely confused by a lot that just didn't feel realistic to me.

I love a HEA, and was glad to see that Axel and Rena found happiness by the end, but it seemed to escalate too quickly. This book took place over the course of about a month, leading up to Valentine's Day, so I was shocked that it ended with an engagement.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars--THE KISSING GAME by Marie Harte is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, erotic, romance series focusing on auto body shop owner Axel Heller, and hair stylist / shop owner Rena Jackson. THE KISSING GAME is connected to the author’s McCauley Brothers, and Body Shop Bad Boys series with the inclusion of several characters crossing over for familiarity and history.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Rena and Axel) THE KISSING GAME follows auto body shop owner Axel Heller, and hair stylist / shop owner Rena Jackson. Rena Jackson is a romantic at heart wanting her own happily ever after but there are no available prospects on the horizon, yet the one man that makes her heart flutter, is the one man who struggles in the romance department. Now that she is opening her own beauty salon, Rena has decided to step out on her own, but Axel is hoping to be the man by her side. When their mutual friends place bets on the demise of their building relationship, quiet but determined Axel must step up his romance game in an effort to win the girl of his dreams. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Axel and Rena, and the potential fall-out as Axel struggles with sins of the past.

Axel Heller, of German/Bavarian descent, battles between head and heart knowing his temper could be the destruction of everything he loves but when Rena, a woman of color, is threatened Axel finds himself on the offensive to protect the woman he loves. Rena Jackson’s dreams have come true with the opening of her own beauty salon but threats of violence, and a disruption to her shop find Rena negatively focusing on Axel’s need to protect more than the threats against her life.

Meanwhile the Heller family dynamics will come into play as Axel struggles to move on from the past. From a dysfunctional and abusive family, Axel doesn’t want a repeat of everything that happened when he was a young boy, and in this Axel battles with his own self-doubt.

The relationship between Rena and Axel is a sort of-friends to lovers that has been building for several months. Rena has no idea why Axel has not asked her out, while Axel struggles right from the start. Rena is a woman who likes to read romance books, and Axel is determined to woo the woman who has stolen his heart. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic, language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters, most of whom were introduced in the author’s McCauley Brothers, and Body Shop Bad Boys series. If THE KISSING GAME is part of one of the aforementioned series, I am hoping the author makes a connection one way or the other.

THE KISSING GAME is a story of family, friendships, racism and love. The cover screams romantic comedy but I have to question the choice and direction as there is limited humor throughout the story; as well as the blurb that proclaims our hero to be tall, dark and handsome, who is definitely not dark but Viking blonde-perhaps the darkness is the demons that creep up from the past. The premise is interesting; the characters are animated; the romance struggles with preconceived notions and ideas of romance and love.

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Thank you Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was immediately sucked into this book with the cute cover, and the synopsis on the book. Unfortunately this book fell flat for me and I had to DNF it. I found the characters to be annoying and the book was very unrealistic. I felt like I started the book in the middle of the story, and was confused from the beginning.

I had high hopes for this book, and I am sad that I did not enjoy it.

Unfortunately, this ended up being a DNF for me. I really didn't like either of the characters and I found the writing to be extremely cringey and unrealistic. This was just very much not for me.

So this was something. I don't usually read romances but, the ones that i like are not like this one unfortunatly. Although the premise of the story seemed nice at first i could get behind it because well... it kind of doesn't occur, like, ever?

The romance between the protagonist, Rena and Axel its just bland. I didn't feel exited or in love or anything. I like my romance to make me feel sorry because i'm single, to long for a partner or wish i was with the protagonist, maybe ship them so hard that i just want them to be super happy and have lots of babies, but with this, it wasn't it. I didn't believe the romance, nor the steamy times and sh0cklinly, not even the descriptions.

Honestly, how is every single man in this town a copy paste of a romance novel model? HOW?

And the characters... oh god. they were annoying. and kind of mean and rude. and scary. i didn't enjoy reading about them, although at the end at least axel shows some kind of character growth. The diversity in this felt forced. And kind of agresive, like, here! I am here! Notice me! It felt strange, and the issues that were tackled weren't about how minorities are treated poorly but focused on how the main character could play the hero and then feel bad about it. I don't really know how to put it in words but it made me feel uncomfortable.

Maybe its because its part of another series i haven't read and the characters weren't as developed as the secondary ones, but i felt like as the book doesn't give you any warnings about it, it isn't fair, not for the characters nor the readers.

The book is entertaining and fast paste, i'll it that. The author knows how to keep you hooked to the page, but apart from that (and the cool family dynamic) i didn't like the book. I feel like, if you are a fan of the other series of the author you may enjoy this.

After reading the McCauley Brothers and the Donnigans series, I'd been looking forward to Rena and Axel's story. Though it was a little anti climactic, it wasn't terrible. I enjoyed of it what it was, thoug I think it could be better.

I definitely understood why Alex did what he did with his family, but still think he was nuts and wasn't thinking about his future children, etc. Though I get why he didn't take it, I think the sacrifice his mother made for him to have it should have been honored. Just me, but could be because I'm currently self employed with little income coming in. LOL...

All that being said, I think the author addressed issues well and with very nice insight and thought. I've read other interracial books which don't address the issues that couples in these perdicaments which don't get addressed. This author did that, and did it well.

I do think I should have read at least some of the Body Shop Bad Boys series because I wasn't familiar with Axel's crew that well and I think some of them were in this book. But I got the gist of who they were.

Again, I liked it. I just thought it could have had much more oomph. Loved little Collin's relationship with Rena. That was great.

Once I read the blurb for this book I was quite excited to read it. However, I'm sorry to say that after I did I was left unsatisfied. In my opinion there were many things in this book didn't mesh with what you would expect/lead to believe or simply really didn't make sense. This was a new to me author so I have no point of reference for comparison to her other works, so maybe this book is just an anomaly or it could just be my own personal preferences. All the cuteness, charm and sizzling chemistry I had anticipated never materialized. I thought that as a whole the book was basically bland and a lot of the story felt forced. I pushed through to finish it but it was a chore. So while this wasn't the worst book I've ever read it certainly wasn't the best either.

First off, the red cover with the dancing people doesn’t fit the story at all. This is a steamy, sexy romance that deals with things like racism and anger management; it’s not some chick lit, easy, light romance. It is a sweet story with some fun times, but the cover is just too saccharine. Also, this book is set in/near Seattle, but the author should’ve just made up a city because the Seattle in this book is very little like Seattle in real life. I’ve lived in Seattle forever, so that was bothering me as I read.

Axel, a German, owns a car body shop and has had a big crush on Rena for about a year. Apparently, he’s a really scary looking guy that others want to fight for some reason, so people are constantly being weird around him. Rena, a black woman, is ready to open her own salon and she’s also had a crush on Axel for a long time. She’s a romance fanatic; which became really annoying at times, and has issues with her mom. They start dating, but insecurities from both parties, racists, and some antics from their friends cause some issues for the new couple.

Loved the passion between Rena and Axel. Love how much he supports her and knows right away that she’s the one. Axel has a difficult past, so he’s dealing with a lot but he is so sweet and loving with Rena. I’m back and forth on Rena, she felt too needy for my liking and overly emotional at times, but she has a good heart. She was pissed at Axel for not asking her out, but when he does, she’s rude to him. Still loved their connection though.

This story features lots of characters from some of the author’s past series; some I’ve read and some I haven’t, so you may want to start with those other books but it’s not absolutely necessary. This story does stand on its own. It’s fun to see what some of the other characters are up to, but it was a bit much. Also, there were times that they were kind of jerks to the new couple.

Overall, an entertaining read with a sweet romance.