I had no preconceived notions going into this cute-covered romance. It's my first by this author, so I had no idea what to expect or what I'd be getting into.
Turns out, although the premise was entirely appealing, the actual story was less than it had the potential to be. However, if you are looking for a quick, VDay-themed, sexy-infused romance - or if you're just really into sexy German men - then don't count this one out.

I thoroughly enjoyed Rena and Axel's story. I have been waiting on it ever since reading the Body Shop Bad Boys series and seeing their attraction to each other.
I loved the family ( except Axel's) and friendship groups in this story. It epitomized how full life can feel when we have a strong foundation and support group to help us through challenging times.
Rena and Axel's relationship growth was sweet, and showed the ups and downs of merging your life with someone else.
This story was definitely worth the wait.

Ahhhh, I thought this book is something different. Firstly, the cover and the blurb gave me the impression that this is a great arc character love story but I am disappointed in many ways. I don’t mind steamy at all, but this there’s not much of the character growth or real story behind this relationship.
Unfortunately not a favourite book

A hair stylist and an auto body shop owner get together in this steamy romance.

Axel is a German immigrant. Everyone calls him a Viking— the Vikings were from Scandinavia. Also, the way he peppers German into his syntax is super annoying and not authentic to an English language learner.

Don’t let the on-trend modern graphic of a cover fool you. This is definitely a bodice-ripper, just set in the 21st century. And sex definitely takes precedence over the character growth. They have some dynamism, but it feels cheap. The only reason I’m not giving it one star is because of the positive mental health representation. And that’s it is a tough and tumble man who goes to therapy without much pushback.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for giving me the opportunity to read The Kissing Game by Marie Harte early! This was my first Marie Harte book and ahhh I didn’t realize how intense of a world/set of characters there were in this book/all of the books that lead up to this book, so a warning/heads up to anyone like me who is picking this up as their first Marie Harte book- you 100% can do that, but you’re going to get so much more out of the book if you either read the other books or at least read up on the other books so you know who the other players are because there are so many people and couples and things can definitely get a little confusing.

The Kissing Game 3/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads: 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…

So let’s start with what I did like about this book- the general plot and premise were pretty cute- guy likes girl but he’s biding his time so he doesn’t scare her off, but he bides too long, so he needs to kick things up a notch- and that’s pretty much what the summary told us. That whole section was maybe the first ⅛ of the book or so? It barely scratches the surface of what actually happens in the book, so that’s what starts my annoyances.

First let’s get to the characters- Rena is fine. I didn’t think she was anything special, like she was an ok main-ish character and I could in general relate to her, but I also didn’t feel too tied to her in any way. Axel, our other main-ish character was the one I had a bigger problem with. He was supposed to be German, but like what kind of stereotypes was the author looking at/thinking about when she wrote him as a character? I know a lot of people from Germany and not one of them remind me of Axel at all. If I suspend my belief on reality completely, then I don’t mind the characterization as much, but it’s so hard when the characterizations were supposed to be based in an actual culture of people.

Overall, I thought that this was an interesting and cute romance novel. Was it my favorite book? No. Did it make me want to read more books by the author? Definitely! (And I’ve already read one!) The Kissing Game comes out on February 4th, so make sure to check it out when it’s released!

I didn't really feel like this was anything special. I liked that we got a peek into the McCauley's through Del, because I loved that series, but didn't realize this was another book in a "series". I didn't read her other series about the guys who worked in the garage/auto-shop, so a lot was over my head or confusing. Also, the fact they tried to get on the "rom-com" train with the cover instead of keeping to the author's regular style totally doesn't do anything for the book. Yeah, it's obviously nice to look at, but it's not right for the story.

Overall... fine.

This book had such an amazing push and pull between the characters. Their chemistry just jumped off the pages, it will be a perfect valentines read.

I have to admit, I read this book in December, exactly a month ago but wasn’t exactly feeling the need to review. So on that note, I must say I don’t remember the book that much and apparently I didn’t make many notes.

Buuuuuut…

I do remember two things.

One was that the hero was German. I don’t know how German turned American do sound but I feel like the portrait of them in this book was very stereotypical. I just felt like the author used ”Ja?” (Yes?) in every sentence, insinuating this is how people from Germany talk. Maybe they do, who knows, I just find it annoying. Like maybe the author wanted to sound the hero German but in turn, she overused this word and make me wish Axel was anything but German. Anytime he said ”Ja?”, I was thinking of some cliché German character.

(*I now used the word German six times in the past paragraph, imagine seeing the same word on almost every page.)

The second thing was that the heroine’s mother had some problems in relationships in the past. One time, after she meets Axel, she was so upset over something and I remember Axel putting her in her lap. I know he is a good guy but this in any context just sound disturbing and wrong. He did it in front of the heroine, by the way, and she didn’t think much of it. I would understand anyone but the ”mother-in-law”. That… that’s just a no-no.

After reading some reviews on Goodreads to refresh my memory, I also have to mention Axel’s gifts to romance Rena. The thought was cute but some were just so cringe-worthy that I really didn’t know where he got them…or why he thought it would be cute. If he looked twice at what he purchased or asked on some advice from his friends I’m sure he would get the right ones since he didn’t know how to woo a woman.

First read by this author. I expected a lot more from the book but was a little disappointed. Although I’m rating it as 3.5 stars it feels more like 3. It had the potential to be a great book but the author didn’t develop some aspects and the result is a mediocre book for me.

The blurb to this book does not give you a clear picture of this story. Don't be tricked.

This book centers around Rena and Axel. Rena is a young woman trying her hardest to open up her own hair salon. She is working at a dive bar that is host to a variety of characters. Finally ready to showcase her talents and leave the bar to open her salon, she decides it is time to find a relationship too. Enter Axel; a German man who knows nothing of romance. He has been admiring Rena from afar and is afraid that if he doesn't ask her out before her last day at the bar, he'll never get the chance. After agreeing to a date, Axel soon realizes that he needs to figure out romance to live up to the romance novels that Rena loves.

While I'm not 100% sure, I believe that these characters must have been in another series together. While i was able to read it as a standalone, there are supporting characters with backstory that i feel like I might of miss. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but felt the major problem in the story was a bit lacking. I felt a race issue took precedent over the complications of Rena's and Axel's relationship.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunetly this book was not for me. I DNF'd at 15%. I feel by 15% I should have some sort of feelings toward the main characters, but I honestly didn't care about them at all. I didn't care about the story either. The whole thing felt awkward and forced to me.

This was my first book by Marie Harte and I very much wanted to read it based on the blurb. Unfortunately this was a DNF read for me. I was unable to get into the story or the characters. I have a strict 40% policy - never give up on a book until then and it has served me well in the past.. This time It did not.

This book is advertized as being a standalone, but I quickly realized it had to be a sequel of sorts, because it referred to a whole cast of characters as if they'd already been introduced. This was very confusing at first and it made it a little difficult to get into the book. As a rule, I try not to read series out of order, so I didn't appreciate this.

While there were aspects of this book that I enjoyed, the interactions between the two MCs just filled me with secondhand embarrassment, they felt so forced and awkward. Which is the last thing a romance novel should achieve.

And if these were my only problems, this book would still have been an okay read. Not a new favourite, but not a terrible book either. But honestly, I had a slew of other problems, some small, some bigger, and the book was a hot mess.

Whilst this book did have it's faulty moments, I adored it no matter what. The two main characters were definitely a very random pairing and I clicked a lot more with Rena than I did Axel - his hard and tough demeanour definitely didn't have me weak at the knees, more like many eye rolls, however, he treated Rena like a Queen nonetheless and for that, the romance was really something.

[ I received an arc on Netgalley in return for an honest review.]

'The kissing game' is a cute, and fluffy contemporary that follows Rena Jackson and Axel Heller as they navigate their relationship whilst also dealing with issues thrown their way.

I really enjoyed seeing Rena and Axel's relationship grow as the book progressed, and I thought they were absolutely perfect for each other. Rena was a really relatable character, and I loved how close she was with her family.

The author tries to tackle many important issues like racism and abuse in this novel, and I felt like they were pretty well done as a whole.

However, the sexual tension/references were a little too much for me at times, and I would have preferred if it had been somewhat toned down.

Rating: 3/5

I hate to say this, but this book ended up in my DNF pile and that has never happened with this author. I absolutely loved the Veterans Movers series but this one just fell short for me. I couldn't get into the plot, nor could I connect with the characters. Sorry to say that this book wasn't what I thought it would be. I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC for NetGalley.

I really enjoyed the characters for the most part, especially the male MC. He was super sweet and awkward and there were definite language/cultural barriers occasionally which lead to really funny awkward moments that showed he had a good heart. But the story could’ve been so much better - it had a lot of potential but just fell a little flat for me. It was mainly told from his and hers dual POV but there were 2 spots (I think only 2) where there was a 3rd random POV thrown in and it totally threw it off for me. Also, it was more of a drama romance than I was expecting from the cover because it dealt with fighting/bar brawls/gang violence, past tense domestic/child abuse, race, and white supremacists. Overall it was pretty fun, adorably awkward, but just also felt all over the place. I’m not disappointed but I’m not blown away...

And the award for the most falsely advertised novel of the year goes to... The Kissing Game!

The cover says chick lit and implies diversity so, I'll tackle those two things first.

This is not chick lit. If you want a better idea of the type of ‘romance’ the book is, check out Harte’s other title covers. They all suit. This book doesn’t say it’s part of Body Shop Bad Boy or Power Up! series (oh dear) but, apparently, the same characters appear and they’re all the series are connected somewhere along the line.

The characters do ramble on about the fact the heroine reads lots of romance books. This apparently makes her intelligent and a true romantic (huh?). However, there’s no cute pop culture references throughout (or even any mention of what books are the heroine's favourites), so it’s hardly an exciting plot point or characterisation which might get the book included on a chick lit tag. In fact it seemed irrelevant and more something for the hero to say, ‘omg that makes her even hotter’ about.

So, why did the publisher/author opt for this cover this time around? Sales, I assume.

Which, I assume, might be the same reason Harte decided to also play the diversity card with her heroine. Yes, the heroine is introduced as a POC (in passing really) but any racism or topical issues which might have been included because of her heritage certainly weren't evident by the time I tossed the book onto my DNF pile. Meanwhile the hero is German and we know this because Harte throws in an annoying amount of basic German words to demonstrate this (*rolls eyes*).

The blurb was also false advertising. It promises an original sweet and sassy romantic idea and even erroneously calls the hero ‘tall dark and handsome’. When the publisher can’t even get that smallest detail right, we know we're off to a bad start.

Yes, yes, I suppose there’s nothing technically wrong with this type of book. If characters being attracted physically to each other but barely saying two words to each other and therefore, having nothing in common personality-wise is your thing, go for it. (In fact, until I stopped reading, most of the conversations the two leads had were with other people who must have been characters from previous books, meaning I got to read how those characters found their respective partners physically attractive too. *yawn*)

For me though, there’s nothing interesting about two people having thinky thoughts about how hot someone of the opposite sex is for chapters on end.

There was definitely no real plot conflict by the time I gave up. Oh, the hero is apparently quiet and not very romantic (case in point was that he asks her out for coffee for their first date instead of a full-on romantic dinner... w.t.f.) and probably doesn't want a serious relationship (I couldn't quite work out how the heroine came to this conclusion) but none of these things does a conflict make.

Even the label of hot romance was falsely advertised. I hadn’t gotten to any sex scenes yet but I reckon I probably dodged a bullet because the leads had zero chemistry. Truly, for someone with such a large back catalogue of romance books, Harte’s attempt at sexual chemistry and her descriptions of kissing (which I did get to) fell flat and weren’t very good overall.

The final moment of false advertising is the book's price. Okay, okay… If (big if) you had some free time, this book might be okay (but I have a zillion things to read, so I’m opting out). I’m sure (considering how many books Harte seems to sell) some people will think this type of romance is right up their alley. But, given the interchangeable characters and basic plot and overly coarse tone, I think a couple of bucks would be more realistic a price to pay and not the RRP of around $16.

1 out of 5 DNF

I was really excited to receive an ARC of this book, but struggled with the story. I have not read any other books by this author, and felt lost from the get-go. Perhaps it would be better for those who have read related books? Also, I found the synopsis quite different than the book itself, and unfortunately, had some trouble relating to the characters and the story.

Unfortunately, I was not able to finish this book-- I didn't really connect with the story, and some of the racial issues/representation made it feel like the author could have benefited from a sensitivity reader. Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy.

Cute, fun read. Main characters a black woman and a huge German guy, who made me giggle to no end since this a reflection of a past relationship of mind. Axel is the sweetest tough guy ever written. He protects others, is supportive of his employees and friends, and kicks racist butt! Rena is bartender turned hair salon owner who is a strong, independent black woman who doesn't need no man....but if Axel is offering? Harte takes us from a crush to the perfect Valentine, with just the right amount of drama along the way.