I have an embarrassing confession: I can't remember the last time I actually read a fanfiction with this format. Fic hasn't been my thing since I started writing myself—something about it just doesn't work for me anymore, not when every time I consume stories, it constitutes research for my own. So getting to read this book was a wonderful gift! I really do enjoy this format, jumping into the many times in the past that things could've gone just a little differently. Penny and Tate are incredible; you can tell that Tess Sharpe is a seasoned writer who knows how to make characters come alive. I love this book. I want more of this book. It's just amazing.

3.5 stars

6 Times We Almost Kissed is a story about two high school girls, Penny and Tate, who have been circling around each other since they were kids. Both girls have had a lot to deal with recently. Tate’s mom has been suffering medically and needs a new liver. Penny, on the other hand, lost her father in a tragic accident and her relationship with her mother has been strained ever since. When Penny’s mom decides to donate her liver to Tate’s mother, the two families decide to combine households to save money during the recovery process.

While this is often advertised as a sapphic romance novel, the heart of this book is actually about the depth of grief, and how it can affect us all in vastly different ways. The book explores the twists and turns that are present in all relationships, whether they are romantic, platonic, and/or parental in nature. Don’t get me wrong, there definitely is an element of slow-burn romance to this novel, but there is also so much more than that.

As someone who suffers from depression and anxiety and is currently trying to figure out the best way to get a therapist, I’m always a huge fan of books who normalize therapy and coping mechanisms. There are many lessons in 6 Times We Almost Kissed about mental health and how a strong support system is one of the best things you can have when you’re struggling. Tate and Penny may not be the best of friends, but they have always been there for each other when times got rough. I wouldn’t call this an enemies-to-lovers because Tate and Penny were never enemies. They were like twin souls who just happened to bickered a lot.

I felt this novel didn’t vibe with me as well as it could have was because I wanted it to be longer. I felt like the conflict between Penny and her mom was never really resolved. Instead it felt like a quick bandaid fix was applied at the end of the book that wasn’t going to last very long. Similarly, I wanted to see more of Penny and Tate at the end to see how much their relationship has changed over the course of time.

Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown Books for a copy of 6 Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) by Tess Sharpe, in exchange for an honest review.

'Penny and Tate have always clashed. Unfortunately, their mothers are lifelong best friends, so the girls’ bickering has carried them through playdates, tragedy, and more than one rom-com marathon with the Moms. When Penny’s mother decides to become a living donor to Tate’s mom, ending her wait for a liver transplant, things go from clashing to cataclysmic. Because in order to help their families recover physically, emotionally, and financially, the Moms combine their households the summer before senior year.
So Penny and Tate make a pact: They’ll play nice. Be the drama-free daughters their mothers need through this scary and hopeful time. There’s only one little hitch in their plan: Penny and Tate keep almost kissing.'

This was a quick, lighthearted, YA read that I flew through fast. This swoonworthy read is great for the weekend!

A wonderfully sweet queer romance, with lovable characters and the cutest ending.

This novel took me much more time to read than I expected, possibly because of the similarities in both points of view, and how it seemed to jump between them without really switching the point of views. I did enjoy the romance, as it truly follows the queer romance pattern, of liking someone for so long, and not being able to get to the point of confessing.

I’m so glad I was able to read this novel, even if I was not able to finish it before the publishing date. This is a very sweet summer romance that would appeal to queer teens, or anyone who wants to be a teen again.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for opportunity to read and review this arc honestly.

I judge a book by its cover, bad trait but it’s true. I love the colorful whimsy, cartoony covers that I’ve come to associate with rom-coms. I liked the cover, but I was wrong, not a rom-com but it’s definitely a good read that touches on tough subjects. Glad to have read this one.

This was one of my most favorite reads of 2023. Tess Sharpe has a way of making her characters jump off the page. Thank you for the early copy.

While this has it moments of lighthearted YA fun it also deals with some heavy topics in a meaningful manner. It was a sweet and touching read that I enjoyed.

One thing I think it is important to note about 6 Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) is that it is not a rom-com, despite the adorable book cover and sweet title. While it is a book with a wonderful romance in it, it also deals with heavy topics like grief, parental death, and trauma. The two protagonists, Tate and Penny, deal with issues faced by many teenagers, but are able to find allies in each other, both as friends and as romantic interests. The writing of this book stays youthful, even while discussing life events that even adults would struggle to cope with, which I think is a big part of what makes the story as a whole so successful. Tate and Penny are each such well-written characters, filled with the complicated and sometimes conflicting emotions that make us human. Overall, 6 Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) is a fantastic new Young Adult novel that tackles mental health issues and trauma in a sensative and relatable way!

My Recommendation-
If you are looking for a heartfelt queer novel filled with characters that feel like they could step off the page and into the real world, you should grab a copy of 6 Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did)! I would especially recommend this book to outdoorsy readers, as the story’s connection to the wilderness is very special!

Swoony and wonderfully queer with a non-chronological timeline, Tess Sharpe is a master at telling stories that don't feel like they should work in theory but then are executed brilliantly.

really enjoyed this!!!! i loved reading from both girls' perspectives but i have some really big soft feelings for penny in particular and want to give her the biggest hug!!!! and i lovedddd their relationship—the pining, the being known and understood in a way you haven't really before and did i mention the pining?????? i really enjoyed how flashbacks to the almost-kisses were employed to show the development of tate and penny's feelings over the years and build tension. this book was a delicious mix of angst and tenderness and captured all the best parts of the fanfiction trope it takes it structure from. it was just incredible!

of course, as a tess sharpe book, it was not just about the romance. sharpe doesn't shy away from engaging with difficult themes and showing them in all their complexity. in this case, we meet an unconventional, dysfunctional family that has become all too well acquainted with grief. although it would be incredibly easy to cast certain characters as either wholly good or wholly bad, this is not what six times we almost kissed does. instead, there are genuine conversations, movements towards growth, and acceptance and acknowledgement of hurts caused from all parties. there is also a really significant focus on mental health (in this case PTSD, anxiety and OCD) and managing it, through both therapy and medication, that i really appreciated.

this is my second tess sharpe book after first reading the girls i've been and i will definitely be picking up more from her! sharpe has an incredibly engaging writing style and explores sensitive themes with the care and nuance they deserve all while crafting loveable characters whose voices stick with you even after you've turned the final page.

I love it when cutesy covers hide the deep, emotional turmoil and trauma between the binding. This is like the second book this week that I'm regretting not reading sooner, because I did not expect to like this. I read one of Sharpe's other books and didn't like it so much, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

Penny and Tate both were wonderful protagonists whose flaws and banter kept me engaged the whole read. My favorite plotline was the relationship between Penny and her mom, because the angst was done so well, but seeing the main couple bond and mull and avoid until they finally got together was so satisfying. Peak slow bun, right here.

I've never wanted two people to get it together and kiss already more in my life. This story is much more traumatic and emotional than I expected - the UK blurb markets this as a fluffy romance with no mention of Penny's Dad's harrowing death or her mom's decision to donate her kidney to Tate's mom.

The amount of raw emotion in this story made me really connect with it, and I would love to get a spin off featuring Penny and Tate's friends, who's story is mostly told through text message exchanges, as they come up with a fun way to fund raise for the moms.

Although I loved the slow burn romance, towards the end I did start to feel a little frustrated with the wait, and I don't exactly know why Yreka was something they Did Not Mention. It wasn't so much a miscommunication trope as an "any communication at all could have solved this" problem. The ending was so good though, and wonderfully funny.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Penny and Tate have always bickered, but now they have to play nice. Since their mothers are best friends and Penny's mother became a living liver donor to Tate's mother, they have to make sure everything goes smoothly. Forced to live together, while Tate's mother recovers, they have to keep everything in order, their jobs and finances and stop bickering. The only problem: they can't stop almost kissing. They have always ignored it, but now they are living together and that's the problem.
Told by two girls's POVs, between past and present's moments, they navigate moments, feelings, bickering and so much other. Six moments, six almost kisses, one kiss and everything changes.

I loved everything about this book. It's fresh, funny and so so lovely to read. Penny and Tate are adorable, I love their relationship, their building one, their bickering and their slowly falling in love. They are relatable, good daughter, taking care of their mothers and family and I truly loved that. Tess Sharpe wrote a brilliant, adorable and engaging story and I felt involved since the very beginning, rooting for them and laughing, smiling and being moved by them. So so recommended!

This novel is very emotional and very tense which make sense coming from a thriller writer. The author called this her 'break' from all the thrillers and I personally had a great time reading this. It's sad and rough and shows the eventual love story of two girls. A will they- won't they to the greatest degree. Everyone in this book feels fully fleshed out and the world is easy to descend into.

4 stars

My first Sharpe but definitely not my last! I was expecting a fluffy YA romance and boy was I wrong! This was so emotional and I teared up soooo many times. The push and pull between Penny and Tate was so good. I hated Penny's mother so much. She was the worst. I loved the mental health rep and how Penny fought so hard for herself.

This is a book about grief. I want to make that clear, because the adorable cover might be misleading, but one of our main character's is dealing with the loss of her father for the whole book and I wasn't prepared for that. I think its very well done, but its just as much a part of this as the romance is. That being said, 6 Times We Almost Kissed is YA contemporary excellence. It fills the tropes it sets out to in a smart and sweet way, and has just the right amount of flashbacks. The queerness is super casual, and both main characters are so easy to root for. Penny and Tate have a lot going on. Tate's mother has always been sick and Penny's mom, her bestie, agrees to be her living liver donor. The main hitch is that they are combining households to save money. Penny and Tate have always had a complicated relationship, and their close quarters only make it harder.

This is a great setup for a romance. There is a ton of angst, but its balanced with light stuff, like the romance and the girls' best friends. This is a book about letting people take care of you, and for me, the girls' besties and Penny's grandmother were the best part. Both girls are stubborn and its so satisfying when they give in and let others take care of them. Its even more satisfying when they take care of each other. The romance is slow burn but there are all these great moments in the buildup that will make readers swoon.

Ultimately, I'm giving this a 4.5/5 stars. Its well-done, and made me feel so many emotions. This half star deduction is because of a few unnecessary plotlines. Still, this is a pretty much perfect sapphic romance for young readers that I can not wait to recommend.

Straddling the lines between fanfiction tropes and plot, this book both made me laugh and almost cry. It’s always a romance between these two unique, clashing, but so heartfelt girls, and also a very contemporary story of grief, pain, and loss. From the very beginning, I wanted to root for Penny and Tate, and that only continued as their stories themselves began to unfold on the page. And despite being absolutely heart wrenching at times, it was also just fun to read, like all the best fanfictions that this book is dedicated to are.

Something about this book just makes it feel so real. The ending isn’t perfect and not every character has to be redeemed into a Perfect Person, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t grow. The main and supporting cast is relatively small (Penny, Tate, their mom’s, Penny’s grandma, and their two best friends), and I think that was a huge benefit as we’re able to see all these characters be fleshed out to a degree. Tess Sharpe also paints each character in a different way, based on who is narrating the chapter, and I think that added a lot to the overall story.

Although one of the core elements of the story is romance, it’s also so much more than that, and I think 6 TIMES does a really good job of giving appropriate weight to all aspects of the story. The more we know about the characters, the more the romance builds and becomes more realistic. It’s heartbreaking along the way but it also carries this core idea of deserving someone who loves and roots for you despite what the world has done. It’s taking two girls who clash, all sharp edges and carefully structured selves and having them fall in love because they’ve been doing it for years without even realising.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. It’s not always lighthearted but it’s enjoyable (and painful) to read, and hard to put down once you truly get into the story. It feels like Tess Sharpe intentionally put, if not herself, then her heart into the story, and it’s all the more genuine for it. I highly recommend for contemporary readers. And also those looking for basically the slowest slow burn (but equally rewarding) possible.

I cry VERY easily while reading but Tess Sharpe managed to pull at my heartstrings in a way that hasn’t happened many times. A big theme of the book is grief and how different people deal with loss in different ways. Reading about Penny dealing with the trauma of the accident that took her father‘s life was absolutely heartbreaking - especially because the strained relationship with her mother is what keeps her from healing. Tess Sharpe managed to find a surprising balance of scenes that made me sob uncontrollably and a slow-burn romance that was so soft and so sweet it managed to mend my broken heart. The yearning!! The pining!! I adored both Penny and Tate and the way their characters were developed. The alternating POVs and flashbacks not only made me feel like I really got to know the protagonists but kept the story moving at an engaging pace. I ended up binging the entire book on a weekend I was supposed to be studying for an exam because I couldn’t put it down.


Beautifully written and heartfelt - 6 We Almost Kissed is one of the best sapphic YA contemporaries I’ve ever read!

Setting: California
Rep: two sapphic MCs

This was a pretty quick read, about two and a half hours, but it felt a lot slower than that. There are a lot of heavy themes in this - the traumatic loss of a parent (the moment of which is described in detail); parental illness; terrible parenting. It was a lot for a book with such a light cover. I did struggle to tell the two narrators apart as both POVs are first person and they were very similar to me. I didn't think the side characters were well fleshed out at all; they felt like a 2D slap-on. Also I felt no chemistry between the two protagonists.

What an absolute amazing read that covers SO MANY important topics for not just young adult readers but ALL readers.

I was hooked from the very first page to the very last. I just kept wanting to know about each & every single ALMOST kiss + the story behind them between Tate & Penny!

I think this one will be the IT book of the year for me.

Can we also talk about the cute cover? I love it!