Holly‘s review of The Kiss Test by Shannon McKelden
Margo Gentry’s life is perfect. She loves her job as a DJ for Manhattan’s only country music station, and she has a great boyfriend who accepts her need to avoid marriage and tolerates her Elvis obsession-even the velvet Elvis painting in their bedroom.
But then it all falls apart. The radio station changes formats and fires all the DJs. Margo’s boyfriend decides he wants kids and a house in the suburbs and kicks her to the curb. And to top it all off, her Mom is getting married-for the 11th time! -and expects Margo to be there as maid of honor.
With no job and no place to live, Margo has to bunk on the couch of her best friend, Chris, whose revolving bedroom door has played host to half the women in New York-at least, the ones who pass his “kiss test.” Worse, he’s insisting she attend her mother’s wedding, and he’s personally driving her cross-country to ensure she shows up.
Forget about surviving the road trip-can their friendship survive The Kiss Test?
The Kiss Test is a contemporary novel written in the first person. While there are some romantic elements, because we don’t get anything from the hero’s pov, I would classify this more as chick-lit or women’s fic.
Margo Gentry has the perfect life. She loves her job, her friends and has a boyfriend who seems to want the same things out of life that she does. Until it all falls apart. She loses her job, her man and her place to live all in one fell swoop. The only thing she still has going for her is that she was voted The Country’s Best DJ, a very pestigious award. Margo figures this is her last shot at a career. If she tells them she lost her job they’ll take the award away and she’ll have a harder time finding a new job.
She decides to treat herself to a vacation, Elvis style. She’s going to visit all of the major Elvis attractions, ending with Graceland, before her photo shoot and interview for the award. But then she falls down the stairs and gets a concussion and can’t go alone. The only way she can still go on her vacation is if someone drives her…which her best friend Chris agrees to do, but only if she agrees to attend her mother’s wedding with him – her mother’s 11th wedding. Margo doesn’t want to go to the wedding, but she really wants to go on her vacation, so she agrees.
Margo really had to deal with a lot of bad shit; losing her job, losing her boyfriend, getting kicked out of her house, falling down the stairs and getting a concussion, being attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes, getting smacked in the head, busting the hand off a wax Elvis statue and almost getting arrested for it…the list goes on and on.
While some of these things were amusing, it kind of got to the point where I was rolling my eyes and thinking “jaysus! What’s next?”. I think the author may have sensed that she was pushing too far, because finally the craziness stopped. Just in time to save it from being a wallbanger.
This is a friends-to-lovers themed novel. Sometimes that works for me and sometimes it doesn’t. In this case it worked, though I think it suffered for having been written in the first person. Having the added benefit of the hero’s point of view would have offered a lot of insight – and broken up some of the whiny inner dialogue of the heroine.
Having said that, I did enjoy the story. Margo frustrated me at times, but I was emotionally invested in finding out what would happen to her. I was also rooting for her and Chris to get together.
Something I wasn’t able to get past? The revolving door in Chris’ bedroom. Based on his revelation at the end, I don’t understand why he picked up a woman every night. That made no sense. But then, neither did Margo’s stubborn refusal to see what was right in front of her nose.
Overall a fun, light story despite my frustrations. Fans of Kristan Higgins should enjoy it.
3.75 out of 5
This book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here in e-format.
