All Haley Bowman has ever wanted was her One True Love. But now, with her cousin getting married and Haley back in her small town, the pressure is on. Good thing she’s got a foolproof Kiss List, full of potential OTLs. Her parents knew they were soul mates at their first kiss, so surely Haley will know the same. All she needs to do is…well, kiss each of these guys… Enter Max Gallagher: bane … Gallagher: bane of Haley’s existence, her nemesis since childhood, and, unfortunately, as a local, her way in with all the guys on the Kiss List. Max wants nothing to do with love and certainly nothing to do with Haley, but he can clear the way for her to get to know the guys on the list. Of course, he wants something in return: to be made a partner in Haley’s family’s business. One kiss for relinquishing her hold-out vote on Max.
But the more time Max and Haley spend together, the clearer it is that there’s a paper-thin line between love and hate. Max will have to decide between the job he’s always dreamed of or the girl of his dreams before his fate is sealed with someone else’s kiss.
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The Kiss List is the first book in the Love List series and was a charming book of childhood nemesis to adult love. It was fast-paced, easy to read, and had charming characters. Their witty comments and the sparks between them kept the reader’s attention throughout the book.
Haley Bowman and Max Gallagher had been nemeses since they met in grade school. They were always in competition with each other so the idea of Max owing Haley a favor was torture for him. A fortune-teller told Haley her One True Love was someone from her past, so she is determined to meet all her ex-boyfriends again to find her love. Her mother always said she would know her true love with the first kiss, so Haley makes a list of her ex’s. Unfortunately, doesn’t know how to locate all her high school ex-boyfriends, so she calls in the favor Max owes her. Max thought Haley’s idea was crazy, but he agrees if she will make him a partner in Bowman’s family business. Helping Haley gets complicated as he reintroduces her to the men, especially as the connection between the two of them grow. Will they realize how perfect for each other they are before it is too late?
I received an ARC from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Everyone saw it but them. They’d have to figure it out on their own. Full of side splitting, laugh out loud moments and a few “hand me a tissue to wipe away the tears” ones also, The Kiss List was impossible to put down!
This was a cute, quick read! This is a clean romance with just a couple of kisses. It was like a book version of a Hallmark movie. The writing flowed well, and I was able to finish the book quickly. The premise of the book was good, but Haley come off pretty desperate at times. It wasn’t cute, I kind of felt sorry for her. I was happy to see that her feelings start changing before she gets all the way through the list. Max was a good guy, even though he had baggage of his own. The whole thing with his brother isn’t really resolved, but I’m sort of glad it wasn’t. I could never forget that kind of betrayal. Forgiveness is one thing, participating in their lives is something completely different. The ending was super sweet, and had me tearing up a little. This was a first for me from this author, but I would definitely read her again.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.
Sweet, heartfelt, and hilarious, “The Kiss List” has all the makings of the perfect romance. Sonya Weiss is a master at humor and love! “The Kiss List” was a wonderful story that was sweet, funny and romantic in every way. This book is pure Sonya Weiss–fun and sweet with a hint of sexy, and utterly refreshing. I highly recommend it to lovers of contemporary romance. Happy reading everyone!!
This is the first book I’ve read by Sonya Weiss, but it won’t be my last. I loved reading about Haley and Max and their witty banter. They’ve known each for years and they’ve always considered the other as their enemy. When she gets him to help her with her Kiss List, things change. Will they become friends or more? Grab your copy and get ready to laugh and maybe cry a little, as you read about these wonderful characters. I have to say thank you for the editing also. A lot of books out there need editing and don’t get it, in my opinion.
The Kiss List!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I loved that Hailey and Max had a past of constant bickering, and eventually figured out they each had a crush on the other for years. But Max needs to get a partnership in Haley’s father’s business and he needs Haley’s agreement to get it. After he accidentally pours a beer over Haley, she deems it necessary that he help her re-meet with her old boyfriends to find her One True Love just as her parents had done. But the list of possible OTL’s, requires that Haley will discover The One by kissing these men; hence the kiss list.
But the more Haley and Max spend time together, the more they are drawn to each other. Max can’t understand how these men that he’s trying to set up with Haley, don’t see her as HEA material, or how Haley could see them as her OTL. It becomes obvious to everyone, that they are meant for each other, and it is fun to watch them figure out their journey to their HEA.
Overall, this was a very fun, well-written book, with great secondary characters (some of which I hope will get their own love story).
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Entangled Publishing. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.
What a delightful love story!
Sonya Weiss succeeded to offer us a very pleasant journey to the couple’s HEA. Even if we know what to expect, the way of its delivery manages to keep us involved in their tribulations.
The happenings are mixed with both the main characters’ thoughts in a manner that doesn’t hinder the good rhythm that started from the first sentences. Also, even if their thoughts are (always) about the same issues, they don’t become annoying by repetition, the author finding ways to maintain their novelty and freshness.
Interlaced with the messages about true love and soul-mate matters, there are messages about the importance of our roots and family. They play a subtle but important role in lovers’ happiness and ours. The respective scenes and circumstances bring the necessary nuances to the big picture influencing the possible outcomes. Kiss List is a “small- town” romance, a subgenre that has not only fans but also critics as is considered by some to be anti-feminist, too sweet for our today reality, etc. Kiss List is set in a small-town, plays within the atmosphere of a… small town but the criticisms of its subgenre cannot be brought against it.
There one or two aspects (mostly only one) that I would have preferred differently, but, in short, I liked Kiss List. Sonya Weiss proved that what so-called “clean” romances can outshine the stories where more or less explicit scenes are “needed”… to contour the true-love… which, by the way, exists!
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I really liked this story a lot but I was close to dnf’ing the book at about 35% because I had difficulty feeling any connection between the two main characters and I thought they were really annoying and immature. But I kept on reading and found out that as I saw it the dislike between them was deliberately over done so that it became really clear when they started to look at each other definitely. And after the 35 % I started to fall in love with the story and all the characters.
I really loved Haley and Max’s banter, their little inside jokes and their playfulness towards each other. They are also both very headstrong and stubborn towards each other but also towards family members and people who hurt them in some way. I just ended up really loving them and I am happy that I read on.
Haley is very romantically inclined and after being broken up with on a viral video she returns home to her hometown and to find her soulmate. She makes a kiss list of her ex-boyfriends because the town fortune teller told her to look in the past to find her soulmate. Haley and Max has always hated each other but she talks him into helping her with the list and getting her the date she needs.
Slowly they start spending more and more time together and slowly they figure out that there might be other feelings than hate between them even though they won’t admit it.
The story is set in fall and wintertime and their workplace is at her fathers shop where they make Christmas ornaments, sleighs, they have Christmas trees and they also make toys for poor kids who needs some joy and happiness in their lives. It is so sweet to read about.
I can definitely recommend this book and please don’t give up on it because you will love it.
I got this book from Entangled Publishing and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you like clean romance, whose characters come from enemies to absolutely in love with each other, you are in the right place.
After living in LA for a while, after her mother’s death, Haley returns to Cherry Creek, North Caroline, as something of an internet celebrity because of a video that goes viral when her famous boyfriend breaks up in front of a lot of people.
Haley was an incurable romantic. Part of it was the fault of his parents’ perfect, romantic marriage. And based on their story, she decides that she can only find her soul mate after an unforgettable kiss.
For this, she creates The Kiss List, with the names of her ex-boyfriends.
In order to contact them, she asks for help from her almost number one enemy, Max Gallagher.
Max worked at Haley’s father’s store and after so many years of dedication, he would like to become a partner. But since Haley was Mr. Bowman’s heir, he would need her approval.
Haley promises to approve if Max helps her with her crazy plan.
Max and Haley can’t stand being in the same place, but with the plan in action, they would need to be close to each other for a while longer … until this coexistence makes them kiss and…
Oops! Nuclear Bomb !!!
A sweet, funny clean romantic novel.
I received a complimentary ARC – early release copy of this book in Kindle format from the author for review purposes.
This is my first book by the author and I enjoyed it. It had a lovely story, fun characters and a very cute plot. It is very much a romcom and more into the romcon than on the romance in my opinion. The couple doesn’t even date or get together until close to the end.
The idea behind this story is that Max and Haley grew up together and fought like cats and dogs. While they were not friends at all, they did care about each others family and they did work together. And this story is about Haley being ready to get married and find her forever. Growing up her mother told her the story of how she knew she found her husband was with a magical kiss. Madame Celeste, the local fortune teller has told her that the key to her forever man is to look at the past.
Ans so she compiles a list of her exes and asks Max to help her arrange dates with the guys. Max has had a rough romantic history. The only woman he loved fell for his brother and cheated on him and the brother is moving back so he wants to leave the family business and work for Haley’s family but he first needs her to agree to work with him and so he agrees to help her with the Kiss List.
This story is two fold, Max has to learn to love again and trust another woman after what his brother and ex did and Haley has to find the man she was always intended to be with. It was a sweet story and it was beautifully told. However I wanted a little more romance and seeing how their relationship goes as they date and we got to the point where they confess their feelings but we didn’t really get to really explore the after the relationship begins. It was more of a summary. Beyond that I really enjoyed this story and recommend it.
Max and Haley have been on opposite ends since childhood. She has always wanted her one true love and with her cousins upcoming wedding she has put together a list to find him. Max is her way into meeting these guys but it comes with a price but the more time she spends with him the more their feelings are beginning to blur. Could it be her true love was always close by all alone in the form of someone she sees as a nemesis? This story will call to your romantic side with all the antics of Max and Haley. I voluntarily agreed to receive an ARC of this book for an honest review.
Funny, sweet, charming, witty are just a few of the wonderful words I could use to describe this story. It is truly a delightful read. Haley is back in her small hometown after a very public and disastrous breakup. Her arc nemesis Sam is still working with her dad. They form a pact that has them spending a lot of time together. Their interactions are filled with fun squabbling. You will laugh at all the ways they try to irritate each other as they journey on their way to love.
The snarky humor between Max and Haley really upped my enjoyment of this enemies to lovers romance. While I sometimes find this trope to be unrealistic or very rushed, I loved the fact that these two people have known each other since they were kids. The constant competition between them was obviously a simmering attraction that neither wanted to face. Max and Haley were simply a joy to watch as they uncover long hidden feelings for each other.
The other thing I liked about The Kiss List was that it a sweet romance without being preachy. I read all heat levels in romance, but it’s hard to find a sweet or “clean” romance that doesn’t bring purity or religion into the mix. Sonya Weiss excels at this, which is why I know I’ll always fun read with humor but without the sermon. The Kiss List checked all the right boxes for me.
Hate changes to love!
Haley Bowman made a list of every local guy she had dated because her parents knew they were true loves after the first kiss and she wanted to find love so she needed to kiss a lot of local guys. One local guy not on the list was Max Gallagher who wanted to be a partner in the Bowman family business. Max said he would help check out the guys on the list so Haley would sign off on the partnership. Max needed it so he could quit working at the family coffee shop. Haley didn’t want Max’s help but she slowly realized that there was more to Max than she thought.
The Kiss List is definitely all about where hate changes to a not-so-sure what to think slowly to maybe there is something there. That journey of love is a cute romantic story where two people that originally dislike each other slowly figure out that they are really in love.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Cute and fun
What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
The humor
Frenemies to lovers
Part of a series: Love List
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue
I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from NetGalley.
The Kiss List by Sonya Weiss a kissable five-star read. This could be so predictable but do you know what, this had a great freshness to it, there were fantastic laughable and funny moments as well as sweet and caring moments, the care and love between Haley Bowman and her farther Mr Bowman really shone through, that relationship just shone through as well as the relationship between Mr Bowman and Max Gallagher they all showed such lovely sides of the story. Haley is so much braver than I am, I honestly don’t know if I would ever be brave enough to do my own Kiss list as I have some frogs in my past. This is a great story, and one that you can’t miss. Sonya Weiss is a great writer and one that you need to get reading.