“Sexy, sweet, and thoroughly satisfying.”—LAUREN LAYNE, New York Times bestselling author She’s one kiss away from finding Mr. Right!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 Axel Heller for a while. He’s got that tall-brooding-and-handsome thing … on Axel Heller for a while. He’s got that tall-brooding-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 some other 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…
“I bet you a kiss you can’t resist me.”
Game on.
Praise for New York Times and USA Today bestseller Marie Harte:
“Blends humor, heart, and heat to deliver a top of the charts performance.”—Night Owl Romance, 5/5 Stars, Top Pick! for Zero to Sixty
“A blazing hot, emotionally intense love story…from an author on the rise.”—Kirkus Reviews for A Sure Thing
“Funny, addicting, and full of hot sex scenes.”—Booklist for How to Handle a Heartbreaker
“Another exceptionally red-hot romance by Marie Harte with a strong yet sweet hero!”—Fresh Fiction for Just the Thing
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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.
TITLE: The Kissing Game
Author: Marie Harte
Genre:
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
*This ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
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REVIEW:
(Just an okay read!)
Firstly, this is a new-to-me author that I’d never heard of before. Second, to be honest, it was a bit slow and hard for me to get into. There seems to be some deceptor’s: the blurb went one way (and I was pumped) but the actual setup went another. That, and that reason alone is why my rating is 3.5 stars. Don’t get me wrong the book isn’t horrible; just not what I anticipated.
Let me give you a little more background…
Rena and Axel are secretly into each other. She’s a bar tender that’s had a thing for Axel (a bar patron who drinks at her work regularly) for the longest. Great, right? The proverbial boy-meets-girl story that you think will be spun with a twist. Unfortunately it was not.
The aforementioned deceptor (well, one of them) that I’m referencing is the blurb coining Axel as a tall-dark-and-handsome hero, that when read… is conveniently the pale faced equivalent of a German Viking. Hmmm. Lots of questions there.
Also, it felt like the story was a mish-mosh of variant cultures that were forced. Didn’t like the way diversity was presented to me. Which, because there’s a lack there of in literature; more specifically Romance, I’d hoped for more.
Again, this is my opinion so please don’t let this deter you from reading. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’d heard bad reviews and read a particular book and was completely enamored by it. In which case this isn’t a bad review just a slightly disappointed one.
Final thoughts…
What I liked – Loved the direction the author was going. As I said diversity is a rarity these days especially in the romance genre. Loved the meet-cute of these two characters and felt they had so much potential to grow and just be…more.
What I didn’t like – I think I made pretty clear earlier, but to add something different I’d say, the problems. Big climax seemed to end (resolved) too quickly. Would’ve loved to see more emotion and action with these characters.
Is that enough for me to completely turn away from this author? No. Absolutely not. Even though this book wasn’t my favorite it had enough potential for me to give her books another try.
I should have looked more closely at the blurb.
“He’s got that tall-dark-and-handsome thing going big time.”
Oh, are you referring to the pale German blonde Viking that is our Hero of the story? Yeah…that’s seems like a great descriptor!
The Kissing Game is long and drawn out, with minimal chemistry or love, filled with a ton of side characters that are hard to keep track of. It felt like the author was trying to include a bevy of diverse characters, but the diversity felt fake, as if jumping on a bandwagon.
While some moments were funny and made me smile, the end result is that I felt disconnected from the characters and the story. Nothing felt realistic or interesting enough to keep my attention.