Review: Confessions of a Serial Kisser by Wendelin Van Draanen

            My Summary:

After reading a romance novel found under her mom's bed, Evangeline Logan sets out on a mission to "live her fantasy" and find the perfect kiss. What she ends up finding is ear-lickers and fish lips, among other not-so-perfect kissing encounters. But when her reckless kissing starts to take it's toll on both her reputation and her relationships, what Evangeline learns brings much more value than a kiss ever could.

I picked this up at my library on a whim, simply for the pink cover (yes I can be quite the cover judge at times), plus I thought it looked like a cute read although it's not my usual type of novel. I liked the short, to-the-point chapters and ended up enjoying the whole book.

Overall, Evangeline was an upbeat and likable character. However, a few minor things about the writing bothered me. As I've found with a couple other chick-lit books I've read, there was an overuse of exclamation points in this book. They made Evangeline seem just a little too perky and animated. While I'm sure that's the personality Draanen wanted Evangeline to come off as having, it still just rubbed me as a little too over-the-top. I also was slightly annoyed by the word "dweeb," used four or five times throughout the book, but that's not too important. It's just not a word I'm used to seeing in my usual reading.


There were many entertaining parts in this book and I was kept pretty amused throughout. Surprisingly the ending was not too predictable (usually a common factor for romance books, in my opinion at least) and I was kept guessing the whole time about whether or not she would find her "crimson kiss," and which one of the many boys she would end up with.


Confessions of a Serial Kisser was pretty fast-paced, and maybe too much so at times. For example, when Evangeline gives herself a makeover, her transformation is just too rushed to be believable, and the same can be said for some of her kissing encounters. I mean, who walks up to some random guy in Starbucks and grabs and kisses them? But I guess that sort of thing is common in a lot of chick-lit romances.



Overall I would say that this would be the perfect read for those who really enjoy light, girly, romantic chick-lit books. It's filled with amusing characters and a good moral ending. I definitely recommend it, like I said, to any chick-lit fans looking for a cute and entertaining read.