V. Anton’s debut YA novel, The Kiss Instructor, takes us inside the life of Alana Summer, a young ballet dancer dealing with a violent father and the mother she feels she should protect. Adin and Chris, both childhood friends, are always there for support, but Alana and Adin have mutual and unexpressed feelings for each other beyond friendship.
The main characters are likeable but somewhat shallow, which makes them feel a bit cliché at times. I don’t tend to read YA so with that in mind, I also found too much repetitive description and thoughts which slowed the story, and too many choppy sentences that felt like the author isn’t quite comfortable with her craft yet. There were also too many POVs for a short novel and I think the prologue could have been removed and filtered into the story instead.
However, the second half of the book moves along better and pulled me in. I loved the imagery in the Puerto Rico setting which was missing in the first half of the book in New York. I especially enjoyed the unique character of Alana’s great aunt. Overall, The Kiss Instructor is a nice first effort and an entertaining read for a cold winter’s day.
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Find The Kiss Instructor on Smashwords
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*This book was purchased for review. No compensation was given.
Reviewer: LK Hunsaker is the author of romantic women’s mainstream fiction as well as some straight literary ventures.
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