Review: The Things You Kiss Goodbye

Title: The Things You Kissed Goodbye
Author: Leslie Conner
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: June 26th, 2014
Source: ARC from BEA

Summary: Bettina Vasilis can hardly believe it when basketball star Brady Cullen asks her out, and she just about faints when her strict father actually approves of him.

But when school starts up again, Brady changes. What happened to the sweet boy she fell in love with? Then she meets a smoldering guy in his twenties, and this “cowboy” is everything Brady is not—gentle, caring, and interested in getting to know the real Bettina.

Bettina knows that breaking up with Brady would mean giving up her freedom—and that it would be inappropriate for anything to happen between her and Cowboy. Still, she can’t help that she longs for the scent of his auto shop whenever she’s anywhere else.

When tragedy strikes, Bettina must tell her family the truth—and kiss goodbye the things she thought she knew about herself and the men in her life.

Leslie Connor has written a lyrical, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful story about family, romance, and the immense power of love.

Review: I have to start this review by saying I did not finish this novel. I could not get all the way through it. This review is going to be why I put this book down.

The main reason for my problems with this book was the main character Bettina. She was just all around annoying. I didn’t like a single thing about her. She had way too many hobbies, and just liked everything. It seemed like the author wanted to give the audience way to many ways to connect to the character that is made it hard too. She would concentrate on art for a little bit and then dancing and then move to business. It was to keep them all straight.

The dialogue was not believable at all. None of the teenage characters actually talked like teenagers. It felt like the author was trying too hard at every point of this book. The main plot point was Bettina’s relationship with her father which actually didn’t seem too bad. He was looking out for her and following his Greek heritage. I didn’t finish the novel so I don’t know if it got worse, but I feel like Bettina was freaking out over nothing. Why does it matter to her if her dad doesn’t tell her about his business? She’s a teenager and shouldn’t be worrying about it.

This was a missed opportunity by the author. Everyone is looking for diverse characters right now, and Bettina came from a Greek background, yet it was impossible to connect to her. I have to say I do not recommend this novel and I hope there’s some better diverse books coming out soon.