Cute story, but not my type. super repetitive, could've taken out 100 pages in the middle and gotten the same result.

I really really wanted to love this book. It sounded like it was right up my alley. Sadly it missed the mark by a smidge. While it isn’t something I would read again, I still stuck with it to find out what happened in the end. Without giving anything away I can say that if you enjoy a quick YA fantasy read you would probably enjoy this.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. I loved the world and the characters. I hope everyone picks this up

I absolutely love the concept of this story. The potential of it is really good, and I thought it sounded intriguing. The reality: it kind of felt like the movie Groundhog Day where the same stuff (in this case topics of conversation) kept happening again and again and AGAIN. I honestly was really tired of it. I understand that the “issue” is not going to be solved early in the book, however the story either could have been shortened or a little more substance could have been added.

I really wanted this to be fun and mysterious and witchy. Instead it was kind of boring, repetitive, and angst on a level like no other teen book I have ever read. I expected angst, I did after all read a teen book, but HOLY ANGST BATMAN!

This fell flat for me and I am super disappointed. Give it a try for yourself as you may have a different opinion.

Thank you to Susan Bishop Crispell, Sourcebooks Fire, and NetGalley for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for a copy of this book to review.
The Holloway Girls are blessed with good luck which they can share with anyone they kiss during their kissing season. As Remy approaches her kissing season there is only one boy she is interested in kissing. However he breaks the rules and kisses Remy whilst in love with someone else. Afterwards he experiences a series of unfortunate mishaps leading everyone to think he has been cursed by Remy.

I read a lot of Young Adult fiction and it’s one of my favourite genres. I think with this book it was just a case of it was probably a little bit too young for me.

Once Remy ‘curses’ the boy she’s kissed we spend the rest of the book following Remy desperately trying to undo the magic gone wrong, all the while feeling very sorry for herself. I found some of the things people did to Remy as retribution for her cursing her crush as a bit too far and unbelievable. I’m not sure how the characters weren’t able to see that Remy wasn’t the only one to blame.

When a new love interest for Remy is introduced it’s quite painful the way he is clearly perfect for her but she refuses to kiss anyone else because of her bad experience. Instead we must listen to Remy continue to carry on about how awful her situation is. By the end of the book I felt like I was groaning every time there was a mention of the curse. There is also a ridiculous number of mentions of whoopie pies - which as an Australian I found incredibly confusing (sorry I know it’s hardly relevant to the story but I couldn’t not mention it!)

Others will probably enjoy this book which is light-hearted with a cute premise and a nice side-plot about two sisters who share a really special bond which was lovely to read.

This was a really well done read, I don't typically read this genre but I enjoyed it!! This was my first Susan Bishop Crispell book and I look forward to reading more from them in the future!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

Was different type of book then I usually am in to. It was such a great book. I loved getting to read Remys story! Definitely recommend!! Thanks so much to SourceFire Books and NetGalley for the arc!

This story was interesting. I liked the magic but I just don’t think I totally connected with the writing style. Every time I saw the author say/something/like/this I started to cringe. By the end of the book I was just really irritated by that and ended up taking a star off the rating simply for this.

The Holloway Girls started off at a great pace and my hopes were high for the rest of the story. However, as quickly as this book started was about as quickly as it fizzled out and felt like a whole lot of fluff. The magic system in this book was pretty underwhelming and I was really looking forward to finding out more about it because I'm always on board for a story about reversing curses. The ending of this and the "cure" to reversing the curse felt very anticlimactic as well. So, while I think this book will be a fun read for some it definitely wasn't for me.

This is a cute YA (13-18 recommended age on Amazon) book. It was an easy read to follow that kept me engaged. It wasn’t an epic storyline with dramatics and “keep me up all night” energy, but I still enjoyed it.
Cute magic aspect but it wasn’t expounded on besides the mentions of it.
Also by my math, Tobin is supposed to be 16. Must be a mature 16- lip rings, tattoo, budding music career. 🙄Characters seem older than what they were written as.
Maggie drove me nuts. I would’ve bee pissed if my sister did what she did. I just straight up didn’t like her at all.
Remy is my home girl. She reacted how I would- love that in a character.

I did roll my eyes sometime (teenager shenanigans), but I also couldn’t believe what some of their teenage boys did to Remy and her family. 🫣🥺😠

Check content warnings

Coming of age storyline

LGBTQ+ rep (lesbian)

Not too bad. I would still borrow before buying this one.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this digital ARC.

This book was just ok for me. From the cover, I thought it would have more magic, but the magic in it was pretty low key. I did like the characters, especially Tobin, Juliet and Maggie.

This was an adorable read! The Holloway Girls is about sisters Remy, and her kissing season. You see her and her older sister Maggie have a special gift. During the season their kisses give one boy or girl…good luck! But things don’t always work out. Remy doesn’t follow the rules, and her kiss gives one boy terrible luck. Now she is adamant to not share another kiss. Until she meets the new boy in town. Will she be able to break the curse and give a kiss again?

What I enjoyed:
- Remy’s character growth through the story is wonderful. I loved seeing her grow stronger, and more comfortable in her own skin.
- Remy + Tobin were absolutely adorable. I loved seeing their relationship blossom
- This was a quick and easy read. I liked the pacing, and found the story easy to finish.
- The magic weaved through the story! I wish we did get more info on how it worked and the history. But nevertheless, I enjoyed it’s elements.

Overall, this was a cute read! Maybe a little young for me. But I think it is perfect for any YA fan looking for a cute and fluffy read. 3.5 stars out of 5. Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a fun summer read full of teenage angst, summer love, and magic. As fun and lighthearted as this novel seems there’s a lot going on under the surface. The family dynamics in both the Holloways and the Curcios were deep and touched on some great issues. The sibling sets both had their own unique relationships that were both relatable and enduring. Remy’s relationship with her parents even though a small part of the story was beautifully written and I feel like her dad was my dad in every loving gesture and supportive well placed comment. The magic system in this book was really unique and I loved the entire concept of it. I both hated and loved the teens in this book. The realistic hazing, torment, and awful attitudes were absolutely on point with the way high schoolers have a tendency to be, especially in a small town. As much as it makes me sad I also was pleased to see it develop the way it did. I will say Remy had a real way of getting under my skin and I don’t know if it’s because I’m way past that stage in my life, and hindsight is 20/20 but I wanted to smack her more than a few times. Overall I was quite pleased with this book and all its little twists and turns!

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.

I liked this one more than I thought I would! When I first started it, it felt like it was setting up really well and there was a lot of potential. And then it almost seemed to stop and there wasn’t really anything happening. Despite nothing big happening, I really did end up liking it.
Remy was a really interesting character. She was so stubborn at times that I wanted to scream, but I could understand her stubbornness especially in regards to the kissing season. Remy dealt with fear, guilt and anger for a lot of the book as she struggled to come to terms with Isaac’s bad luck after she kissed him. I really felt for Remy, and I loved the moments when she was with Tobin and was able to just be herself again. The constant back and forth of Remy getting close and then panicking and pulling away got a bit repetitive after a while.
I liked Tobin a lot. He was a good character to balance against Remy, and he was a steady and comforting kind of character. Juliet and Maggie were also good characters. I liked that the book focused not just on regular love, but also familial love. Maggie was trying to be there for Remy, and they had to adjust their relationship. Remy’s parents were also super supportive and I really liked seeing that.
I thought this one was a fun read. There were some issues with the pacing at times, but overall I enjoyed the characters and the story.

It was only a kiss, how did it end up like this. There are some holes in the magic system; however, the major thing driving how our character ending up in the predicament they are in is so relatable.

A fun flirty story of the Holloway girls during kissing season when the boys want kisses to give them good luck. But during Remys first kissing season the boy she kisses ends up with bad luck that nearly kills him. She vows never to give that bad luck to anyone again until she is being pursued by a boy who is new to town. How will she make sure he doesn't get bad luck.

I hate being negative on this platform. I'm so lucky to be able to read books early, and for free, but they won't always work for me. Let's talk about it.

The Holloway Girls follows Remy, who comes from a long line of women whose kisses bring good luck. This seemed fun to me at first. I love books with magic that seems small, and not super complex. However, I feel like this book often tosses the magical aspects aside in favor of conversations that have been had over and over, emo music references, and unjustified angst. This all comes about because Remy kisses a boy who loves someone else, fully knowing this breaks the rules. The boy she kisses ends up getting bad luck, and Remy makes the very logical choice to never kiss another boy, ignore everyone in her life, and never ask for help. This girl is constantly jumping to conclusions and hurting the people around her. Granted, the people around her weren't so great either. Her sister constantly pressures her and insists Remy didn't give anyone bad luck (she definitely did) and her love interest is just angsty and sad and doesn't seem to have any understanding of her situation. Also, I would love to never read about wanting to kiss someone's double lip rings ever again. We get it, he's emo. He likes Bring Me the Horizon.

Still, Remy is the most frustrating part of this story. She whines and whines and acts like she is completely helpless but she almost never is. She refers to her "blackened heart" often and acts as if no one has ever known pain like hers. Girl, you did this to yourself, and your only issue is that you can't kiss anyone for a year. Also, the miscommunication between her and the love interest, in the end, is just dumb, There's no other word for it. She is dumb. I'm sorry.

Anyway, I'm giving this two stars. Remy has great parents, and I liked all the baking scenes in this, but mostly, it was cringy. I hate to use that word, but this was. Sorry if this review offends anyone, I just don't find lip rings and sadness to be super sexy,

This was a good read. Very reminiscent of a classic teen drama, but with a fast paced plot. It was a great time and I really enjoyed reading it.

It's always been the tradition of the girls of the Holloway family when they turn 16 to enter the kissing season. During this time, any person that the Holloway girl kisses gets good luck. However, that isn't the case with Remy, whose first kiss was a boy that ended up with extremely bad luck. Vowing not to kiss a boy again, Remy is set on trying to find a way to break the curse she's found herself in, and that may involve delving into her family's history, and also trying to not be friends with the new boy next door.

The plot itself is decent in execution. I really liked the idea of magic gone wrong and reversing of spells. I'm always a sucker for a well-designed magic system, but this one felt extremely lacking. All of the magic is contained within this book, yet it exudes into the world around the Holloway family and makes people more attracted to whoever's kissing season it is. It also manifests in the kisses themselves, which I find interesting.

But... that's it. There's no real reason for how the magic showed up in the first place. There's no practice of magic within the Holloway lineage. It's just the book. To me, it was extremely disappointing, given that the cover and the synopsis felt like it was leading to more of a magical influence. Plus, everyone in the town just always knows about this magic and its presence in the town is really weird to me. Wouldn't people want to keep it hidden? At least that's from what I assume from a bunch of other stories where magic is hidden. It felt off to me and I wished there was a lot more.

Speaking of magic, the whole purpose Remy has is to literally break this curse. I really love how it allows Remy to learn more about her family's complicated history, since there's a lot that's been hidden from her. However, that resolution to breaking the curse I think might be one of the worst endings I've ever read. Like yes, I know it was foreshadowed and it was done well. But it was such an easy fix that it felt like a cop-out to something that read off as much more complicated to solve, since people were actually getting hurt to the point of near death. I almost threw my kindle across the room when I found out what the answer was.

Remy is by far one of the most infuriating characters I've ever read about. She is beyond stubborn and selfish. While she does care for others, she just chooses to shut herself off completely, even to the point where she knows that damage is done, and in internal dialogue even says that it's done, so why not dig the hole even deeper? Who the hell has that mindset? On top of that, she has SEVERAL of the same conversations with people that reinforce to her that what happened was not her fault, but she absolutely does not listen, leading to the impact of the magic on Remy just being lessened to the point of a reader not being impacted emotionally by what's being said/done. This came into play a LOT when it came to the romance, so that was even dulled down for me because of it. I never really saw the chemistry.

Furthermore, there was one scene where she's hanging out with her sister, and the two new kids next door, who are twins. Mind you, Remy's sister Maggie is probably queer, and one of the new kids, Juliet, is absolutely queer. They are having a conversation about trying to have a friendship, even though Juliet and Maggie are kind of flirting. Remy flat out says in response to this something along the lines of "I'll be friends with you as long as you don't kiss me." That's so homophobic it hurts, since it's something that a LOT of queer people here from their peers when they first come out. Maggie calls her out on it and says it's not cool, but it doesn't really lead to a conversation of why it's harmful or how to move on from it. Hell, Remy doesn't even see it as homophobic and never apologizes for it! This moment twisted my entire perception on the book into being one that encouraged inclusivity to one that was just as harmful as it was good.

There were also some weird technical writing choices that were made, like the addition of multiple words when one could have sufficed. Example from the text (I had an ARC of this story, so wording might not be finalized in the final publication): "... but it didn't magically make the secrets/distrust/hurt between us disappear." This took place several places within the story and honestly it felt like the author was extremely indecisive in writing this. That makes me question as a reader how much they trust their own writing, which usually isn't a good thing.

The Holloway Girls is a quaint romance with a lot of rough characterization and stylistic choices that makes what seems to be a smooth read into a bumpy one.

I received a copy of this story from NetGalley and Penguin Teen. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thoughts

This book is Hallmark-cute, which is perfectly fine. What isn't so fine is the undercurrent of both slut-shaming and of persuasive non-consent present in this book. It left a bad taste in my mouth. A very, very bad taste. For all its cute potential, I hated it.

Pros
True Consequences: This book certainly embraces an ethereal and cutesy magic, but it doesn't pull its punches. It quickly takes a sharp and dramatic turn that I wasn't against. I don't like to spoil things in my reviews, but "bad luck" is meant in the worst possible way. It's shocking--and one of the few parts of the book that I found delightful.

Hallmark Holloways: Mom is a baker. Dad is a rock climbing instructor. This type of whimsical employment has a truly Hallmark feel--and that's all before we even get to the "magic" of the kissing season. This is a family marked in the pages of history for its great romances. The whole thing has a very light, fluffy, and fun feel to it. This family and this story might not be very serious (even when there are some serious consequences), but overall, this book isn't meant to be anything more than light and fun. And I appreciate that.

Malleable Character: Remy isn't a constant. She learns and grows. She might follow a classic sort of character arc, but it's classic for a reason. She starts out obsessed with the wrong boy at the beginning, and this obsession leads to the consequences she has to muddle through in the middle. By the end, she is more sure and confident in herself than before--without being burdened by obsession or the following guilt of cursing Mr.-Not-Right. It's always nice to see a character who can and does change.


Cons
Sister Secrets: I don't like plots that revolve around keeping secrets from intimate relations, and I really didn't like that this book started off almost immediately by driving a wedge between the sisters due to a secret--here, a secret relationship. I also hate when relationships cause drama, especially between girls--and most especially between sisters. It was a very rough start for me here.

Sluts and Prudes: This book straddles an uncomfortable line between slut shaming and prude shaming, and I am not here for it. There's nothing outright on the slut shaming side (except for some unfortunate things that come out in the heat of an argument), but there's an undercurrent of slut shaming in Remy's attitude toward her sister and her kissing season that is very uncomfortable to read. On the other side of things, after Remy swears off kissing for the year--understandably so, given the traumatic circumstance that prompts her choice--there was an uncomfortable pressure from everybody around her to have her "get back out there." When even her dad is trying to set her up against her (understandable) wishes, it just feels a little bit too much. No should mean no, even if you don't personally understand that no.

Slo-Mo: This is a very slow moving plot. There's a kiss almost at once, and the bad luck is startlingly fast as well. And then there's nothing... Well, there's a lot of waffling after that, but as for plot? Yeah, not much happens for a long, long while... or at all.


Rating
⭐⭐
2/10

Anyone who enjoyed the baking-infused plotline of Karen Bischer's The Secret Recipe for Moving On will appreciate this sugar-and-spice new story. Those who like a bit of potential magic in their romance like in Marissa Meyer's Instant Karma will like this magical debutante.