⭐ Characters – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐ Atmosphere – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐ Writing – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐ Plot – ⭐⭐⭐.5
⭐ Pacing – ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
⭐ World Building – ⭐⭐⭐
⭐ Enjoyment – ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Title: A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole - A Heartrending Journey of Love and Loss

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5 stars)

I picked up A Thousand Boy Kisses with the intention of experiencing a heartfelt cry, and from the very first pages, tears welled in my eyes. By the time I reached 35% of the book, my heart was already shattered, and I dreaded the inevitable end. At 50%, I found myself clutching the pieces of my heart, desperately trying to hold on to something, only to let go and accept that this book would change me forever. In the end, as Rune aptly put it, I was left feeling "tired, heartbroken, and emotionally scarred" by this powerful and emotional journey.
A Thousand Boy Kisses is a heartwarming and emotionally charged New Adult romance novel that beautifully portrays the profound love shared between childhood sweethearts. Tillie Cole's skillful storytelling evokes a rollercoaster of emotions, making it a must-read for those who crave authentic one true pairings and adore small-town romances.
The characters in A Thousand Boy Kisses are endearing and well-developed, particularly Poppy and Rune, whose unbreakable bond resonates deeply with readers. Their chemistry and unwavering love for each other make them not only memorable but also immensely relatable. The connections between the protagonists and their families add further depth to the story, emphasizing the importance of love and unity.
The novel's enchanting atmosphere draws readers into the heartwarming small town where the story unfolds. Through Cole's vivid descriptions and attention to detail, the setting becomes a picturesque backdrop that enhances the emotional impact of the narrative, making it all the more immersive.
Tillie Cole's writing is exquisite and emotionally charged, masterfully conveying the characters' joys and heartaches. The prose flows beautifully, capturing the essence of love, loss, and hope, leaving a lasting impression on the reader. Cole's ability to craft poignant moments through her writing is truly commendable.
The plot revolves around Poppy and Rune's enduring love story, and while it does carry a powerful emotional punch, some elements might be predictable to certain readers. Nonetheless, the heartwarming moments and the profound connection between the characters more than compensate for any predictability.
The novel's pacing is well-balanced, allowing readers to become fully invested in the characters and their journey. The story unfolds at a pace that keeps the reader engaged without feeling rushed, skillfully building tension and emotions throughout the narrative.
The small-town setting adds to the charm and allure of A Thousand Boy Kisses, offering a warm and inviting backdrop for the story. While the world-building provides a sense of place, further development could have enhanced the overall reading experience.
In conclusion, A Thousand Boy Kisses is a highly enjoyable novel that tugs at the heartstrings, taking readers on a journey of love and loss. Tillie Cole's emotional storytelling and well-crafted characters create a moving and unforgettable reading experience that lingers long after the final page. Fans of contemporary romance will undoubtedly find themselves deeply immersed in this epic love story.

I realize this is marked YA, but I’ve read and enjoyed several YA books lately, and this one fell a bit flat for me. I genuinely enjoyed Poppy’s relationship with her grandmother and the vivid descriptions of Blossom Grove. Poppy’s strength and passion for life was contagious, but I strongly dislike the miscommunication & other trope (not naming it because I don’t want to give any spoilers) that played a huge role in this story. Rune and Poppy’s love story felt a bit overdone for me. However, Poppy’s nickname from Rune (Poppymin) was adorable!

I will say, Cole’s writing style is beautiful and there were several parts of the story that made me feel alive! Overall, it just didn’t hit the mark for me and I felt very apathetic about the way it ended.

Favorite Quote:
“Why does it take a life ending to learn how to cherish each day? Why must we wait until we run out of time to start to accomplish all that we dreamed, when once we had all the time in the world? Why don’t we look at the person we love the most like it’s the last time we will ever see them? Because if we did, life would be so vibrant. Life would be so truly and completely lived.”

This book has officially earned a spot on the exclusive list of books that have made me cry! Wow, what an emotional story. I loved that we got dual POVs for the characters. I absolutely adored Rune and Poppy. Their relationship is so epic, like on a Shakspearean tragedy level. I don’t know why it took me so long to finally read this one, as it has been on my tbr for so long. But now I totally understand all the hype and it is well deserved! Also, I so loved that it was set in my home state of Georgia! I still can’t believe I actually cried, that’s such a rare thing in books for me. And I’m still not over it. If you’re looking for a kismet, heartwarming, gut wrenching romance, this is for you. I will absolutely be excited to read any future books from this author.

I am so torn on this review. I am not a fan of YA romance. Luckily, this one didn't cross the lines of being too smutty for YA. However, I feel like the epilogue completely ruined the entire theme of the book. I felt like the whole point was for the MMC to accept the outcome and move on with his life like the FMC wanted. What was the point of the jar?
This book made me have all the feelings, and I loved the growth we saw in the MMC. I'd read other books by this author, and still suggest the book to some of my friends. A solid 3.5+star.

“I had no idea how to live a day without her next to me. How to breathe without her by my side.


Rune, age 5, never wanted to leave Norway to go to a town called Blossom Grove, Georgia.

He befriends a girl name Poppy, who lives next door and they soon become best of friends! Until Rune, 15, has to pack his bags and move back to Norway.

Two years later, Rune, 17, returns to Blossom Grove, Georgia. What will happen between Rune and Poppy? Will Poppy be happy to see him again?



⭐️⭐️
I like to give a Thank you to the Tillie Cole, Bloom Books, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read “A Thousand Boy Kisses” in return for an honest review.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Tillie Cole’s novels and was very interested when I found her novel on NetGalley!

I did enjoy the connection that Rune and Poppy had when they first met and the novel follows both of them through out!

The reason for the two star review was because I just wasn’t invested in the characters and a hard time reading the writing style.

I definitely will continue to read more Tillie Cole’s novels.

I don't cry often, and many tears have been shed whilst reading this book.

It's so well written and such a beautiful story.

I'm giving it 5 stars for the emotional damage. However, I'm still not sure how I feel about that epilogue!

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. I'm not sure if they are rereleasing it, but am grateful to have received a copy.

A Thousand Boy Kisses was one of the best books I’ve read in ages! The story and characters are absolutely unforgettable. So heartbreaking, yet so beautiful at the same time. Poppy and Rune will stay with me forever. Tillie Cole is now one of my new favorite authors!

If you are looking for a book that will tug on your heart strings look no further. This book is exactly what you’re looking for. Yet while it is devastating it is devastatingly beautiful. You have two strong characters, both of whom know that they have found their match. Yes, they may be young, but love knows no age. They complete each other. Yet life doesn’t always recognize that soul mates are meant to be together always.
I loved Poppy. Her outlook on the whole situation is one that is to be admired. Knowing that you are cutting off someone who you love so much to save them pain is never easy. Yet her outlook on life and her impending death is just beautiful. Sometimes we forget to live in the moment until life forces us to. I am so happy that Rune is able to find away to find peace again and become a self that is more open to love and acceptance. The walls he moves to make Poppy happy truly fill my heart with joy.
Thank you so much to Sourcebook Bloom Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

A Thousand Boy Kisses is beautiful. I love how connected Poppy and Rune are. I love how they grow up together. Poppy is such a sweet ray of sunshine, and she never gives up on Rune. This book is gut wrenching, and it will stay with me for a long time. Tissue’s recommended!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy of this amazing love story for my honest review!

This book both broke me and put me back together. Such a bittersweet (emphasis on sweet) read that I devoured it in a day. Tear blurred eyes couldn't hold me back! I just love love loved this.

OH MY GOSH!!! As i'm still processing this book, I have no clue what to say other than, I will never forgive Tillie Cole for writing this book, because my heart just burst. A Thousand Boy Kisses was so beautiful, yet so heart wrenching. My heart hurts so much. This book honestly messed me up. I don't know how long it will take me to recover from this book. As I was sitting here trying to finish this book last night, I was struggling so much to hold back the tears, but boy did they flow. In my opinion everyone needs to read this amazing book at some point. This book absolutely DELIVERED!!!! I told myself I wasn't going to sob so much reading a damn book, but I will never promise myself that ever again. As i'm sitting here trying to write this review the tears are flowing freely and my heart is still hurting.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND SOURCEBOOKS BLOOM BOOKS FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!!!

"Our kiss may have been a middle finger to anyone who didn't want us together, but her smile was a middle finger to the darkness in my soul".

Poppy Litchfield and Rune Kristiansen have been two peas in a pod since they were five years old. Rune moved to Blossom Grove, Georgia from Norway. One day, Poppy gets pulled out of school because her mamaw was sick, Poppy didn't understand what was going on until she got home and saw her family members quietly crying and nurses surrounding her mamaw. Poppy was her mamaw's best friend, her favorite girlie, her everything, they did everything together. When Poppy's mamaw tells her she's going on an adventure and Poppy can't come with her. Poppy doesn't understand what's happening, but when her mamaw tells her that she's going home to be with her angels, Poppy is broken. Before Poppy's mamaw silently goes home, she gives Poppy a mason jar filled with one thousand plain hearts. Poppy's mission is to find her soul mate, and every kiss that she has, she is to write it down on the heart explaining everything, who she kissed, where she kissed this person, and if it made her heart bust.

Poppy tells Rune what is going on, but Rune gets so defensive and tells Poppy that he is the only boy she will ever kiss. I loved Poppy and Rune's relationship so much, they were just so cute, sweet, and perfect, and deserved the absolute world. When Rune is fifteen years old he learns that his father got a job back in Norway, Rune is so determined that he won't leave Poppy behind, but Poppy tells him that he has to go, Poppy promises Rune that she won't kiss anyone else until Rune comes back. Fast forward, Rune returns back to Blossom Grove, Georgia when he is seventeen years old, where he befriended Poppy as a child, when Rune returns he just has one thing on his mind. Why did the girl who was one half of his soul, who promised to wait faithfully for his return, cut him off without a word of explanation? I'm not going to say what happens because you need to read it for yourself, but I will say that it will destroy you.

When Rune is away in Norway, Poppy halts her one thousand boy kisses. When Rune returns back to Georgia is he a completely different person, he's much taller, he's more angrier, he now smokes. Rune's heart was broken two years ago when Poppy fell silent without a word or why she cut him off, but when Rune discovers the truth, he finds that the greatest heartache is yet to come. One kiss lasts a moment. But a thousand kisses can last a lifetime. I love love love this book so much even though it destroyed the heck out of me. I just wanted to reach into this book and pull both Rune and Poppy in for a hug. Both of these characters deserve the absolute world. If this book turns into a movie, I promise you I will run to it so fast, but don't laugh at me when you see me sitting in a movie theater sobbing, looking like a whole mess. When Poppy and Rune were in the blossom grove touching the flowers, boy did that make my heart swell.

LET ME JUST SAY, THE ENDING WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

I don’t know how to fully feel about this book. It was not my favorite, but at the same time it made me cry more than most books do. It broke my heart.
The family dynamic to me felt strange, it was unlike my own so I struggled to understand it fully.
The romance seemed to move very quickly in an almost unrealistic way, but I can see that some people would enjoy that. It just was not for me.
I do not think I will be reading it again anytime soon but I would recommend it to those who enjoy a sad read every once in a while.

Thank you to Net Galley and sourcebooks bloom books for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to SourceBooks, Bloom Books, NetGalley, and Tillie Cole for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Poppy and Rune oh my word. Their story is so inspiring and will absolutely make your heart strings burst. You will feel every feeling imaginable while reading their story. You will be transported into a different world and be surrounded by their lives. You will cry, you will laugh, you will fall in love. Sometimes life doesn’t seem to be going your way but you love life and it will come full circle.

This book is a little on the longer side but I promise you, it won’t feel like it once you get hooked. You might struggle to get really into the characters but stick with it! Its all for a reason and I’m sure you won’t regret it! It is YA and the storyline is between two teenagers but I didn’t mind at all and I really don’t read much YA at all.

“Poppy and Rune- There was no beginning to us and no end.”

A Thousand Boy Kisses steals your heart and doesn't give it back, honestly I was blown away by this. The writing and story is so completely beautiful and heart-warming yet also heart-breaking and so sad. I normally don't cy at books but this had me bawling at almost every chapter. The relationships and characters in this were so perfectly written and dynamic I can not recommend it enough. An absolutely world-rocking book that every romance reader should check out.

This story had my heart in a choke hold. The storyline was so beautiful. I believe this book is the only book that had me balling like a baby. Make sure you have plenty of tissues while reading this book.

I’ve heard a lot about this book and was happy to receive an eARC of the reprint. It started off well and sucked me in early. I was in tears about 30% of the way into the story. However, it ended up falling flat for me. There could have been more character and plot development early in the novel when Poppy and Rune were younger. It felt like important moments of their relationship building were missing. The storyline jumped ahead too quickly, making the last third of the book feel repetitive. Also, there were things that didn’t feel right in the story, such as them calling each other “babe” suddenly at age 17.

I liked the idea of the story, I just feel that it could have been better developed to add depth. I should have been moved to tears by the end, but I wasn’t. I was actually bored as it dragged on. I thought I was going to love this book and am disappointed that I didn’t. Hopefully it fares better with a young teen audience.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an eARC of #AThousandBoyKisses in exchange for honest feedback. - 2.5 stars

If you want something beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time, this is the book for you! This book will make you cry your eyes out! The characters were just absolutely lovable and adorable. The relationship between characters was so dynamic. Highly highly recommend!

5/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for access to this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I'm broken. I don't even know what else to say. I DON'T recommend reading this book in public, in a bus like I stupidly did. I don't often cry. In fact, I very rarely cry even in real life. At 35% of this book, I was crying ! And not a cute little tear at the corner of the eye. I was all the ugly cry, the runny nose and puffy red eyes crying. This book broke me and made me rethink my life. Damn, I'm not single but I want Rune in my life. I wanted more out of the epilogue, why ? How ?
Seriously, this book was great. Just read it at home far from other people.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to get to review this ARC

I have been wanting to get my hands on this book for a long time, but it wasn't available in print at Barnes and Noble, so I bode my time. When I saw that there was an ARC available via Netgalley, I knew I had to try to get my hands on it, and I'm so glad I did. But so...destroyed. This was one of the most emotionally charged books I've ever read with the most tragic couple I've ever read about.
The story starts off sweet enough. There's a girl, Poppy, and a boy, Rune, who become best friends forever when he moves into the house next door at the age of five. They are inseparable, Poppy and Rune. One day, when Poppy's grandmother dies, she gives her a challenge to obtain one thousand boy kisses to fill in a jar as an adventure to remember her by. Rune decides he needs to give her ALL one thousand kisses, and gives her her first kiss to put in her jar at the age of eight. So sweet.
They grow up together, Rune and Poppy, and enter high school as boyfriend and girlfriend. Still completely inseparable. They are as often described, "Two halves of the same heart". But then, tragically, they are ripped apart when Rune's father takes him back to Norway because of his job. On their last night together, they make love, although completely, utterly heart-broken.
The story takes a dark, mysterious turn. The two years that they are kept apart, Poppy cuts Rune off from her life and stops responding to any attempt he has to reach out to her. Rune becomes darker and darker as anger becomes all he feels for being ripped away from his beloved Poppy. Poppy too has changed, and has a secret to hide from him. When he returns to the same house two years later, she has seen with sadness that his heart and soul as darkened from her absence, and her own heart is heavy from a secret she keeps from him to save him from more pain. Rune grows to resent her and treats her coldly, but nonetheless, he cannot stay away. What results is a story about a young couple, joined by body, heart, and soul so fully and completely, that nothing will keep them apart.
This book is very sweet and romantic, but also very sad, so I couldn't get through the last two chapters without crying my eyes out with a box of tissues by my side. A complete tearjerker, that takes you through a journey of what it means to truly live, love, as well as the pain of loss and grief, all of which makes up a life, beautiful in its entirety.
My only complaint is the Epilogue, which I could've done without because I thought it ended so perfectly...so maybe I'll just pretend it doesn't exist.

4/5 🌟 It. Broke. My. Soul. (In a good way 😉) Keep the tissues and wine bottle close by. Perfect mood read that gives you the all consuming emotions of first and forever love!