“And my heat almost burst”
Met Poppy and Rune. They became more than friends, a special bond link them together when Rune moved next to poppy… until he return to Norway. At 17 he came back But when they meet again, they are distant, and rune learns that Poppy had left for a few months, a secret that she is not ready to share. Yet Their link is still there.
I loved this book so much it kept me awake during night because I have to finish it.
This story is heartbreaking, and it comes with a box of tissues. If you need to cry, this book is for you. Beautiful love story.

An absolute tear jerker for sure! I was enveloped from the first page and could not put it down. This is one of those books that will stay with me forever.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I've had this on my radar for what feels like forever at this point, and I couldn't wait to finally have a reason to pick this up.

I can't even begin to tell you about this book. I don't even feel like I can rate this book accurately. Did I like this book? NO. It destroyed me. I cried from the very beginning and constantly throughout the rest. This was heartbreaking. Was it well written? Absolutely. Would I recommend this book? Without a doubt. As long as someone went into it with better expectations that what I did. With this cute title and cover, you are undoubtedly thinking "love story" and while this IS a love story at its core, it's tragic. It's depressing and sad and not at all what I was expecting.

Look at trigger warnings. Go into this with the right idea what this book is about. Or don't. If you need a good cry or want something different than a typical romance, this book could definitely work for you. I won't forget this anytime soon and I am definitely interested in picking up other books from this author.

3 Stars
I have been seeing and hearing about A Thousand Boy Kisses for a long time amongst book bloggers and in the reading community. Despite hearing some glowing and some mixed reviews about it, I had pretty much written off ever reading it because it sounded depressing. When I saw it on Net Galley and that it was picked up by a publisher I thought, why not give it a try after all of these years? Before I get into it though, you should know I am a 31 year-old wife and mother so I am definitely not a young adult reviewing this story.

Overall, it was a really sweet and heartbreaking story about young all-encompassing love in the face of time, distance, adversity & other *ahem* challenges. I really did like it and I can see why others love it. I think if you’re into YA and don’t mind a tear-jerker then you should give this a shot.

I would say A Thousand Boy Kisses is YA and it reads like a YA. While reading this book, I found myself thinking a few times how over the top the characters would be about certain things— and then I had to remind myself how at 15/16/17 everything felt intense and like it was truly a huge deal. I tried to keep this in mind, be understanding, & even try to think like a teenager. Despite this, at times the writing and dialogue felt immature and weak to me and I’ve read & loved a lot of YA where that was not the case.

One last thing though and I will be vague as to not give anything away— as a mom, I didn’t love when/at what age the jar came into the picture. Eight is REALLY young for that to be on your radar??? If I was Poppy’s mom I would have been pissed at grandma, just saying.

Thank you to Bloom Books & Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I will start off by saying that this book DID manage to make me emotional in some parts, however…. I feel like this was a poor rip off of “a walk to remember”.
I absolutely love a walk to remember. I adore the movie and book so much. So after I worked out that this was a similar story I expected to really like it.
This wasn’t the case unfortunately.
A thousand boy kisses just fell short for me. I didn’t feel a connection to the characters, I felt they were very surface level. I was sick of hearing how rune was just born moody and darker in nature, he was always angry. It was mentioned so often that it lost meaning.
In a lot of instances the ages didn’t match the language used, for instance we start off when rune and poppy meet at age 5, poppy says things like “Norwegian? Like the Vikings? My mamaw read me a book about the Vikings, it said they were from Norway.” Etc. that speech doesn’t match that of a 5 year old (trust me I would know, I have a 5 year old daughter).
Honestly I could probably overlook it, but I’m being picky because this book just really annoyed me.
I wanted to love it. I just really didn’t. I was 60% in and still waiting for something interesting to happen. I’m going to DNF and go watch a “walk to remember” instead.

This book emotionally wrecked me from Chapter 1 all the way to the epilogue in the best way. I cried this entire book and I'm not talking a few tears I'm talking about the ugly cries where your eyes are swollen and your nose is raw type of cries. I have never had a book make me cry this much in my entire life!

The characters are so endearing. Reading about Poppy and Rune's love blossom from friends to lovers was such and exquisitely painful journey that I didn't want to stop. Their personalities and how the interact with each other had me hooked from the prologue.

This book was written so beautifully in my opinion. There were sayings that were profound to me and made me rethink everything. This book altered my brain chemistry.


I can not recommend this book enough! If I could give this a thousand stars I would for infinity forever always!

Thank you to Bloom Books Publishing, NetGalley, and Tilly Cole for letting me read this!

This book made me cry! I couldn’t put it down! If you are looking for a romance book this is the one to pick up

3.5⭐️

Based on the premise of this story, I thought it was something I would really enjoy. And yes, I did find it to be a beautiful and heartbreaking story. It was just a little to ya for me, but I think it’s perfect for teens. Thank you for this arc!

BookTok had already spoiled the fact that this book would be a somber experience for me, but I chose to dive in with only limited information. The beginning was a bit of a struggle, and interestingly, it somewhat reminded me of the start of "Confess" by Colleen Hoover. While I did feel that a few scenes could have been trimmed down, the overall impression was that of a powerful and emotionally resonant read.

5 stars
I s o b b e d reading this. Get ready for all the feels and to have your heart broken & healed simultaneously. Only complaint is I didn’t love the YA aspect of it, but I learned to embrace it. Wish I didn’t wait so long to read this one, it’s a goodie. I was so very excited to see that there is a sequel coming out. I will be anxiously awaiting its publication!!

Just not for me… probably more for the teenage Dawsons creek obsessed time in my life. Just couldn’t stomach it anymore when the (spoiler) happened. I’ve heard such great things but I just couldn’t get into the melodrama. When I realized it was headed down a depressing path I gave up. Just not for me but that doesn’t mean it’s not for everyone.

I went into this book totally blind, and I've been left with mixed feelings.

I'll start with the basics. This is a sad book. I didn't really know that to start but I enjoyed that (I'm wierd like that, I know).

I did struggle with the first half especially, though. I couldn't in good conscience not mention that I felt this didn't represent a healthy relationship, and it could be quite toxic at points (miscommunication, codependence, mentions of misogyny, etc). The writing also didn't feel like it capture the mind of the 5 and 8 year olds the characters are at the start of the book, and that was part of the reason I struggled to get into it).

The second half of this book still held traces if these, but less so. I won't go unto it too much for fear of spoiling it, but I felt it approached the theme of this book quite well, and it was thought provoking for me, especially the ending.

I wasn't expecting to cry over any book at the moment, but definitely not this one. Nevertheless, I cried. It was inevitable and emotional, and it affected me more than expected.

I felt that the bonus content was the perfect way to end the book, and it made everything come full circle. It was the ending that was needed and I'm looking forward to other people being able to read it too.

Alt. title: A Thousand Sad Girl Tears. 🥲

See, I knew this book was sad. I'm a notorious cry baby and have no shame admitting when a book has me sobbing in the middle of the night. This book did just that and had an epilogue that felt a lot like being stabbed with a dull, rusty knife after already being dead. In other words,

I'm not denying that this was a profound love story- it absolutely was (to the tune of A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, etc etc). Poppy + Rune had my heart in a vise grip the entire time. It was just.. a different love story. I truly, for maybe the first time, couldn't determine how I felt about the book immediately after reading. I was in a state of shock, possibly.

As much as I loved the characters, I would've wished that Poppy and Rune were a bit older. A younger, hopeless romantic version of me would've loved this book so hard. But I found at times, the dialogue and actions didn't exactly match up to what I'd think of 15-17 year olds would do or say. But maybe that was also the beauty of it?

This was one of those books that I absolutely needed to have read in my lifetime, if only to just say that I did.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Bloom books, and the author for an advanced copy of the re-published edition of A Thousand Boy Kisses!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! I never read the original version, so this with the extended epilogue was all new to me. And man, I can’t even begin to describe the raw emotion that this brought out in me. I couldn’t make it even a few pages without tears running down my face. It was so painful, but also so incredibly beautiful. Rune and Poppy’s story is so pure and inspiring. Not only is their love inspirational, but the characters are as well. I loved Poppy’s outlook on life - she saw beauty in everything, and lived life for every moment. And I loved Rune - he was strong and compassionate, and everything you could ever hope for.
The only thing that I would wish from the epilogue, is that it was longer than 10 years later. I loved how comforting and fulfilling the epilogue was, I just wish there was more time that passed. I definitley wasn’t expecting the direction it went in either. I don’t think it’s enough for me to drop the rating from 5 stars, since it’s literally just the epilogue that got me. I just wasn’t a HUGE fan, I wanted more. Everything else….perfection.

This was so beautiful and so heartbreaking. I’ve never cried so much while reading a book, ever. This is absolutely going to stick with me for the rest of my life; a book I’ll never forget.

I’m going tell everyone I know they have read this asap.

I cannot wait for the sequel! It’ll probably break my heart, too, but I’m ready.

I'm really not a fan. It felt like a mix of every other cliche book or film of this type was all thrown together to make this book. The dialogue was repetitive and boring. They said the same five things to each other constantly.
The characters themselves were boring as well. Rune's entire personality was being angry. Poppy was just way too happy all the time for no reason. No one is always that happy.
Two stars because I'm a sap and I cried twice.

Rating: 2.5

Cute, wholesome, unrealistic, but a cute read nonetheless.

Would a grandmother's dying words to her granddaughter be for her to reach a "thousand boy kisses?" Probably not.

Would a 15-year-old boy really be loyal and devoted to one girl from the age of 8? Probably not.

Would a 17-year-old boy have the funds for two plane tickets cross-country? Probably not.

Would a 17-year-old really pick up smoking from years earlier? Hopefully not, and hopefully it doesn't send a message to young girls that a broody teenager with a smoking habit is blindly the love of their life.

For being geared towards ages 14 and up, the book lags either at the tween level or more mature to late high school or early college. There is no in-between.

I wasn't a big fan of Rune's supposed broodiness all for one girl and Poppy's purported perpetual doe-eyes and innocence, but who am I to judge? It's pretty tacky, but it's meant to be wholesome, not a deep piece of literature, so I can't dock points off there. So if you want a quick, angsty read for (quite) young adults, then this is the book for you.

The pure emotion this book made me feel from the first page was like nothing I’ve ever read. The love, pain, anger and heartbreak was so easy to feel off the page! This is a book that will sit with me for a long LONG time. I absolutely adore Poppy and Rune❤️ A once in a lifetime love found early, I loved this so so much
Getting to see both Rune and Poppy’s POV this time around wasn’t something I knew I needed, I loved the original but this version makes you feel so much more💜🥰

Thank you to Netgally and Bloom Books for giving me an e-arc of the rerelease of this book for an honest review.

3.5 stars. This was a good story. I did find that there was moments that dragged and were slower. It would've been 4 stars but I did not like how it ended in the epilogue.

This was one of the saddest and most beautiful stories I have ever read. I have loved everything by Tillie but this is by far my favorite! I cried so much throughout this book but I couldn’t put it down. The love and connection that Poppy an Rune had with each other made my soul happy. This story broke me into a million pieces and then put me back again. I loved the epilogue and felt it was the perfect ending to Rune and Poppy’s story. If you are looking for a good emotional read then this is the book for you!