The concept for this book, which is very much a Sliding Doors type of thing, was good and intrigued me. And I do like Kate as an author generally speaking. But Liv was just such an unlikeable character from start to finish. Well, I may have gotten a bit warmer to her as the book progressed, but all in all, I had a hard time rooting for her to find her HEA with Jake or anyone for that matter. Sure, she was a really good maid of honor to Masha, but at the same time, even while she was making Masha's dream wedding a reality, I got the impression that she was making it about her. The trip on the boat was a bridal show for Masha but Liv would have hated it any other way too. Jake was a genuinely good guy in both realities, and the fact that she kept trying to turn him into a villain bothered me. Sure, maybe there had been some sort of rivalry as teens, but there's a lot of maturing that at least one of them did in the intervening years.

I wanted to like this book. And I gave it 3 stars because it did an okay job with the plot and the whole parallel reality. Not sure I bought the explanation for how she would get back to her own reality, but I guess that's the suspend disbelief. Although I had a hard time suspending my disbelief over her ability to not Google herself and Jake the minute she figured out that things were different in this world. That's the first thing anyone would do especially if the person they were with had fame oozing out of them in their previous reality.

Not a horrible book. Just not what I was expecting.

Liv has hated Jake since high school, but now that they're thrown together at a wedding, it's clear that she is attracted to him under all the animosity. It a slight fantasy twist, Liv ends up living an alternate life where the two of them kissed at Prom and have been together ever since ... But at the detriment of her other relationships?

This was a light and easy read, and I enjoyed it to begin with. It started to drag though and getting to the end seemed to take forever. A shame because it had real potential!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for review

A pretty quick romance read, with a a "time jump" trope (for a lack of a better term). I do think I liked By Any Other Name more, but don't pass this up if you were a fan of that earlier work. Only knocked some stars down because I found myself skimming pages out of lack of engagement with the plot and characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin group for the arc!

I felt like this book was a bit confusing sometimes, but I actually liked it. I absolutely love the whole "meant to be" trope, but I kind of felt like the ending could be better (it was a bit forgetful for me!). This book made me remeber "In a Holidaze" by Christina Lauren, which I totally love.
Great book!

Instagram review coming soon!

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This was a cute and fun romance story. I loved everything about this book, and I enjoyed Olivia’s character a lot!! I was so excited to find small details that made me feel like I was there with Liv! It was so fast paced (I finished in 2 nights) and so easy to read. I needed a read like this: light, funny and happy ending! If you are into romcom and enemies to lovers this one is for you! Add it to your TBR!

This is my first book by this author and there are some things I really enjoyed and there are some moments that frustrated this reader.

Olivia is our FMC and she didn't want to see Jake Glasswell for the first time in ten years this way. Once her high school rival and the prom date who humiliated her, now a successful TV personality, he’s more attractive than he has any right to be. And he’s her Lyft passenger.

Since the prom night kiss that never was, Liv’s life has not gone to plan. She deferred Julliard to be with her mom during a crisis, and now swears she’s happy as a recently furloughed drama teacher going on no-strings dates. This weekend she’s maid of honor to her best friend, Masha, and, of course, Jake is the best man. But when Liv glares into Jake’s eyes as Masha says, “I do,” the universe turns on its axis and Liv is suddenly living a version of her life where prom night was the beginning of her and Jake, not the end, and it turns out he’s the love of her life. The catch? Her mom and Masha hate her now. What’s in a kiss? Maybe everything.

The reasons for the issues with her mom and Masha are vague and not really believable. The miscommunication that happens with Glasswell could have been cleared up so easily with conversation. I felt Liv was very immature in most of the book.

The switch to the "highlife" as she calls it doesn't allow us to really "feel" the couple's tension and I am starting to think that the time=travel/parallel life trope isn't for me as I cannot wrap my head around some of the plot holes.

Overall... it's an average 3 stars.

I enjoyed the FMC’s personality and her friendship with Masha. I am glad she got her HEA. I didn’t love that the HEA was with a guy introduced in the last 2% of the book. But better than the original love interest. I struggled to get into the book and found myself skimming it. But I enjoyed the plot overall and the characters.

This book was a very fast, entertaining read. We see our FMC, Olivia, in two different versions of her world-- one in which she never kisses Jake Glasswell, and one in which she does. And that one moment, that one kiss, changes everything for Olivia (as she learns in the otherworld reality of her life). The relationship between Olivia and Jake was super sweet to read about, but I wish we would have gotten more about how she ends up in the other reality. I feel like that wasn't explained very well, and I finished the book with more questions than answers about it. Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Liv's life is okay-ish. She has her best friend and her mom as her go-to people in her life. She's not much on the long-term relationship front. Jake Glasswell is the guy from her past that she felt was always trying to be better than her. What happens when she is put into an alternate reality where she's with her enemy & estranged from her mom and BFF ?

So this was very middle of the road for me. Nothing special for me. There was a little bit of disappointment for me because I absolutely adored the Fallen series by Lauren Kate!

I found Liv to be annoying and unlikable. I found Glasswell to be like fine-ish??? but like also a doormat in a not so good way. I feel like he was just such a nice guy that he deserved more than what he got the entire book. I felt like the shift from present day to alternate reality was not displayed wel;.. I literally went back a chapter and re-read cause I thought I missed something. Coming in, I didn't realize that it was going to be about an alt. reality, so it's possible that is on me, but I like going into books knowing as little about them as possible.

I do not think that I would re-read this one, but I do think that Lauren Kate is still an auto-buy author for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam books for providing me with this ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

This was a great alternate reality, parallel dimension romance. Has some mild to moderate spice maybe 2 or 3 chili peppers. I kinda wanted more romance in the "real" world romance instead of just the last few pages but the ending was nice and everything wrapped up great

This was a cute and sweet romcom. This author's writing is really easy to get into. I liked the idea of the parallel universes in this but it was a little confusing as the book switched between Real Life Olivia and High Life Olivia. It would have been so much simpler if the sections were labeled instead of readers having to pick up on the subtle differences. Jake and Olivia had a cute romance and I enjoyed watching their relationship develop.
I definitely got 13 Going On 30 vibes from this book and I think fans of that movie will enjoy this. I liked it, I just wish the alternate timelines were clearer and that Olivia was a little more likable and relatable at times.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this story of Olivia. I kinda got 13 going on 30 vibes. This was such an interesting and unique story. I really enjoyed the “what if” / “parallel universe” vibes. highly recommend this book.

I started this book without knowing the time travel plotline, so was surprised when the plot went down this path. It was a really charming book, and I enjoyed the themes of love being inevitable. I only wish we could’ve seen more of the happily ever after play out after her return to real life.

There were some really excellent moments in this book and both main characters were charming and lovely to read. I do, however, wish the alternate reality piece of the book would have been better fleshed out. The alternate reality takes up the majority of the story and it happened so fast I didn't even know it had happened. I had to go back and re-read and still didn't quite understand how it just flipped. Inside that reality was interesting and Jake Glaswell was book boyfriend extraordinaire and lovely but it didn't feel like the building to forever. Then once again abruptly we're back to normal and the end of the books comes. It felt rushed and a bit incomplete to me. There was such a gap between prom night and best friends wedding night that the ending felt unrealistic even with the alternate reality plot.

I am very afraid that the new book trend is going to be alternate timeline and time travel books. I hate so many of them so much. This book was no exception. I was not a fan of the timelines in this book, and I had a hard time reconciling the ending. The characters were fine, and initially I was happy with Olivia's decision in the end. I thought it was very sweet, and I did like her compassion.

I was very confused about how Jake was still just in love with her after 10 years and was so into just being kissed by her and that was the ending. I would have much rather seen the beginnings of their relationship. He's clearly been in the same circles as her for years because of Eli, and the fact that everyone seemed to know that he had feelings for her but had never tried to fix them up or repair the relationship just didn't seem realistic to me.

This felt like it came together really fast in the end. I wanted an ending that had more of a resolution rather than leaving so much up to interpretation. It felt very rushed, and I was not impressed. There's not a lot else that I liked about this book. It just was not my cup of tea.

"What's in a Kiss?" by Lauren Kate is a story of that “What if?” we all think about at some point in our lives. In this book, Olivia gets an opportunity to explore that “What if?” in real when her life takes an unexpected turn during her best friend Masha's wedding. That twist of fate sets up Olivia on a path exploring the possibility of true love, life, relationships, and the consequences of just one kiss.

Olivia was recently laid off from her job as a drama teacher. She becomes a Lyft driver to make money while she’s in between jobs. Olivia had graduated from high school with high prospects and an admission to Juilliard, but unfortunately, her life was nothing like what Olivia had hoped it would be. In a twist of fate, Olivia chose to defer her dreams of attending Juilliard to support her mother after a tragic incident. Driving Lyft, navigating a series of no-strings attached relationships, and planning her best friend, Masha’s, wedding becomes her new normal. As a maid of honor for Masha’s wedding, Olivia is shocked when Jake Glasswell, her nemesis from high school turns out to be the best man. Olivia and Jake have history from their high school Prom and a kiss that almost happened but didn’t.
What the reader and Olivia don’t know is how Masha’s wedding becomes the catalyst for Olivia’s journey into a parallel universe and gain everything she had once envisioned for her life. And it all begins with that one kiss on that Prom night, which in the parallel universe, does happen!

I was pleasantly surprised by the alternate reality plot. I have always enjoyed stories with parallel and alternate universes, so to read a rom-com in that setting was very interesting. I also enjoyed the chemistry between Olivia and Jake. The differences in the relationships Olivia maintains in each parallel universe and how they differ becomes the crux of the plot. The book was a slow starter so it took some patience to get into it, but once the jump into the alternate reality happens, the book picks up. Overall, it was an enjoyable read. I give it 4/5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for sharing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

What’s in a Kiss by Lauren Kate is a super cute romance that answers the question “what if I had kissed the boy at prom?” The premise was unique and fun and the characters were lovable, especially Olivia. I was rooting for her the whole time. I would definitely recommend this one; it’s a wonderful look at love and friendship. Thanks Netgally for the eARC!

This was a fun story that took an unexpected twist and still remained captivating and enjoyable. I appreciated the descriptive details for the various settings of the story. The main character seemed very naive at the beginning of the book, but as the story unfolds she predictably sees more around her than just her self absorbed behavior at the beginning of the book. I would enjoy reading a sequel to this book to see what happens next with the characters, but at the same time the book ends with closure.

This book was cute. Based on the idea of what if? What if I had gone to college where I wanted, what if I didn’t go to the game? Would your life be different. Story of second chances.

My favorite thing about this book was Liv’s character. I loved her satisfaction with most aspects of her life and the relationships she had with her mother and best friend. I felt that the story was more about Liv coming to terms with how her life turned out following the unexpected death of her father than a love story. It was satisfying to follow along her journey of realizing that she was where she was exactly where supposed to be and come to terms with not having gone to NYC after graduation.

It was also satisfying to learn about Jake’s real motivations back in high school along with Liv. My only tiny quibble with the book was that Jake and their relationship was a little to over the top in the alternate reality,

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. It was well worth the read.