I enjoyed reading What's in a Kiss by Lauren Kate. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

This is a delightful enemies-to-lovers romance that captured my heart. Liv Dusk's life has been off-course since a prom night kiss with Jake Glasswell never happened. Ten years later, she meets Jake again, now a TV star, when he becomes her Lyft passenger. As they reconnect at their friends' wedding, a magical twist thrusts Liv into an alternate reality where she and Jake are together. While navigating this new life, Liv faces the tough choice between newfound love and strained relationships with her mother and best friend. The book beautifully explores missed opportunities, personal growth, and the power of love. I adored Liv and Jake's banter, and their chemistry made this a captivating read.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

A kiss is just a kiss, or is it? After reuniting with her high school rival, Olivia can't help but wonder if things could have been different for her. What if Jake had kissed her on prom night? Would her reality be any different? Well, it seemed the universe was there to answer her questions when Olivia suddenly found herself living the High Life with Jake. But was she willing to give up the important things from her Real Life?

I had a lot of fun reading What's in a Kiss? I really felt for Olivia and her struggle in the Real Life. Though she was down, she was never really out. She had so much love from her mom, best friend, and dog. But I couldn't blame her for being a little jealous when she was finally face-to-face with her biggest competition in high school. Both Jake and Olivia was voted Most Likely to Succeed, but Olivia was forced to change paths following her father's death. There was always that question in the back of her mind - what if?

Alternate realities are a fun way for a character to explore those what-ifs. There is usually a lot of the grass-is-always-greener and missing how good you actually had it. Olivia definitely experienced that, but there were also things she loved about the High Life which she wasn't too sure would be attainable back in her Real Life.

One of the pluses in the High Life was her relationship with Jake. It was fun seeing Olivia and Jake spar in Real Life, but it was so much better to watch them interact in a reality where they were in love. I adored them as a couple. The romance was great, and it was fantastic reading about these two in both realities.

But do you know what really warmed my heart? The way Olivia realized what was really important in life. She valued her relationships more than fame and money. That's a beautiful thing! "You gotta have friends", "All we need is love" -- that's the message, and it's a great one.

Though I YEARNED for an epilogue, I greatly enjoyed taking this journey with Olivia. What's in a Kiss? combined humor, romance, family, and friendships and the result was a story that had me smiley, swoony, and misty eyed.

I really enjoyed By Any Other Name, and picked this one up purely based on that. That being said, one of my *least* favorite tropes is the what if/alternate universe story lines and I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I realized that. This was a very sweet story that I think a lot of people will enjoy but the trope is just an automatic no from me.

The story starts off with Olivia and her bestie having a bachelorette day before her BFFs wedding, in which Olivia who's a bit down on her luck, will come face to face for the first time in years, with her high school rival turned famous TV personality, Jake. When the best man and maid of honor lock eyes during the ceremony, they're transported to a universe where high school rivals turned sweethearts with a prom night kiss and the two have been married for the last decade.

I LOVED high life Jake. What a cinnamon roll. He was so intentional with Olivia and their relationship and it was just the sweetest to see his side of the what if. Olivia, on the other hand, in both universes I really didn't love....in each version of her there was WAY too much focus on what could be (and she got to see what could be!) rather than just embracing what was and living in that moment.

While the story was fine, I was bummed we didn't get to see Olivia and Jake make a run of it in real life, because truly he made the book for me and I wanted to see more of him and more of them to keep rooting for their story.


Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my review!

What’s in a Kiss? by @laurenkatebooks is an romantic novel that explores what could have been, if different choices were made. 🤔✨

Blurb: This is not how Liv wanted to see Jake Glasswell for the first time in ten years. 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.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

I loved the concept of this novel, it was super unique and fairly different to what I have read before!!! The FMC and MMC were extremely likable, the plot was fast-paced, and the romantic scenes were everything I ever needed. The ending also made me cry happy and sad tears! This book will devastate you and make you laugh in the same paragraph. All in all, What’s in a Kiss? is such a good story that is amazingly written. 😊🧡

Thank you to @putnambooks and @netgalley for the opportunity to read/review this ARC! 🤩📚

🏷️: #whatsinakiss #laurenkate #review #bookrecommendation #bookstagram

I absolutely adored Olivia and Jake! The pacing was perfect, the relationships were beautiful, and the story had me hooked from the first chapter. My only complaint is that I NEEDED an epilogue because I was definitely not ready to say goodbye to Olivia and Jake!

💋 Book Review 💋

What’s In A Kiss by Lauren Kate
💋
This book was funny, sweet, heartwarming, and absolutely charming. If you’re a fan of 13 Going on 30, you’ll love this one. It’s about the “what if’s” we all have and how one choice can change the entire trajectory of your life. I loved Liv’s friendship with Masha and her sweet relationship with her mom. Liv and Jake had the perfect mixture of snippy banter and swoony romance, and I totally fell for them as a couple. This book did a great job balancing between friendship, self-discovery, and romance, and I found myself rooting for Olivia from the very first page. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
💋
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level: 🌶️ 1.5
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Read if you like:
▫️parallel universe/alternate reality
▫️enemies to lovers
▫️second chance
▫️he falls first and harder
💋
Thank you to Putnam Books, NetGalley, and Lauren Kate for the ARC. I received an advanced copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was cute. I liked the characters and their differences in both life scenarios. I thought that the way the love story was written was very creative and different. I also really enjoyed how different decisions we make impact our life - but typically we don't know how they impact our life. 
Liv is not looking forward to spending her best friend's wedding weekend with Jake, her famous "enemy." When she had Jake catch one another's eyes when their friends say "I do", Liv finds herself living a different life. One where she kissed Jake on prom night and they fall in love. Downside, she no longer speaks to her Mom and Best Friend. Can she find a way to keep all the people that she loves in her life?
Be prepared to laugh and cry! A fun and fresh rom-com story. 
Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

This sliding doors-ish romance is so sweet and fun, while still having bittersweet moments as Liv's alternate life came with some consequences. But I really enjoyed it, with all the LA, working actor bits in her life and the romance between her and Jake as she navigates it is really enjoyable. The ending is wonderful and satisfying.

What's in a Kiss by Lauren Kate-a standalone from a new to me author

Publication date 7/2/24, Read 7/2/24

Format 368 pgs. kindle

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Setting: LA

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin/G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC🧡 ! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

🤷🏾‍♀️What to Expect

✔ contemporary romance
✔ adult fic/women's fic
✔ fantasy
✔ enemies to lovers/high school rivals
✔ what if/2nd chances
✔ alternate timelines
✔ HEA


🤔My Thoughts:

I'm a little burned out over "what if" tropes but the added part of Liv not having her mom or Masha's support in the alternate timeline makes up for it. Liv and Masha's friendship was well established in the beginning while planning Masha's wedding. Liv and her mother Lorena also had a close relationship even creating a pandemic podcast together. Liv was jealous of Jake because of what could have been. She worried about things she doesn't have-a successful career and a true love. When her "New Life" happened she got everything except the relationships with her mom and BFF. Liv used her new life falling in love and trying to undo mistakes she's made. In the end, only by giving up her new life for the real one does she truly find her HEA.

3.5/5 stars.

This book caught my attention right away when I was browsing though books to read. What’s In a Kiss is about the MC Olivia finding herself in an alternate reality where she has a new found relationship and the expense of others. She has a choice to make of which reality she would rather stay in.

I like the alternate reality idea and thought it was a fun twist to the story. Though I do think it was kind of confusing at first, I quickly was sucked into the story and the relationships that were building. It’s so interesting to look at the small “what if?” that could change the entire course of some ones lives.

I did think that some parts were rushed and I would have liked more details on what exactly happened to each relationship in the alt reality, but it was still a fun read and I did enjoy it overall. I think this book would definitely be a good summer/beach read! One to take on vacation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC of What’s in a Kiss? in exchange for my honest review.

What a treat! We start off with Olivia fully into her maid of honor role for her best friend, Masha. Everything is going great except Olivia does not want to see the best man, Jake. She went to school with Jake and has been in competition with him ever since, but right now she’s on the losing end. At the end of the wedding ceremony, Olivia is suddenly in a different version of the wedding. She comes to find out she’s living a different version of her life. The story goes through this alternate reality and Olivia starts to realize what she loves about her life…and who she loves. I just adored how this story played out and the ending. Read this if you love a feel good story, romance and a little spice. Overall, 4 stars. Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam via NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

Liv wants to have it all friends, family, and a thriving acting career, but when her father dies, she puts her life on hold to help her mom. But when Liv enters an alternate universe, she sees what could have been had she gone after her dreams of Julliard and stardom. Seeing the other side of life, Liv has to choose which reality she wants to stay in, one where her career dreams come true or one where she has her strongest support system.

I came into this story pretty blind and didn't realize this was a dual-timeline read. I found it pretty interesting! In real life, Liv is down on her luck but has the love of her mom and best friend to get her through it, while Jake, her high school nemesis, has all the success Liv never got. In the alternate life, Liv is a famous actress with the success she always wanted but has ruined the relationships she had with her best friend and mom while in a shocking turn of events is married to Jake who plays a secondary role in her glamorous life. Its such a classic what-if scenario and I loved every minute of it.

You have to suspend disbelief a little and accept the magical realism. It started out a little slow because you have to get through the "how she figures out" part, but by the end of the book I was flipping pages so fast to see how it would end. It left me so happy. I had a big smile on my face.

Read if you like enemies to lovers, second chance romances with a touch of magical realism. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 7/2

A fantastic read. I am a fan of alternate reality romances when the FMC wakes up to a different version of her life. It was a little ridiculous the many ways a kiss can be interrupted in many funny ways. Great look into how making one decision can affect other aspects of your life.

This was super cute! I love going into books blind because when I like them it’s makes it more authentic. So I totally didn’t know that this was an alternative life plot! Such a cute twist on the high school enemies to lovers trope. Overall just a great story about love, friendship, family, and self growth. Definitely recommend reading this one.

Olivia and Jake are so sweet together! In both timelines honestly… the chemistry is so apparent that it makes you wonder how they could have gone 10 years as enemies. Their banter was top notch as well. Also Gram Parsons was such a cute little doggo, and the fact that he’s in both lives… too precious!

In Olivia’s “ideal life” she has what she’s wished for but obviously not without consequences. I loved that she tried to fix it all before leaving that life, but ultimately it wasn’t her place and she really couldn’t. And the color coded diaries!!! And the fact the Jake had a journal as well was adorable. There are some steamy moments but nothing too explicit.

Lauren Kate is always going to be my comfort author! I love how her books are wholesome, genuine, and a little bit of whimsical (especially this one!).

When Liv meets her high school crush-turned-nemesis, Jake, after 10 years at her best friend's wedding, she thinks she can handle him for 1 day. But everything changes when she looks into her eyes during the wedding vows & suddenly she's transported to another reality where they are happily married.

As much as I loved Liv's growth, I loved Jake even more. I really appreciated how Lauren gave a snarky between Liv and Jake in one life and being madly in love on another. And let me tell you, I absolutely loved both timelines & banters.

Though we didn't get to see much of the "real life," I could totally understand how things changed & unfolded in the alternate one. The friendship was top tier, and it made me sad to see that wasn't the case in the 2nd reality.

BUT THE ROMANCE WAS EVERYTHING! Jake & Liv were meant to be together since their prom night & in the end, it was proven so. Loved the ending so much, especially when Liv sees all her timelines with Jake! Can't wait to read more by Lauren.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i went into this with zero idea of what was going on and omg i loved this book. this was not at all what i was expecting when i started this and i am so glad it was what it was.

the transition between “universes” was kinda choppy, but otherwise, amazing. the dog existing in both timelines???? obsessed.

i also do wish more of the alt-universe relationships had been more explored. how is her mother a narcissist in one life but not in another? what happened between her and mesha? did jake’s dad actually die or not? i wish those plot points had been more addressed, but otherwise still loved this.

Overall I enjoyed this read. It was super charming and such a heartwarming story. This second chance romance was cute and fun to read but the parallel universe aspect left me a little confused at times.

What's in a Kiss? by Lauren Kate was so sweet, and I absolutely loved everything about!
Such a delightful romantic comedy with the best characters.
This is a fast read and has all the swoony moments I love in a good romance. I really enjoyed the banter and laughs within the book.
I love how Lauren Kate paints such a vivid picture.

Thank You NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I really loved the characters in this book. Give me more and more of Jake. But there were just a lot of questions I had that never got answered, especially in the "fake" life. I would have loved more "fake" life world building about why her mom and Masha won't speak to her at all. I need more information about Aurora and her relationship with Liv in the fake world and Jake in the real world. But most of all I need an epilogue!!! I"m such a sucker for them and any romance book without one feels incomplete to me. But this was a super fun and quick read and would be great for the beach.