Plaja, Luisa. 2008. Split by A Kiss.
I am in a cupboard, and I'm snogging the coolest and most gorgeous boy in the whole school. And it's a big school. And really, we're kissing, not snogging. In a closet, not a cupboard. They don't really have snogging or cupboards here--they would laugh and tell me those are dodgy British phases. Except they wouldn't say 'dodgy'. That's just as dodgily British.
Split By A Kiss is both uniquely original and stereotypically typical. I'll probably spend the rest of the review explaining how that's even possible. Split By A Kiss has a very original structure--if they've been others of its kind, I've missed them. Our narrator, Jo (or Josie), 'splits' in two after playing a kissing game with popular guy, Jake Matthews. One personality, Jo, reacts to his wanting to do more than kiss with a slap--and a long list of insults. The second personality, Josie, reacts to his touch just as reluctantly--she does call a halt to things--but she keeps her 'cool' and keeps his interest. The book tells two very different stories. They're told in different fonts. Jo's story is typical--it's been done before; Josie's story is typical as well. Nothing in these individual stories is all that unique. But yet despite the fact that in a way it's all been done before, there is a certain satisfaction that comes from reading these stories. Though they are predictable--you can guess almost from the very beginning just how these two personalities will unite as one again--it's fun too. I liked the stories. I liked the boy that she's meant to be with. I like how it all comes together.
© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
