Book Review: The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams


Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Walker Childrens (January 3, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802723187
ISBN-13: 978-0802723185
Series: No
Source: ARC from The Teen Book Scene
Cover: I'm honestly not sure how this cover could be any cuter! I love that each girl has her own picture and they are all showing the personalities in them. I get a sense of who they are just by their little square. It perfectly fits the fun, flirty voice inside!
First Sentence: "She couldn't believe she was doing this."


Mini-review: Fun, flirty novel about the meaning of friendship with a fair amount of spine-tingling smooching!


Summary:

Piper, Cassidy, Mei, and Izzy have been best friends their whole lives. And they've always agreed on one goal: to get out of tiny Paris, Texas, and see the world. The school's foreign exchange program seems like the perfect escape: Piper will go to the original Paris; Mei will go to China; Cassidy will go to Australia; and Izzy, unable to afford the program, will stay at home. To add spice to their semester away, and to stay connected to their best friends, the girls start The International Kissing Club, a Facebook page where they can anonymously update one another and brag about all the amazing guys they're meeting. After all, these girls are traveling abroad: amazing guys abound at every turn! But sometimes fun, flirty vacation flings turn into more serious romances, and sometimes you don't return from abroad the same person you were. Will the girls' relationships-and their friendships-be able to survive?

Review: 


Fun, flirty and with a very liberal amount of kissing spread through out, The International Kissing Club is an adorable novel exploring the farthest reaches of friendship. Told in the third person following four best friends as they go their separate ways in the student exchange program, The International Kissing Club is an easy read with something for everyone.


The four friends in this novel are different from each other in all the best ways but love each other so fiercely that they can get through anything. Piper is the artist with a flair for the dramatics and more than a little boy crazy, Mei is the practical brainy star student, Cassidy is the sports guru and Izzy is the green friendly hippie. Following each of these girls around the world was a pleasure as they all had life lessons to learn. I originally thought I'd identify with Piper but I ended up really liking Izzy which is odd since I'm so not like her. I like how each character was stretched to their limit and forced to change in order to help them when the got back into town.


Ivy Adams is a pen name for three separate authors who came together to write this book. I always find author collaborations interesting so this was no exception. I could tell where one author started and the other ended. As a result, I felt like I got the best of each author in the prose. I've made it no secret that I'm not a fan of third person but this one was done well enough that it didn't bother me, I liked that the voice stayedconsistent throughout each chapter yet it was also tailored to the person the narrator was following. For instance, Mei's chapters had very sensible metaphors whereas Piper's were a bit more dreamy. The voice overall kept a fun light tone, even when the girls were learning some serious life lessons.


The plot was quite good. I couldn't figure out where the story was going until it finally got there. I do wish the chapters hadn't jumped around so much. One chapter Piper had landed in Paris (France) and in her next one she'd been there for almost four weeks. I felt like sometimes we were just told things instead of actually shown them which did get me a bit frustrated. For instance, Mei talks about these two mean girls but we only ever see them in a scene once and supposedly they terrorize her for the rest of her trip. Regardless, I really liked the concept for this book. The girls used a social media site to try to stay closer together and I liked that at the end of each chapter we got to see the Facebook page and some of its updates. It was definitely one of the highlights for me.


Germaine was deliciously evil. I couldn't believe what happens to poor Piper in the beginning of the novel and how Germaine is able to get the friends again. My biggest thing is that I wanted to see Germaine punished and she wasn't. I know in real life sometimes the bad guys win but I like my fiction to give the baddies a huge dose of their own medicine and I didn't see the happen to her. I really wish it would have. I dealt with her evilness only because I knew she had it coming but then she never got hers. It made me sad.


The destinations were glamorous which I loved and the kissing scenes were knock-your-socks off good! I really liked all the guys the girls kissed. I think my favorite smooch goes to Mei (though I could be biased as she is stopping by the blog a bit later on). I knew that some of the relationships had to end because they were all foreign exchange students but I didn't know which ones I wanted that to happen for. I liked them all so much! I also liked the humor in this story because they mention The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants which was what came to my mind when I read the summary for this novel.


The International Kissing Club utilizes a fun, flirty voice to tell a great story about the bonds of friendship and how far they can stretch. There's a character for everyone to identify with and plenty of sexy smooching to keep the pace going. While it did have a few snags for me, I have to say that over all I really enjoyed it. I'd defintiely "like" The IKC Facebook page any day of the week!

Rating:


Favorite Quotes:

And then every last coherent thought she had suddenly floated away when his mouth touched hers. Warm and gentle lips slanted across her own, easing all the tension from her body into the shifting sand beneath.--Pg. 135

One thing was certain--regardless of what Autumn or River thought, she certainly hadn't smothered him. She had more follow through than that. If she'd smothered him, he'd be dead by now.--Pg. 142 

"Hey, no one told you to strip," she answered indignantly./ "Well I couldn't let you get arrested on your own, could I? You wouldn't last a minute in a Chinese prison."--Pg. 218

And then, she kissed the pig.--Pg. 378

Around the World in 80 Kisses: Smooch Stop #8

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams is the story of four best friends: Piper, Cassidy, Mei, and Izzy--the misfits of Paris, Texas. Their whole lives, they’ve dreamed of escaping small-town life and seeing the world. So when Piper is the victim of an embarrassing prank that goes viral online, she gets the idea that the girls should escape via the school’s international exchange program, in search of fun, love and internet redemption.

Ivy Adams is the psuedonym for three friends and writing partners: Emily McKay, Shellee Roberts and Tracy Deebs. They shop, gossip and watch movies in Austin, Texas.

Leave a comment (with your email so we can contact you) to be entered to win the Around the World In 80 Kisses daily and weekly prize and also become eligible to win the Grand Prize, a Kindle Fire. For a list of all our Smooch Posts you can visit and earn more entries to win, visit us here.

Next Smooch Stop: Tuesday, December 6th at Mel’s Books and Info