Book Review: The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm & constant.

Socrates

I saw the movie on Netflix and genuinely enjoyed it. It is a light rom-com, you already guess its one with a happy ending, and we all love those. I usually always read the book that inspires the film or show that I watch. Most of the time, the book is so much more enjoyable than the movie or the show. These were one of those rare times where the film was hands down so much better than the book.

Authored by Beth Reekles, this was first shared on Wattpad and written by Reekles at the age of fifteen. The story was the most viewed and most commented on teen fiction title on Wattpad. By the age of seventeen, she had signed a three-book deal with Random House. Let’s take a moment to appreciate that.

Rochelle Evans and Lee Flynn are best friends since birth (born on the same day) and do almost everything together. Rochelle, who goes by Elle, has a major crush on Noah Flynn (Lee’s older brother). Noah, on the other hand, is a bad-ass. He has excellent grades, plays football, and gets into fights all the time. Noah and Elle end up together after making out at a kissing booth (hence, the title). Elle decides to keep this from Lee; Lee finds out, and hell breaks loose. The romantic leads fight, there are misunderstandings, and then finally they end up together. A lot of this is pure cliche. But, let’s not forget that the target audience is teenagers, and I don’t fall in that category.

As a reader, I couldn’t relate to the book. The story is set in California in the US. However, as the author is British, she has used British jargon in the book, which doesn’t make sense. It lacks character development, and there are multiple typos and grammatical mistakes. However, admitting that it was initially for Wattpad, the work is of exceptional quality.

I also believe that I am not the right audience for the book. I would rate this 3.5 stars out of 5. However, I did enjoy the movie. They made modifications to certain portions of the story, which made the plot much more interesting. It is a coming of age novel, and a teenager would appreciate it more than I did.

To buy the book, the link is https://amzn.to/2YZtDat