Book Review: First Kiss Hypothesis by Christina Mandelski

Summary: Nora Reid believes scientific laws control everything, even love. With her grandparents’ epic first kiss story cemented in her brain, Nora develops a hypothesis she’s determined to prove: for each person in the world, there is exactly one other person, and at first kiss, they’ll experience an immediate and intense reaction.

But after four years of zero-reaction kisses, she comes up with a new theory: maybe that pesky crush on her stunningly hot best friend Eli Costas is skewing her results.

She needs to get rid of him, and fast.

Eli Costas is an injury-prone lacrosse star with a problem—the one chance he had at winning over the girl next door resulted in the most epically sucktastic first kiss ever. And now she’s…trying to get rid of him? Hell no. It’s time to disprove her theory and show her exactly what she’s missing.

Game. On.

Release Date: November 2017
Age Group: YA, Contemporary (clean), Rom-Com
Source: Review Copy from Publisher (Entangled Teen Crush)
Reviewed By:  Nat

Review:
When it comes to contemporary fiction I like it Hallmark style! I rate them like I do my previously recorded Hallmark movies:

• Did I get the warm fuzzys? 

• Was I a bit tortured by their love arc? 

• Did it end in a nicely wrapped bow? (Don't come at me with no sad, tragic "no winners in this life" kind of story).

With that said, A LOT of contemporary literature is predictable. Sometimes I even think I am re-reading something and that is a major turn-off.

I know.

First, I ask for all the feels and "the formula of Hallmark" and then I throw in "originality". I am a complicated woman.

The First Kiss Hypothesis was a raving win for contemporary YA! I'll admit I went in on a TV high and maybe a bit amped up with all the holiday feels but once I started I did not stop. FKH had such an easy flow and there wasn't anytime wasted on story lines that didn't matter.

I loved the alternating POV's of Nora and Eli. At one point I woke up Sweet Stuff from laughing so hard (I really tried to muffle with the blankets). I blame the kitten in the story. The banter between the two was comfortable & witty and blind love is just so fun to read.

What I really enjoyed about this story was that the characters weren't torn between their ambitions and dreams because of love. It was refreshing to read a love story that allowed both characters to be in love and still have their sights on their future goals.

I am especially happy to report that FKH was pretty darn clean! Like I said, it was really like reading a Hallmark movie!

First Kiss Hypothesis is a win for contemporary YA fans and Hallmark connoisseurs.