Publishers Weekly
A kiss is but a kiss—unless 16-year-old lip gloss fanatic Emerson Taylor is the one puckering up. When Emerson kisses someone, she can see into his or her mind. Her secret gift mostly generates anxiety, until she discovers that kissing smart boys, aka “Ivys,” can help her academic performance. Emerson plans to smooch her way to better grades (a fairly depressing premise) and stay enrolled at her pricey prep school, bolstered by a supply of lip gloss from her aunt Arch, a cosmetics rep who has been raising Emerson and her sister since their mother disappeared. Roadblocks pop up as Emerson fights with her sister and her boy-crazy BFF, starts to develop a reputation (due to all her kissing), and falls in love with the nerdiest Ivy of them all. Debut author Anderson, to her credit, uses this fun premise to get at deeper issues of teenage curiosity, identity, and self-doubt, as her characters play smartly off one another, and Emerson learns that the supernatural path to success isn’t necessarily the best one. Ages 12–up. Agent: Cheryl Pientka, Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Oct.)
VOYA
- Etienneée Vall
Ever since Emerson and her older sister, Piper, were abandoned by their mother, Emerson has been able to read people’s thoughts when she kisses them. But at sixteen and a junior in high school, she has only ever kissed one boy, Silas, and he turned out to be an arsonist. Armed with extensive makeup knowledge due to her aunt’s work as a cosmetics representative, Emerson and her friend Trisha set out to arrange for Vance, the hottest guy in her grade, to kiss her. But at the same time, she begins falling for Edwin, one of the Ivy-league-destined rejects at the bottom of the social ladder, and her sister begins dating Silas. Will she manage to finally kiss the right boy for her? Every chapter in Anderson’s first book is titled after a shade of makeup, which is then referred to somewhere in the chapter. Emerson is well developed, but her intense focus on kissing the right guy at the expense of everything else happening in her life--and her total self-absorption--reduces her at times to a caricature of a teenage girl. The awkward love triangle and Emerson’s struggle are rather easily resolved by the end of the novel. Aside from some references to current youth and popular culture that may quickly date this book, Anderson has achieved a fun read, but do not look here for lessons on life. Fans of John Green’s An Abundance Of Katherines (Dutton, 2006/Voya October 2006) will relate to this female version of Colin. Ages 11 to 18.
Children's Literature
- Tima Murrell
Emerson has a very serious problem. She wants a boyfriend, but every time she kisses a guy she can read his mind. It is freaking her out and she decides to stop kissing. She really needs to be focusing on her homework. Her aunt has threatened to pull her out of school if she doesn't raise her grades. Quite by accident she learns that reading someone's mind can have its benefits. So she begins kissing all of the nerdy, smart boys in her school so that she can excel at school. But something happens that convinces Emerson that perhaps kissing for knowledge isn't the best way to get a boyfriend or good grades. This book is all about girl things like make up, boys and best friends, but it is also about trust, friendships and peer pressure. Girls will love this book that portrays a fun, but completely normal teenager and parents will love the lessons of honesty, caring about family, and adjustment to what life as a teenager presents. Reviewer: Tima Murrell
Kirkus Reviews
This successful debut delivers chick-lit fun and a bit of depth, all served up with a dash of ESP. Fourteen-year-old Emerson cares about two things: cosmetics, especially lip gloss, and finding a suitable boyfriend. She always struggled with school, but now she's close to failing. Her aunt, struggling financially, threatens to pull her out of her high-priced private school if her grades don't improve. But Emerson has a strange ability: She can read minds when she kisses someone, so the panic-stricken teen decides to use it to her academic advantage. Kissing one of the school's math geeks zooms mathematics into her head, and she aces her next test. She devises a plan to kiss all the nerdy boys and thereby fill in her academic needs, but she winds up falling for one of them. Trouble ensues when he discovers her kissing promiscuity, and Emerson finally realizes she's done wrong. Anderson writes with a light touch but fleshes out her characters nicely. She keeps her focus on Emerson's guilt about using the boys and gives her a difficult family history--her mother committed suicide--investing her story with some emotional intensity. Although the book easily can appeal to the chick-lit audience with its constant search for those elusive boyfriends, some school rivalries and, especially, the overarching importance of cosmetics in life, those looking for more won't go away unsatisfied. Fun, funny and thoughtful. (Paranormal chick-lit. 12 & up)
