December 2018 Book of the Month: Kiss Me in New York by Catherine Rider
Published: October 3rd, 2017
Episode Three: Kiss Me in New York
[WORDS ABOUT WORDS THEME]
ANNOUNCER: This review is brought to you by Words About Words.
BREE: Thank you for tuning in! Today we will be discussing our December pick, Kiss Me in New York by Catherine Rider.
TREE: So what were your general thoughts?
BREE: I can easily say that I’m not a fan. I wanted to like it, I really did, but Kiss Me in New York just fell flat in so many ways for me.
TREE: Yeah, it wasn’t the best. I went in having pretty low expectations; since I had never heard of this book and it was just meh. Thankfully, it was such a quick read. Otherwise I might have put it down.
BREE: Yeah, I agree with that. Even with it being so short I wanted to stop occasionally. But, was there anything you liked?
TREE: I do like the whole trope of “spending a day together” and enjoyed seeing them explore New York. I think the whole idea of ‘expecting an experience to be amazing and then it falling flat’ is a relevant one; everything just wasn’t executed well.
BREE: I see what you mean. I feel like the idea was good, but the follow up fell short.
TREE: And it was filled with cheesy tropes. Which I do love, but there were too many.
BREE: Oh god, I know! This book is a grilled cheese to the max. Besides the obvious problems, I really didn’t like how one of the main characters kept making up words. It just bothered me on a deep level. Although, I really did like how the POVs switched back and forth between the two main characters, Charlotte and Anthony. It gave good perspective by showing how both the character were experiencing the 12 hours they spent together.
TREE: I do think if the book was longer we could have grown to love the characters. Since it is so short we don’t get a lot of details and thus don’t really care? But, to be honest, I am not sure if I would’ve stuck around.
BREE: Same man, same. So the book includes an epilogue, but it takes place only 1 week after the last chapter, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for development.
TREE: Yeah, that is not really an epilogue…Give me what happened, like, a year later.
BREE: Exactly, I would have liked to see their reunion after they had spent some time apart.
TREE: What was odd to me is that this feels like the YA I read when I was in high school , but this was published last year. So maybe if someone is 13 and has never read a YA contemporary they might enjoy this.
BREE: I feel like this was a lesser version of Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, which I absolutely loved the first time I read it.
TREE: Yeah Dash and Lily is fun. If you want to read a New York City adventure book that takes place during Christmastime, read that one…
BREE: For real. Are you ready to wrap this up?
TREE: Yes. Especially before we just start ranting.
BREE: But there’s so many things I want to complain about!
TREE: You can’t see it, but I am rolling my eyes right now.
BREE: Anyways, I would give this book a 2/5 stars. I just really didn’t enjoy it and didn’t feel connected to the characters in any way.
TREE: I think it’s at a 2.5/5 for me. I didn’t hate my time reading it. I just had issues with it and don’t think I’ll remember much of this.
BREE: Okay, that’s a wrap. We’re all out of time today. Thanks so much for listening!
ANNOUNCER: Thanks for tuning in for this review of Kiss Me in New York by Catherine Rider.
TREE: Make sure to tune in next month when we review A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
BREE: Ohh yay. This book has been on my TBR for a while now.
TREE: Mine too. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. Plus, there is a cat on the cover!
BREE: Always a good sign in my book.
xoxo, Bree & Tree
Words About Words 
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