A Book Review of The First Kiss Hypothesis by Christina Mandelski Plus, a Guest Post from the Author!

The First Kiss Hypothesis by Christina Mandelski
Genre: Young Adult (Contemporary Romance)
Date Published: November 6, 2017
Publisher: Entangled: Crush

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.

Disclaimer: This book contains a stunningly hot lacrosse player who isn’t above playing dirty to win over the stubborn girl-next-door of his dreams. 

The First Kiss Hypothesis by Christina Mandelski was cute and entertaining. I sure did want to slap Nora around a time or two though. She was set against anything that didn't flow with her theory, even if it meant kissing every guy she could get her lips on. All that saliva. Gross. 

Eli seemed like a fun dude. I don't get why Nora held their first kiss against him. The circumstances of that kiss didn't give him a fair shot at all. Poor guy. But, he was persistent, and I enjoyed him as a character.

Their friendship is pretty adorable. I love how they treat each other and interact. Even taking the romance out of the equation, there is a deep love there. It was quite beautiful. 

The ARC of The First Kiss Hypothesis by Christina Mandelski was kindly provided to me by Chapter by Chapter for review. The opinions are my own.

A Kiss is Just a Kiss? 
By Christina Mandelski

Thanks so much for having me on the blog today. I’m thrilled to be here. It just so happens that right now I’m listening to the playlist I came up with for my new book, The First Kiss Hypothesis. Louis Armstrong is singing ‘A Kiss to Build a Dream On’ – a classic that I love. SO ROMANTIC.

Alright, I wrote a book about kissing, I’ve got the perfect soundtrack on, so let’s get down to it and talk about KISSING.

The main character in my book thinks about the topic a lot. But Nora Reid is no hapless romantic. She’s a rational thinker, a scientist, and she believes that when she has that magic first kiss with the right guy, the chemical reaction will be out-of-this world. She’ll know that she knows that she’s found true love.

Ah, but *spoiler* it doesn’t work out quite that way for Nora.

If we’re all completely honest, I’m guessing so-so first kisses are common. And it’s no secret that electrically charged first kisses can just as easily lead into lackluster relationships. Really -- can you trust a first kiss?

I don’t think so.

I might be biased. After all, kissing and I did not start out as friends. I wanted to kiss my crush in first grade (early bloomer, I was) – and that kid wanted to kiss my best friend, Lynn. The little boy who wanted to kiss me at the roller skating party that same year – I wanted nothing to do with him. Sigh.

My first first kiss was so unimpressive that I can barely remember it. It was disappointing to say the least. Eek. By my early 20s, I was pretty sure that I was destined to be mediocrely kissed for the rest of my life. Sad!

Then came that magical day when I met Mr. Mandelski. Again, I sigh. Our first kiss one night in 1994, in the threshold of the door to my apartment – it was good. New and sweet and kinda sexy. But it wasn’t as good as the second kiss, and that one wasn’t as good the third. Twenty-three years later – they’ve only gotten better.

Yes, first kisses are wonderful in their own way, but, as my main character learns, maybe also a little overrated? My point is – I think that when it comes to kissing, practice makes perfect. The first kiss might be one for the books, but the five hundredth kiss – that’s where the real magic is. I encourage you all to work hard to perfect your craft!

I’d love to hear your first kiss memories (good, bad and ugly) in the comments – and I hope you enjoy Nora’s attempt at finding the perfect first kiss of her own in The First Kiss Hypothesis.

Check out my review of another book in this series!

Christina Mandelski was born in South Florida, where her love of reading was cultivated in a house full of books. Stories like The Little House series, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Island of the Blue Dolphins and The Secret Garden, filled her imagination and fueled her dreams to be a writer. That dream came true when her first young adult novel, THE SWEETEST THING, was published in 2011, and she’s beyond thrilled about her upcoming series for Entangled Crush.

Chris lives in Houston with one handsome husband, two beautiful daughters, and two freakshow cats. She has a
fondness for the beach, her family and friends, and she still loves to read (especially curled up with a good cup of
coffee!) She also enjoys shopping, traveling and eating, especially cake. Always cake. When she’s not doing these things, you can find her holed in a cozy spot with her laptop, writing.

To learn more about Christina Mandelski and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Instagram, and Twitter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway