A Thousand Boy Kisses Paperback – August 29, 2023

‘Rune pressed a kiss just below my ear and whispered, “Sleep, baby. I got you.” And he did. He had me. Just like I had him.’Yet another genre and yet another winner from the supremely talented and versatile Tillie Cole. Not just a winner, but now our favourite of all her books and that’s no easy feat considering we have loved everything this author has written. From the funny to the gritty, from the emotional to the uncomfortable, we’re convinced there is NOTHING this lady can’t write and both agree when we say this is THE most beautiful, emotional and stunningly written love story we’ve ever read. This book is as special as special can be.‘Kiss eight hundred and nineteen was the kiss that changed it all. The kiss that proved that a long-haired brooding boy from Norway and a quirky girl from the Deep South could find a love to rival the greats. It showed that love was simply the tenacity to make sure that the other half of your heart knew he, or she, was adored in every way. In every minute of every day. That love was tenderness in its purest form.’We’ve enjoyed books, we’ve been moved by books and we’ve cried over books but never and we mean NEVER have we been left so emotionally wrought yet so completely satisfied after finishing a story. We found ourselves talking, sobbing and reliving every exquisite moment, of which there were numerous. And so it was with swollen eyes and overflowing hearts that we chatted into the early hours of the morning never wanting to relinquish our feelings for Poppy and Rune.‘She knew she had me, just as much as I had her. We were all we needed.’There wasn’t a page that wasn’t highlighted as this book penetrated our souls and left us feeling so unbelievably thankful and privileged to have experienced this unforgettable story of love in its most beautiful, searing and epic form. A book such as A Thousand Boy Kisses doesn’t come along often, so when it does, we possessively hold each word in our hearts and treasure every single emotion as we did with Rune and Poppy’s story. This story encompasses everything that makes us passionate about reading.“I used to know a boy, a boy I loved with my whole heart, who lived for a single moment. Who told me that a single moment could change the world. It could change someone’s life. That one moment could make someone’s life, in that brief second, infinitely better or infinitely worse”Poppy Litchfield and Rune Kristiansen created a bond of friendship at five years old that would blossom into a love story to rival the greats. They truly were two parts of one heart in every sense of the word. Despite their tender years, their love was extraordinary and it was epic and there is no doubt this came across in Tillie’s story as we lived and breathed the enormity of their feelings.“I’m half a heart. This, who I am now, was due to a life devoid of you. This darkness, this anger, was born from you not being by my side. Poppymin. My adventurer. My girl.”Tillie Cole doesn’t have to force emotions from us, they are elicited spontaneously from the natural fluidity of her writing. This lady writes from the heart and not only were our tears falling freely on the pages, but we also felt hers in every word as she brought us the sweetest girl; an old soul with a perception of life that belied her years, and the brooding boy who moved into her street and into her heart. She taught him what it was to love and feel and together they created something that went beyond mere love. Breathtaking doesn’t begin to describe their story. Heartbreaking is an understatement. Uplifting doesn’t do it justice. There really are no words to do this story justice.“Maybe we’re like the cherry blossom, Rune. Maybe we loved too much too young and burned so bright that we had to fade out.’From the innocence and exuberance of childhood to the confusion and pain of youth, we lived it all. We fought their battles and lived through joy and heartbreak with them yet we haven’t even scratched the surface of their story, you couldn’t imagine for one minute how this story plays out. We know we didn’t.‘I was going to do this for her. I was going to do my damnedest to make her happy. I’d win her back. I’d win her back as the Rune I was now. There was no choice. This was us. This was our new adventure. ‘Told in dual POV for optimum effect, there is so much to experience in A Thousand Boy Kisses and we cannot stress enough that you must go into this story spoiler free and experience it all as the author intended. Don’t ask, just feel.We do love YA stories however we know some readers evade this genre. To those readers we would urge you to still pick this book up. The nature of the story and the delivery from this author is well worth putting those thoughts aside to experience something so positively beautifu

As I sit here and think about the words accurate enough to describe how I feel about A Thousand Boy Kisses, I am positively stumped. Is this book amazing? Breathtaking and emotional? So beautifully-written I wish it hadn't ended? The answer is yes to all of the above but even those words can't describe the love and emotion Tillie Cole has written in this beautiful Young Adult novel. I typically don't read a lot of YA novels just because there are so many books out there to read but I'd always wanted to read a book by Tillie Cole and figured I would just take a chance on this one. My typical genres of books are contemporary romance, New Adult, and historical fiction but I've also read a handful of YA novels and I have to say this was one of my favorite YA books. While reading A Thousand Boy Kisses, I found myself thinking of John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars" and Nicholas Sparks' "A Walk to Remember," mostly because of the subject matter but also because of how emotional these books are written and how they teach us to live our lives to the fullest and love with our whole hearts."'Maybe we're like the cherry blossom, Rune. Like shooting stars. Maybe we loved too much too young and burned so bright that we had to fade out.' She pointed behind us, to the blossom grove. 'Extreme beauty, quick death. We had this love long enough to teach us a lesson. To show us how capable of love we truly are.'"Poppy Litchfield is a five-year-old girl living in small-town Georgia when she meets Rune Kristiansen, a five-year-old boy whose family moves in next door from Norway. Within their first encounter, they are "best friends for infinity." Next we see Poppy and Rune at age eight when Poppy's mamaw (grandma) gives her the task of collecting one thousand boy kisses where her heart nearly bursts, writing each one down and putting them in a jar. We also see Poppy and Rune at age 15 but the majority of the book takes place when they are both 17 and have had a lot of changes and experiences that define their personalities and outlooks on life. No matter what, Poppy is still her happy, positive self and even with her devastating and life-changing news, she still manages to enjoy every minute of every day and experience joy in even the smallest of things."'Because in that moment I experienced the love my mamaw sent me on this adventure of a thousand boy-kisses to find. That moment when you know that you are loved so much, that you are the center of somebody's world so wonderfully, that you lived...even if it was only for a short time.'"Even after writing this review, I still don't feel that I've accurately conveyed the beautiful love and emotion in this book. Some parts of the book are a bit slow but I feel that's the "lull" before the storm and the rest of the story is so emotionally-packed that it's so hard to put it down. If you choose to read this book, which I highly recommend, be sure you have a box of tissues with you because you will need them. Because this book is categorized as a young adult novel, the romance is very clean and understated. I loved this book so much that I'm already looking into purchasing other books by Tillie Cole. While reading this book, you will smile. You will feel sad. You will experience joy. You will cry. But, most of all, you will experience Poppy and Rune's once-in-a-lifetime teenage love where they share their one thousand kisses, moonbeam hearts and sunshine smiles.