Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) was released on January 24 and is a tribute to slow-burn romances, encased in a heartrending family saga. But the majority of the plot is dealing with a sick parent, both their moms undergoing major surgery, stress about being able to pay the bills, the death of a father, an emotionally absent mother, and recovering from a traumatic injury. There are both lines and scenes that made me have to close the book for a minute to catch my breath, while also having a seriously sweet romance using lots of fun tropes. These girls were wonderfully messy, so great to read about and are very much now resting in a corner of my heart forevermore. This is one of the best written books--it's strong and gorgeous with tension and heartbreak searing across every page.

It wasn't so much a miscommunication trope as an "any communication at all could have solved this" problem.

Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) by Tess Sharpe is a beautiful young adult novel that follows the lives of Penny and Tate, two girls who have always clashed but whose paths constantly cross because of their mothers' epic friendship. Half of the asides didn’t need to be framed as asides and the short sentences lost any sort of emotional impact when they showed up on almost every page. I loved all the characters, how their inner complexities are unveiled progressively, how relatable they all feel.

Penny and Tate’s POVs were incredibly distinctive, and the flashbacks granted me an inside into why Penny and Tate were feeling what they were feeling. They’re not quite friends, but they’ve seen each other at their worst moments and, for all they claim to dislike each other, have stuck through thick and thin. I also don't love big sections of text messages in novels unless they feel like they NEED to be included, and the side plot felt like a bit of unnecessary filler at times. this book was a delicious mix of angst and tenderness and captured all the best parts of the fanfiction trope it takes it structure from.The story will draw readers in with its irresistible slow-burn romantic fanfic-like premise, but it will also make them stick around to see the resolution of this convoluted family drama that includes love, loss, grief, dysfunction, and healing. The amount of raw emotion in this story made me really connect with it, and I would love to get a spin off featuring Penny and Tate's friends, who's story is mostly told through text message exchanges, as they come up with a fun way to fund raise for the moms.